Banchory Veterans' Hill-walkers

Jeb was a late addition to our Friday afternoon jaunt in to Aberdeen, making us 8 in all - equal best (with Carn Ferg) attendance this year for one of our monthly walks. Ian had a plan for us to bus in to the Bieldside/Milltimber area and walk up from there through Countesswells woods and Hazlehead park, and he had recce'd it the day before on one of the Freewheelers' Thursday cycle runs. It transpired however that the planned route was also one that Jeb cycled regularly on his way to/from work, so with two leaders with experience of the route, there was little chance of us getting lost. The start of the walk was up Hillhead Road, leading us through the very smart Hillhead Farm. Smart is not a term often associated with farms, but this one was special - a huge investment is being made here. The roads have all been newly tarred and fresh dry stane dykes have been built all the way up, lined by newly turfed neat grass verges. There are modern buildings and work still taking p...

A good turnout on Friday for monthly walk 11 this year. Despite enforced cancellations from Ian (Sh) and Nigel, the late additions of Ken and Jeb to our core squad meant we still had a healthy quorum of 7 travelling to Braemar on a beautiful autumn Friday afternoon. Four of us - Jeb, Colin, Dave and I - who met the eligibility criteria, travelled for free on the bus, whilst youngsters Ken and Andy hitched a ride with Stewart who had to bring his car over from Westhill. The bus was a tad late, but still made it to Braemar not too long after Stewart's car, so we were on our way before 2:30 pm - up the hill and past a familiar watering hole where we intended to quench our collective thirsts at the end of the walk: The directions told us to start on the "Morrone Birkwood Circular Walk" but this soon looped back to the main Morrone hill walk that some of us completed on a glorious day last year. Further on, after a short climb, we diverted off the marked trail up to a v...

Monday was the day we all had to catch ferries back to the mainland, but we weren't quite finished with walking yet - we still had time for a morning walk to King's Cave and back along the coast to Blackwaterfoot - minus the two Johns. JMD had grandparent duties and had to drive all the way down to the Home Counties, so he had to catch the early morning ferry, whilst JMcW opted for a round of golf at nearby Shiskine - a 12 hole course. The remaining nine of us caught the 9:15 am bus up to the start of the King's Cave walk - up through the forest and then down to the beach, where we were met by this sight in the first cave: The second cave, bizarrely, had (unlocked) iron gates on which some joker had left this: There were tunnels between the caves: Our geological nerds were waxing lyrical on some of the rock formations: Ahead of budget, we arrived at the far end of Shiskine golf course where the coastal walk turned in to a beach walk: We met up wit...

Sunday morning and time for a boat trip over to the Holy Isle - all bar John D, as dogs - and alcohol - are not permitted as it is the home of a Buddhist retreat. We drove over to Lamlash to check on the ferry times: Departure time - "12-ish"! Ferry sounds a bit grand - this was what was waiting for us: It transpired that it was another vessel that took us over there, although the one above is the one that brought us back. Our time on Holy Island was limited as the last ferry back was at 3 pm. Ken had hoped to go over the top and complete the circular walk back along the coastal trail, but it was soon apparent that there was insufficient time to complete this walk, particularly given that all the guide books warned of dangerous, precipitous paths down from the hilltop. In the end, it was a choice of a straightforward walk up the hill and back down again the same way or simply do the coastal trail out and back. It ended up an even split with 5 doing the climb and ...

Saturday was the big day when we were to tackle the biggest hill/mountain in Arran - Goatfell, which a little annoyingly, falls just short of being a Munro. Our leader had carefully checked the forecast and concluded that the likelihood was that, although the summit was currently in low cloud, this would be a better day to do it than Sunday, when the forecast visibility was even worse. We would hope that it might clear as we walked up - a vain hope as it transpired. There was yet another logistical problem with Stewart apparently taking a wrong turning and having to be redirected by phone back to the correct starting point of our walk, which, handily, was right next to Arran Brewery: The first part of the walk was fairly straight forward on good, even track and we soon arrived at a small bridge, which afforded the first opportunity for a full team photo: It was at this point, however, that Gordon had to turn back, suffering badly from a blister acquired on the previous da...