Monday 28/9/15 – Hills and Retirement Homes

I usually struggle to find volunteer reporters for the various rides, but today we've got two!:

Bob is today's first guest reporter:

"A team of 4 (Ken P, Les, Jeff, and Bob) set off from the Guide Hut at 0930 on a cool, dry autumn morning.  Cool and dry wasn’t the state of us all later on, more hot and sweaty, as the route had quite a few hills and the speed was fairly brisk.

We decided on a Torphins loop, but took a new route for me both there and back.  We headed up the path to the golf range and then took a left passing the abandoned golf course, a tattered sun bleached flag declaring surrender still in one of the holes, and through into the Inchmarlo estate. Much discussion about the retirement home model there, though we couldn’t spot the chimney for the final exit.  Then up through Home Farm to join the normal route to Torphins, with refreshments at Platform 22 (cranberry and white chocolate scones a must). 

There was much debate about the return route – how to get to Kincardine O’Neil from Torphins ? The main road route didn’t get much support, and the two minor roads further east both had hills. Ken persuaded us that one was easy and one was a killer, so decision made. [A post ride check on Memory Map showed our route with 137m height gain from Torphins to Kinker versus 100m for the “killer” option ?].  We headed north out of Torphins first and then looped round the golf course and down to the main road to Lumphanan.  We only needed to go on this for a few hundred metres before taking the minor road that winds up the hill past Pitmurchie House, another retirement home, and down into Kinker.  There were excellent views across the Dee valley, particularly with the autumn colours now appearing.

Our route followed the Deeside Way back through Potarch, up towards Shooting Green and cutting across to Blackhall, with Jeff peeling off for Strachan on the Shooting Greens Hill. We followed the track next to the river taking the risk that the gate at the entrance to Blackhall at the other end would be open.  Fortunately it was. A good ride on a very pleasant autumn day."

Jeff is today's second guest reporter:

"A late flurry of email proposals and acceptances resulted in four bikers gathering at the guide hut in fine weather cycling weather on Monday 28th September - Ken, Les, Bob and Jeff.  Recent collective over-exposure to jaunts heading eastwards quickly vetoed anything heading towards Crathes and Drum, and we then elected for a visit to Platform 22 in Torphins.

Heading up the Glassel Road, Ken took us on a novel variation around the nether regions of Inchmarlo, to much jibing about this being a reconnaissance  trip. The extent of the place certainly took some of us a little by surprise, but we took care to point out possibly suitable vacancies to Ken.  We dropped back onto the Glassel road, and thence to Torphins by the usual Hill of Beltie and Torphins Northern Ring Road solution.

The typically excellent coffee and scones were taken at Platform 22 to fortify us both for the debate on route choice, and then execution of the decision. The white chocolate & cranberry scone was especially fine today.  Our target was agreed to be the Deeside Way in or near Kinker, but the route to get there was hotly debated. None of us fancied the main road south through Mid Beltie, so this centred on the choice between (a) round the back of Torphins golf course and past Pitmurchie House, and (b) the more direct option past South Footie.  On the latter, Ken was muttering darkly about the steepness of the climb, and eventually won the day - so the longer way we went. As we went past Pitmurchie House, we of course realised this was another stop on the "retirement home reccy", and slogging up the hills following left some of us unconvinced that the other route would have been any worse on the climbing - a theory to be tested another day.

Having achieved the necessary altitude, we then had a great downhill run into Kincardine o'Neil, and onto the Deeside Way. There was a brief pause on the Potarch bridge, and discussion of tactics for diving in, with the low water providing the perfect excuse for putting none of these into practice. Passing the Potarch Hotel with renovation works in progress, we then slogged up towards Shooting Greens, pausing at the entrance to Slewdrum Forest for a team photo. Here the group split, with Jeff finishing the climb over Shooting Greens to return more directly to Strachan (40km and 750m ascent/descent), and the rest taking the forest track and riverside to return to Banchory (38km, 670m), all in a little over 2 and a half hours. A good leg-stretcher!"

Les' Strava stats show just 32 kms travelled with over 1,400 feet of climbing, but recording seems to have ceased somewhere on the climb up towards Shooting Greens, so you can probably add c. 8 kms and a couple of hundred feet to this - https://www.strava.com/activities/401992537. When we did a very similar route last month, the distance was just short of 40 kms.

Jeff also supplied the photos: