Must admit I was looking forward to this trip with some trepidation. I'd been feeling tired in the mornings, this was the longest ride at 64 miles, and there was a strong southerly wind blowing which suggested a headwind coming back. Nonetheless I set off and took the F&BW to Maud. It felt like an old friend as I cycled along, and getting to Maud I followed the same route as I'd taken on Monday for a while. Traffic was light again, I even had a van driver wave at me. I followed NCN route 1 out of Maud, which turned out to be a very good ride, on quiet roads, and passed a signpost for Oldwhat
before crossing the road from New Byth to New Deer. Here, the road descended into Cuminestown and then turned right to ascend a hill and go past Dalgety Forest. I spotted a bike outside someone's home that had been decorated with flowers in pots, something I'd seen several times before. From here the road descended into Turriff, a fairly large town, and quite busy with traffic. I'd come through here on my way to Speyside, and had noticed that NCN1 turned off the main road up what looked like a fairly steep hill. When I got to the turn off, the steep hill turned out to be not so bad, and only ascended for a short distance. The wind, which had been cross-head from the left previously, was now fairly helpful, and I made good progress along the rolling road. It wasn't long before I spotted the River Deveron far below me on my left, although it was partly obscured by trees in the fields below me. Further on, the trees disappeared and I got a full view of the Deveron as it wound its way towards Banff Bay. There were even a couple of fishermen plying their trade.
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| Eden Castle |
Later on the road I came across a stone bridge over a stream and stopped to take a photo. As I crossed it, I noticed a sign for Eden Plants, and a little further on came across the remains of Eden Castle, a 16th/17th century towerhouse. More interesting sights were promised later on, with a sign saying "Warthogs". Sadly, this turned out to be not a herd of tusked pigs, but a "paint your own pottery" place. Why Warthogs I've no idea. Shortly after this, I left NCN 1 and headed down what turned out to be a very rough track for the Bridge of Alvah, something I'd noticed on Google maps when planning the route. It turned out to be well worth the tricky approach, an 18th century bridge over the Deveron in a gorge, and gave superb views in either direction. Leaving this, again via a tricky track, I noticed another track on the right, and thinking this was a route into Duff House took a chance and followed it, departing from my planned route. It turned out I was right, and after a while I passed the Duff House Mausoleum in the woods, another 18th century construction. Following the road through the grounds I eventually came to the main road, and had to work out how to get back on track. This done, I climbed through Banff, past Banff Academy, and dropped down into the sea front at
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| Boyndie Bay |
Boyndie Bay. The sun was out by now, and the water was incredibly clear. Loads of cormorants and gulls were sunning themselves on the rocks. I followed the seaside path into Banff and past the Marina, before leaving the town and going over the impressive bridge over the Deveron into Macduff. I turned off the main road before entering the town, climbing up past the old station which is now a Home Styles store, and stopped for a breather overlooking Macduff harbour. After a drink and something to eat I dropped through the town and past the ships berthed in the harbour, past the shipyards, past Macduff Marine Aquarium and out to Tarlair swimming pools, where my sister remembers playing on one of our holidays in Scotland. After taking some photos I climbed back up to the main road, where the full force of the wind now was in my face. I crawled up the road to the turn off for the coastal route, where it indicated 6 miles to Gardenstown.
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| Gardenstown |
As I had studied the route profile the previous evening, I knew this meant 6 miles of ascending to reach the high point of the trip, which was good, as it meant I knew where the end of the climbing was, but also bad, as it meant six miles of climbing. At least the wind was a little helpful for some of the time. After what seemed an age I spotted a village on the coast, and soon after turned right for what I knew was a little bit of climbing but then a good stretch downhill. Unfortunately this coincided with a full on headwind, so again it was a case of stick it in the small ring and pedal. After a while I came to a turn onto what looked like a farm track, marked Shepherds Loch. This turned out to be another rocky climb, past a small loch which I assumed was the Shepherds Loch signposted, and past a few more houses and farms before reaching a small road, where I turned right and dropped down onto the main road. I think I planned this so that I wouldn't have to spend too much time on the bigger A roads, but to be honest the traffic was that quiet on this one that it would have been easier to stay on the main road. Hey ho, who doesn't love a hard, not strictly necessary climb!
The wind was blowing from the side on this road, and I made good progress, until I turned right off the main road and into the wind again. This road eventually turned eastwards and I arrived at New Pitsligo, where I spotted a garage called Aldersyde Motors. Leaving New Pitsligo, the road took me past some nice forested areas, where the air was filled with the scent of pine needles. Eventually I rode past a sign for Strichen Stone Circle, which I'd seen on day 1, and sure enough I found I was riding beside the F&BW between Strichen and Maud. I was sorely tempted to jump on this and make it a reasonably flat ride back to the B&B, but resisted the temptation and continued into Strichen. Taking the road for Deer Abbey out of town, it soon climbed, making me wish I'd taken the F&BW! Soon though, I spotted a couple of swans with seven cygnets, and stopped for a photo. It was a quick photo as the parents were starting to take an interest in the stranger who had stopped by the fence. The road continued to climb, passing fields with stacked square hay bales, rather than the standard circular
ones that seemed to be the norm. Soon, it was passing more forest areas, and a sign for Louden Wood Stone Circle, which I ignored as I was ready for stopping and a hot shower by now. At the end of the road I turned onto the Maud - Old Deer road and should have turned right a little later for the B&B. However, the sun was shining, I was feeling quite good, and despite the wind I wanted a final ride on the F&BW back from Old Deer to the B&B, so I continued on. It took a while, due to the headwind, but I eventually turned onto the F&BW and rode past Deer Abbey in the opposite direction before returning to Old Deer and the B&B. For all the misgivings at the start of the day, it had turned out to be a real cracker of a ride, even with the annoying wind, and was a perfect end to a fantastic week of cycling in Aberdeenshire.
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