Craig Leek

The first opportunity for a post-covid restrictions bus trip up Deeside for a walk and some beers came last Friday. The original idea was to bus all the way to Braemar, but Dave suggested an alternative which would accommodate Ruby, so Jeb, Colin and I took the 1pm bus out as far as Invercauld Estate and met up with them there. A few had done the Craig Leek walk in April, and most of us had done it a couple of years ago, but on that occasion we had done it the "wrong" way - i.e. clockwise, as a result of which we got slightly lost for a while. No such mistakes this time and Colin coped well with the anti-clockwise direction. Here's the route and some photos:

Once the walk was completed, Dave kindly drove Jeb, Colin and me in to Braemar for some ales. He dropped us off at the Invercauld Mews where we were delighted to see as many as 4 ales on handpull, including a new one from the local fledgling Braemar Brewery:

We were sitting there supping our second pints of Summer Sun when who should walk in but the brewer, Dave. We had a chat with him and we agreed to pop in to the brewery just before our bus was due. Before that we popped over to the Cairn Grill for an excellent pint of:

Next, our brewery visit where we sampled the Summer Sun in bottles:

We decided to buy a case and split it 3 ways. Jeb did the divvy-up on the bus back to Ballater:

We had planned our return trip carefully, catching the bus that stops in Ballater for 37 minutes - just enough time for a pint and a pee. The Balmoral Bar was packed so we went to the Barrel (Glenaden) for a pint of Windswept Hurricane. We found a seat but it was beside some strangely dressed locals:

Dressed as superheroes, this local group were collecting for a charity called A Bear Named Buttony (https://www.buttonybear.com/), which has been going for 6 years, with the founder member having been awarded an MBE. We had a good laugh with them and then headed out to catch our return bus but we were distracted by some activity in the square:

Believe it or not, this was outdoor bingo - apparently a fairly regular feature. It had been a wonderful - and slightly surreal afternoon. We must do this more often.