B team ride again

It started off with Keith and I planning an e-bike ride on Friday afternoon, but Stewart responded quickly and said he would like to join us. The combination of the continuing good weather and the announcement of eased restrictions on gatherings then led Les and Dick to join us too, followed finally by Gordon's debut on his newly adapated bike with front wheel drive, to give us an optimum/maximum group size of six. We headed west from Burnett Park up the old railway line and out to Craiglash, with 4 of us opting to take the rough downhill track whilst Stewart and Gordon opted for the smoother conditions of the road. Meeting up again at Potarch, we briefly considered having coffee there before heading over to Finzean via the tracks. When we got to the Farm Shop, there was a decent sized queue for coffees but we stuck it out, chatting to the Dallases and Williamsons (M) while we waited. Coffees arrived and it was time for the team photo:

Back down via Mill of Cammie (with another brief off-roader there) we headed towards Les' place. Gordon's one speed battery, apparently not fully charged before the start, finally gave up but at least it was mostly downhill now. Les was gently coerced in to inviting us in to his garden to share his "large stock" of Peronis, which turned out to be just enough for the 6 of us! Angela took the team photo here as we sat in the sun overlooking the Feugh below:

A lovely, sociable afternoon - good fun - and many thanks to Les - and Angela - for allowing us to gatecrash them. Here's our route and the stats:

The story didn't quite end there, however. The following day (Saturday), Stewart did the exact same ride again. Why? Well, he lost all his keys on Friday and had to retrace his steps to try to recover them - unsuccessfully. However - and this is where the good part of social media shone - Stewart posted a remark on Facebook, next to the team photo I had published, telling everyone he had lost his keys. Coincidentally, I had earlier spotted a post on the Banchory Rocks group page showing a photo of a set of keys that had been found at Potarch:

I put Stewart in touch with the finder (who had by now deposited them at Aboyne Police Station) and he is retrieving them this morning (Sunday). Result!