Day 97 Stonehaven to Aberdeen

 

 Date: Sunday 25^th September 2011   Distance: 26.34 Miles

 

 

We were impressed that we could have breakfast served for 8 am. At around 9 we left past the market place which had a car boot sale in progress. It was busy going up the B road as it was used by the traffic from and to the A9. It soon became quieter though as we took to the lanes that were part of the cycle way.

 

We passed Cookney Church which is now a home and a Research Consultancy (RUM) There were hardly any houses. Many of the climbs we did today we could have ridden but we were conserving energy for the many long hauls we would have today.

 

We met 2 cyclists who rode beside us chatting for a while till they left for the inland and shorter route to Aberdeen. We turned right and then deviated from the cycle route to find a road- advertised farm shop where we thought we might get refreshments. We found it a while later- The Devenick Dairy- but we had trouble drawing the attention of the people in the farm who were used to people coming by car and even the dogs didn’t stir from their snooze in the porch. Most of the produce was from the farm like yogurts, cheeses, meat and preserves. We bought some “Coos roost” cheese for later which was very nice and Bob said the yogurt was lovely. It was just a shame that they didn’t do teas or coffee.

 

We went by a Fire and Rescue training area where there was smoke pouring out of a building and men with breathing apparatus were waiting to go in. There were a lot of derelict buildings in this area perhaps also used by the rescue services.

 

At Portlethan, a modern town, we found a Premier Inn that although not properly open it served us with coffee and tea and more importantly we used the cloakrooms!

Out towards Findon we passed another tandem coming down a long hill at a cracking pace with a child on the back, another on a rann trailer and then quite a large child sitting in a baby trailer behind that. At least 2 children would be pedalling when it came to the ups!

 

 Passing by workplaces connected to the oil industry (valves)  we rode alongside the railway line for some way and then down towards Girdle Ness where there were beautiful sea views with 3 ships out at sea and then a 2 light system white lighthouse visible from 25 miles out at sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We turned away from open sea in to Aberdeen with an impressive view of the city with its new buildings crammed in with the old and a funfair right by the estuary. We passed containers ships and little dockside shops with advertising in huge characters of foreign language. We went over the Dee on a short bridge into Aberdeen with a Castle and Cathedral on our right. Turning left we reached the station where there was a huge modern shopping and eating area completely under cover and connected to the platforms. We had Highland Stew then caught the 1.50 train back to Edinburgh enjoying seeing the places we’d cycled through and also those craggy sea shores that we didn’t have access to. We caught the train back to Manchester the next day after covering 190 miles this trip.