Ben Macdui

Ken's match report, followed by 8 photos: "Ken, Dave and Steve made the starting line with John a late call-off due to injury. Great day with fabulous weather - 8.5 hour round trip walk up through Glen Derry, into Coire Etchachan (passing the Hutchinson bothy), up to the edge of Coire Sputan Dearg and on to the summit. Lovely views all the way up and not too steep, but long. It was a rougher way down with some bouldery sections and loose stones on the path causing some grief (mainly for Dave's arse). Back to the bikes and a short ride out in time to catch the football."

The route and profile that Ken had provided beforehand:

Seven Bridges

The planned bus/walk/booze trip turned in to a bus/booze/walk/booze outing last Friday. Seven of us met up in Ballater eventually - Jeb, Colin and I on the bus, Dave (plus Ruby), Ken and Stewart by cars and Gary, the local, walked. Stewart was a little delayed so the only thing to do was head over to the Balmoral Bar's outdoor drinking area opposite the green to sample the new Braemar Brewery's first brew - a Pale Ale:

Gary then led us down to the river, just past the Alexandra Hotel and we did the usual loop of the golf course before meeting up with the old railway line that never was. We soon reached the first bridge:

Reaching the restored Polhollick Bridge, we stopped for refreshments and then tried to recreate the image from our previous trip here, when we were celebrating Nigel's 60th with drams:

Note the slight difference in apparel. Across the bridge, Gary took us on a slight detour along the riverside through some prime tick country. We reached the Queen Mother's former fishing lodge where we posed for a few more photos:

We again bypassed the option of detouring to Knock Castle and headed straight to the Alexandra for a couple of ales. Stewart and Dave were driving so missed out here. Ken stayed for one quick beer then dashed to catch the 17:10 bus. Jeb, Colin and I moved on to the Barrel Bar for a last pint before the bus and Gary walked home. Another good day out. Here's the stats:

White Mounth

The long-awaited weather break for John's planned high level walk finally arrived last weekend. No match report but I picked up the stats from Jeb's Strava and John sent me a bunch of excellent photos, all of which follow: