Day 5 Oldmeldrum to Braemar

Firstly, apologies for taking so long to get the blog going. It’s been busy and keeping the blog takes quite a bit of time. Still, better late than never, I hope.

I’ll start with today, day 5 of the tour and our 4th day of cycling. I can remember today, which seems a good basis to start from! We set out from our Oldmeldrum stop, which was an AirBnB place associated with Barra Castle and its Farm shop. We can heartily recommend both, the latter for delicious strawberries as well as extravagantly lush ice cream melded with fresh fruit (see the day 4 post that has now been put up). 
But I digress. The morning was fresh with a sharp bite to the moderate wind. The strength of the wind had been a concern, as early forecasts had suggested a strong headwind was likely. For the moment it was not too bad. The first few miles were tricky as the road was busy despite the fact that it was a B-road; we had to keep pulling over to let the traffic go by. After a quick food shop in Inverurie, we headed out of town to our first target of the day, the standing stone circle of Easter Aquhorthies (for those not familiar with this area, that's pronounced "Aforthees"). This is a very well preserved example of a recumbent circle, of which there are many examples in the area. Commanding great views over the Aberdeenshire countryside and Bennachie, we were also entertained by a field of bullocks who seemed to be waiting for something to happen at the site; we conjectured that their ancestral memory was in action ...

We had a refreshment stop, 5 miles in and after only 2 breakfasts, then headed on through rolling and gradually climbing countryside, counting off the names familiar from when Rowan and I used to live in the area - Monymusk, Kemnay, Alford, Tarland. We made the inevitable photo stop at the sign for Tough - it’s not pronounced how you think - then up to Craigievar Castle for lunch. It’s delightful both for its appearance and location.

At slightly under half way, we were already feeling a bit tired, which was worrying, but then on reflection, we had done more than half the climbing. We headed off, refreshed and refuelled, soon completing the last main climb before sweeping down into Deeside, with great views of Mt Keen, Lochnagar and Morven, for now shrouded in blue-grey clouds, but gradually clearing as the afternoon wore on. We began to pick up some stronger winds, mostly in our faces, but swirling round the hills. Warming episodes of sunshine were welcome. We stopped briefly at Burn O’Vat, a giant sinkhole, before joining the river Dee proper. By-passing Ballater, we headed along the quieter and largely more sheltered south Deeside road, bringing us out at the gates of Balmoral castle. We hove-to. The swarming police presence was confirmation that Royals were in residence and we were amused to see all forms of transport being used by them (the police that is), including bikes and an electric scooter.

The last 10 miles were a bit of a slog, but we arrived in a fairly good state at Braemar youth hostel. With tired legs we were a bit put out that the sign for the hostel took us past the entrance and down into the car park, and then to add to the slight state of exhaustion, our room was at the top! Nice place though.

Shortly after arriving, John H, who is our support, returned from a ride of his own out to the Linn of Dee.