"We were 9 - John P , John McW , Rob , Ian Sh , Mike , Drew , Dick , John L and myself .
Ian took us via home farm to a ' reverse Campfield ' route via the road and up the hill at Campfield . We lost the front group at the hill top and sharp left bend - the rest of us (5) went up the farm track , around the Steading and rejoined the road above Torphins then downhill to P22.
We met the other group at the cafe then split again for the route home with Mike , Drew , John L and myself opting for Pitmurchie ' Kinker and Craiglash with the others taking the more direct route back.
37.4 and 433m"
Thursday got off to a bad start - Ian Sh discovered he had a puncture when he went to retrieve his bike for the 10 am ride. He would join us somewhere along the route if we sent him a text. Meanwhile, the crowds gathered at the Guide Hut - 5, then 10, soon 15 - how many more? The final count, including Ian plus Bob's guest Mike Fischer, was 20 - although not all of us made it to our coffee destination, as Jeff reports:
"Official Lanterne Rouge for me, Ian. First ride out after a month away, and recovering from a bug left me very noticeably off the pace. So I was grateful for a little company back towards Mill of Cammie, but necessarily peeled off for home, and left the peloton to get on with it!"
We had sussed out that the only place that all of us could meet up was Drum, so the instruction went out - "head for Drum - any way you like!" John M picks up the story:
"As I recall the assembled mass peaked at 19 athletes with a punctured Ian Sh due to join up .
I joined the group of 10 taking the higher route to the chosen destination of Drum . Mike has a team photo but present were Drew , Iain W , Chris , Bob , Mick ( visiting friend of Bob) , Mike , John L , Jack ,Jeff and myself . Jeff retired back to Strachan not feeling 100% , the rest of us went out towards Mill of Cammie and took the middle road left up to the Windmill .
After a team photo by ace cameraman Mike at the top T junction we took a right then climbed the rest of the Garrol hill and took the long downhill to the Slug . After a short main road section we took a left at what was Crofters then took the normal route to Park Bridge then on to the Deeside Way and joined the full contingent at the Drum cafe - although we were dispersed at seperate tables .
There were various splits for the return route - 7 of us took a reverse 2 castles route back - Bob , Mick , Iain W , Jack , John L , Chris and myself . Apart from a sharp westerly breeze on the straights to Crathes it was a pleasant ride back and quite a long route overall - 44.5 km and 392m."
That was the A team report. Lesser mortals - me, Dave, Rufus and Robin - were joined by Dick and Rob for a more or less straight run along the Way. Meanwhile, Scott, Peter and John P had headed east via Crathes Castle, with Ian Sh eventually joining up with them.
There were various options on the return route as well - Dave, Rufus, Robin and I looped back via Hirn, Drumshalloch and the brewery, whilst Dick roped Robin in to joining him in attempting to find the Holy Grail of following the river bank all the way back to Crathes. This would mean a short water crossing - it's not been reported yet whether they made it or not. Hopefully they survived.
Now for the photos - first of all, John M's:
Now Mike's high road team:
Finally, the various tables at Drum GC:
John L was last to get served:
On our return route, we spotted a field full of what presumably were Canada Geese:
We speculated how many there were - ranging from 500 to a thousand or more.
No comments:
Post a Comment