There were 24 out on today’s walk. We had a comfort stop at Brechin Castle Garden Centre as our intended stop at Stracathro Services was closed.
19 members were dropped off at the end of Glen Clova to walk Jock’s Road. We walked up Glen Doll and had a short break at Davies Bourach which has been recently refurbished. We continued along the path crossing Crow Craigies before descending steeply into the head of Glen Callater. We could hear the noise of the deer, as it is the rutting season and eventually spotted them high up on the hillside. We passed Loch Callater to arrive at Loch Callater bothy where we had another break for refreshments before walking the last three miles to the bus.
Jules, our bus driver, drove round to Baddoch on the Glen Shee road and dropped off 4 walkers who took a shorter walk over to Auchallater. When we reached Loch Callater lodge we were invited in by Bill, a custodian of the lodge, who made us a cup of tea to have by the open fire. He has been at the lodge since 13th August, the start of the shooting season. He had to erect an electric fence round the building as the ponies were prone to eating the window frames!! This is a temporary measure as the ponies are only there to help during the stalking season. On the way back we met Kris who had gone to the end point to do a shorter walk.
Everyone was back in time and we had a stop in Ballater for refreshments before returning to Aberdeen half an hour to the good. Alan