Xmas Eve walk on Dave's 68th

Just four us managed to tear ourselves away from family commitments yesterday for a lovely snowy walk from Banchory to Potarch. It's a major reduction in numbers for the traditional celebration of Dave's birthday, but hardly unexpected in this crazy year. Our walk took us through the gate and along the riverside where we posed for the first team photo:

Taking the traditional cycle route, we arrived at the familiar viewpoint where hundreds of photos have been taken over the years:

It didn't take us long to get to Dave's where we were greeted with this cosy sight in their carport:

What a greeting - and what an effort put in by the Williamsons. The firepit was particularly welcoming, but so was the barbecue, the minikegs of beer and the drams, not to mention the Xmas decorations on the back wall. We settled down to bowls of hot soup and bread whilst son Alex fired up the BBQ and soon we were devouring venison burgers and sausages - with an obligatory piece of salad, of course. By now, Ian, who had his "French" family staying with him, had managed to escape for a short while and help us celebrate Dave's birthday Balvenie:

We finished off Dave's minikeg of Burnside's Hop Scotch and made a decent dent in the other Thirst Aid one and the bottle of Balvenie, but, having eaten, it was time to gather round the firepit:

Here's the stats for the walk to Dave's:

A magnificent, never to be forgotten afternoon - more than ample compensation for the absence this year of football/walking football.

Brathens

Despite the poor forecasts earlier in the week, conditions improved enough to allow three of us to get another walk in yesterday. Jeb was the prime instigator, perhaps inspired by the knowledge that Aberdeenshire was to be moving up to Tier 3 at 6 pm? It was a local walk, starting at Burnett Park, up the old railway line to Brathens, then planning to loop back through the forest towards Inchmarlo. We got as far as the Old Man in the Forest before the first photo was taken:

Just after this was when things started to go wrong. There had been some forestry work there recently but the heavy felling was finished a week or two ago. Despite this, there was still a "Do not enter" sign on our trail. We took the chance of marching on a bit but veered away from where the lighter activities were going on and were only in the official "danger zone" for a couple of hundred yards before heading up the trail that leads to the high point of the Glassel road. Our planned exit had been at the low point of the road so we had to march a few hundred yards down the hill before turning off on to the familiar side road to Home Farm. Given the recent outbreak there, we gave Inchmarlo care home a wide berth but we did cross the old golf course, striding down the 18th, formerly probably one of the hardest closing holes in golf. The following team photo was taken just before this, close to the old 2nd green:

Conditions had been good up to this point - dry, still and mild - but, ironically, it started to rain just as we were marching along the High St. towards the Douglas Arms. On arrival there, the staff member who greeted us was incredulous when we said we weren't ready for a "substantial meal" - we just wanted some beer. "That means you'll have to sit outside and it's raining" she exclaimed. Undeterred, we got her to unlock the rear decking area and parked ourselves down on the damp seats. Actually, it had stopped raining, but it was fairly cool. Jeb had come prepared however, donning what he called his "pub sweater":

Here we are with our well-earned pints of Trade Winds - the first real ale we've had since our Aboyne walks last month - and probably the last for some time to come:

It was a 3 pint session and it did get rather cold towards the end, but it was still worth it. Here's the stats from our walk: