From there we headed south on the road towards Kincar, but did a sharp left before we got down as far as the North Deeside Road and headed back through the forest tracks at Craiglash Quarry, which took us down to Potarch. Then it was the slog up to Slewdrum Forest. The next section was a fast downhill one and Les and Ken shot off, whilst I, on my suspension-less old bike, took a much more cautious approach and sauntered down, taking care to avoid as many potholes and rocks as I could.
Somehow, I missed the turning and before I realised it, I had gone down too far and was right down at the river's edge. I decided to carry on, but the road got rougher and narrower and soon I had to walk. I stopped to phone Les and let them know that I would carry on and meet them in the village eventually. Les quickly advised me that this route was impassable and I needed to head back. Oh well, time for a photo anyway:
I then had to walk back a bit and then cycle all the way up the hill to the high spot at the new fence, where Les and Ken waited patiently. Team photo time:
The rest of the journey back should have been uneventful. We chose the river's edge route which would bring us out at the fishermen's arch next to the Dee bridge. It's fairly flat, but there are a number of potholes full of rainwater and bits of it are pretty skiddy, particularly after the last few days' wet weather.
Les bombed ahead again but hit a skiddy edge and took a tumble. His cycling "condom" was torn, and both his leg and his elbow had cuts:
We think he was trying to outdo Dick's performance at Glenlivet.
My run was 39 kms with almost 1,800 feet of climbing - https://www.strava.com/activities/377022821. Our escapades meant that we were on the go for 3 hours, which, with the coffee stop added, meant it was almost 1 pm by the time we got home.
Last Friday, Ken P and I went for a much shorter run with Keith - basically a Crathes/Myrebird loop - just 22 kms - https://www.strava.com/activities/374181253
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