Details

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Details

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Day 1 Sunday 9th Aug

Rattray Head

Nice dry morning, joined NCN1 passing Dyce and on to disused railway. 

Left disused railway near Newmachar to go to Udny Green.

Looked at Tolquhon Castle but there was no tea shop so went to Ellon for lunch. The sun came out and the afternoon was hot and sunny with a tailwind. 

Made it to the beautiful hostel at Rattray Head by half 5 

Went for a walk on the beach before dinner.

Andy made lentil chilli for tea but there was no sieve to strain the rice. Best effort was made with a slotted spoon but a large  amount was not recoverable so ended up in the waste food bin. However as we were sitting with a cup of tea afterwards the two resident labradors made a beeline for the kitchen and hoovered out the goulash dregs and rice! Not wasted after all!

 

Day 2 Monday 10th Aug

Cullen

Headed across to Strichen in glorious sunshine, getting hotter by the minute. Strichen seems to be a one horse town if you know what I mean. As there was nothing to eat we carried on to New Aberdour.

Andrew got there first and was chatting to the lady from the shop in the street. Just as the rest of us arrived she went in and locked up for her lunch hour so still no food for us. 

We had no choice but to head to Macduff for lunch. Lovely road over the hills, sea view to right but hard going. 

There are two cafés in Macduff, one was full so we used the other. 

We then headed in to Banff for shopping... plenty of cafes! 

We then went over to Cullen with detour N to Findlater Castle .

Only two rain showers today and nice and warm. Lovely hostel by the harbour. 50m

 

Day 3 Tuesday 11th Aug

Findhorn

Headed up in to town to join NCN1 route along disused railway on top of the viaduct. Great views across the bay. It was dry but a bit colder than the last couple of days. 

Crossed the River Spey on an old railway bridge, great stuff, saved a big detour. Went to Lossiemouth for lunch at the harbour café. Great food, not cheap. 

Visited Duffus Castle in the afternoon.

Bit of a headwind later on, made it a bit of a slog to Kinloss. 

Still dry when we reached Findhorn, beautiful place .

45m

 

Day 4 Wednesday 12th Aug

Tomintoul

Headed over to Forres in dry but cool weather. 

By the time we reached Dallas the sun was fully out and it was starting to get hot. 

We cut across to Aberdour for lunch in a café and had to break out the sun cream when we came out.

Headed south past Ben Rinnes, the air was still, flies and bees buzzing and very hot long climb. 

The last 20m through Glenlivet to Tomintoul were magnificent. 

50m

 

Day 5 Thursday 13th Aug

Ballater

Beautiful sunny day, clear blue skies. Went to the Lecht ski centre for tea and snacks. Super fast run down to Cockbridge. 

We went to look at Corgarff Castle but it just seems to be a house with a wall around it so we didn't go in. 

Another big climb through a pass took us to Ballater where the Highland Games was taking place. 

We watched a running race and some pipe bands. 

25m

 

Day 6 Friday 14th Aug

Aberdeen

We joined the cycle route next to the old royal railway station which has been burned down sadly. The cycle route was fine as far as Aboyne but after that we used the B roads. As promised it was raining but it wasn't as heavy as the warnings suggested, light rain and drizzle. 

We had lunch in Banchory where the rain increased. Calum liked the cakes a lot so we didn't hurry away. 

We carried on with the cycle route but the surface was very poor and quite dangerous in places. 

The rain eased off after Peterculter and we found tarmac so we could whizz in to Aberdeen. 

46m