Banchory Veterans' Hill-walkers

Jeb and Vicki had taken the overnight ferry from Aberdeen so were having a leisurely breakfast at the Orkney Hotel in Kirkwall as the other 5 of us set off in two cars - Dave and Ken (plus Ruby) in one and Nigel, Steve and me in the other - all of us on the long drive to Scrabster. Both cars made it in good time and the ferry to Stromness was very punctual and surprisingly smooth as we crossed the notoriously bumpy Pentland Firth. The sailing took us past the famous Old Man of Hoy: Jeb and Vicky were waiting to meet us at Stromness and all 7 of us set off on a stroll round the village and surrounds. Our walk took us past the Ness Battery and also 3 small containers, not much larger than a telephone booth, one of them labelled the "Sauna Wanna": Would you use this? I wouldn't. The walk was circular - I took a quick selfie/team photo on the return half: There was the usual information board: Here's the stats for our short stroll: We all then headed over to Kirkwall to c...

It was a beautiful afternoon yesterday for our 2nd Friday walk this year. The selection criteria has altered over the last while - rather than looking for great or challenging hill-walks we now seem to seek ones that have a good pub at the end of them - and yesterday was no exception. In all the years we have been doing this we'd never previously been to Stonehaven. The initial plan was to bus to Aberdeen then bus or train to Stonehaven but there was a late change of plan from Dave. Ruby had a bit of an upset stomach and Dave felt it would be safer if he drove us all over - there were only 5 of us and we were able to squeeze in to Dave's car. Dave planned to leave his car in Stonehaven overnight and cycle over there this morning to collect it, so our planned 2 car pickup from Bev and Ross remained as was. Walks round Stonehaven are pretty limited - the most obvious being the circular through Dunnottar Woods and past Dunnottar Castle ( https://themackwalks.wordpress.com/2018/06/...

Finally we got our act together and managed to get 6 of us out on a Friday afternoon for a walk/hike in Upper Deeside. Dave had conjured up a number of possible scenarios linked to bus schedules but they all entailed a visit to Auchtavan, a spot where the former Queen Mother used to visit. The 201 due at the Douglas at 11:10 am was 10 + minutes late which added a little stress to the potentially tight timing. Steve and Andy were first on board, then Nigel and me two stops on, followed by Dave and Ken at Potarch. During the journey, the final return route was decided, based on bus and drinking timings. It was the shortest option that was favoured. We alighted at Inver, not too far past Crathie, crossed the road, heading intially up some grass tracks, indistinct in places, before picking up a more identifiable path that had been "Land Rovered" at some stage. The initially forecast warm sunny day had changed somewhat and there was those amongst us expecting downpours, but Steve ...

Homeward bound for 5 of us but an equal number – Jeb, Vicki, Steve, Ken and Dave – were initially planning to travel to Eigg. Dave had a late change of mind and decided he would go to Glenfinnan instead. The others had their plans thwarted at the last minute when apparently there was some kind of mechanical issue with the ferry fleet, whereupon Ken took off and did his own thing and Steve took the opportunity to cancel his separate bookings.com reservation and head home. Meanwhile Jeb and Vicki did a local walk with Ozzie: It was all too much: Another excellent few days away – well done, Jeb. There had been discussion on Sunday night about which charity we should support this year. Most of us thought we should add to Jeb’s fund-raising but he said no – he felt everyone had already done enough, so we agreed to again support the charity Stewart works for - https://www.justgiving.com/charity/abernecessities

Only 10 of us today – Gordon left early this morning to drive over to Banchory to attend his daughter’s and grand-daughter’s birthday parties. Sunday’s plan was a train ride to Fort William. We all declined the chance of taking the Jacobite Steam Train – mostly due to the extortionate prices – and just made the 90 minute journey in 2 standard Scotrail carriages. There was a mild bit of panic at the start as we noticed that virtually all the seats had reserved tickets on them – and none of the passengers had been able to reserve seats. It transpired however that all the reservations started at Fort William so no sweat. Initial plans for coffee when we arrived at FW were again disrupted due to the designated café being exceptionally busy and short-staffed. Some stayed while others moved on. The walkers were doing a circuit of Cow Hill so, after coffee, Jo and I decided to go to the start of this walk, which involved a climb up through some fairly grubby housing estates. The others ...