Glen Muick to Crathie

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/

Ian Sharp couldn't make it yesterday so it was just the 4 of us that set off for our supposed 10 mile walk from Glen Muick to Crathie. We met at Crathie car park, but Ken suggested we drive up the road to Royal Lochnagar distillery and leave a car there, rather than finish off our walk on the road. This probably took about another mile off our walk, which turned out to be a lot shorter than we had planned.

It was a pleasant enough stroll, but no way was it the 10 miles that the Deeside Walks book had suggested. The other major error was having a start (or finish) at the Loch Muick visitor centre and car park. Being a one way, rather than circular walk, it meant that we had to drive the 8 miles up and down the single track road to Glen Muick a total of 3 times to drop off and pick up one of the cars, which was a bit of a pain.

Ironically, it would have been a wonderful day to go up Lochnagar - our original plan. We did get nice views of the mountain however and, of course, we were finished in good time to still enjoy a bit of Fathers' Day - or, in CK's case, Grandfathers' Day - Gillian had a boy at 5pm and Colin and Johanne drove down to Yarm last night to see their first grandchild. Looking forward to the dram next time we're in the pub!

Anyway, the photos - the first wildlife we spotted was at the very start of the walk, when we were stared out by the leader of a group of stags:



John's always a bit nervous about wildlife - especially snakes - but he eventually agreed to pose for a photo once he was sure the stags were far enough away:



For our first team photo the camera was set up on a rock with some small strands of grass in front of it, but it looks like we were in the middle of the jungle:



The walk was all on Land Rover tracks - much of it tarmac'd - and Ken was itching to get off this road. He found a slight detour for us - here they are checking out the map:



We stopped at the highest point (which wasn't very high, but gave nice views) and had lunch:







From the distance, we thought we might have spotted another stag - until we got a bit closer:



The end came a lot sooner than we had planned, but we didn't go in to the distillery - just a photo stop, that's all:



Back along the South Deeside Road and then a quick pit stop in the beer garden at the Potarch for an excellent pint of Highland IPA:



So now we have to plan our next 2 monthly walks - the last before we do WHW in September. July's pretty busy, but a good day for me for the next walk would be Sunday 1st August (Mixed Greensomes at Banchory that day). Ken's going to come up with a cunning plan for the walk - how is everyone else fixed for that date?

We should also now plan the Lochnagar trip for when Jack's back from Oz. What about Sunday 22nd or 29th August?

Sunday - Glen Muick - Crathie

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/

No responses yet, so can I safely assume we are just 5 for Sunday morning? - McWhinnie, Black, Kilgour, Stewart and Sharp (probably)?

Can I also suggest we try and leave Banchory by 8:30 am and head west? We'll need 2 cars and can dump one at Crathie on the way past then drive on to Glen Muick in the other. I'm willing to take my car - a bit tight with 5 of us, but we'll manage OK and it's only a relatively short journey.

The other car will also need to be big enough to take 5, so this presumably precludes Colin and John from volunteering? Over to you again, Ken?

Sunday walks

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/

We had a quorum last night in the Douglas so we discussed the ever-changing situation with our planned walk up Lochnagar next Sunday (20th) and have now come up with a compromise solution to go ahead with a training walk next week, but not to do Lochnagar.

Instead we decided to revert to Plan B and do the shorter, flatter walk between Glen Muick and Balmoral on Sunday morning. This would allow us to get back in good time to participate in any Father's Day celebrations that afternoon/evening.

Colin, John and I agreed that this was the best plan in the circumstances, and we know Ken is available too. Hopefully Ian Sharp will now be able to join us as well, but it's unlikely that Jack will be coming along, and Gordon is not available. Not sure yet whether Dan will be available or not.

Lochnagar is still an ambition, but it'll now have to wait - probably until the August walk when Jack's back from Oz.