Braemar double

A month had passed since our last Friday bus/walk/beers trip up Deeside, so it was time for a repeat. This time we met Dave and Ruby just short of Braemar Castle to start the Lion's Face walk in reverse. Dave had parked his car in Braemar and walked out to meet us. Imagination is required to make out the Lion's Face - here's two views of it:

Next, the team photo:

"Hold on", cried Jeb - "I forgot to put my birthday hat on!":

We had a view of Invercauld House:

We finished this half of the Lion's Face walk in the centre of Braemar, where Dave left us and headed home. The rest of us then started the Riverside walk - along the Clunie first then towards the confluence with the Dee where we got a view of Braemar Castle:

Walking west beside the Dee now, we got nice views up the valley to the Cairngorms:

Towards the end of this walk, Jeb and Graham were lagging a bit and lost sight of the route so they decided to head for a shortcut back to the village but soon spotted Colin and I marching ahead so, somewhat reluctantly, they trudged back on to the proper route:

A couple of pints at Invercauld Mews before crossing the road to the Cairn Grill for one more:

Now for the 18:29 bus back to Ballater where there is a scheduled 40 minute wait before the connection back to Banchory - just enough time for a welcome pee - and a pint in the Balmoral Bar. The bus was a little late in arriving and, just 3 miles or so outside Ballater, it broke down and the driver had to call for another bus, which we were initially told would have to come from Aberdeen, but thankfully they managed to organise another bus from Ballater, so off we went again. The only other incident was when our double decker made contact with some roadside trees, damaging a wing mirror but we all made it safely back to Banchory some 3 hours after we had left Braemar. Here's the walking stats: