We had 33 walkers on the bus today- many new faces who had seen our outing advertised on the new web site. We picked up a few people en route. Our bus driver dropped us in the village and we commenced our walk in beautiful sunny conditions. After about 2 miles into the Gight Woods Reserve a heavy snowfall, which only lasted a short time, did not dampen our enjoyment of the walk. The trees were hanging heavily in snow – a photographers delight. We crossed the River Ythan on the Otter Footbridge and continued uphill on a very muddy path until reaching the old bothy and the remains of the Estate’s dovecot. Our onwards route took us to the remains of Gight Castle, where we took lunch in glorious warm sunny conditions. Was this really winter! After lunch , we continued through Badiebath Forest and eventually crossed the River Ythan on a substantial stone bridge.We joined our incoming route and continued back to the bus at Methlick.We had our customary short stop in the local hostelry to compare our days walks, chat to the locals and then our driver had us back in Aberdeen well ahead of time. A terrific 7.5 mile outing enjoyed by everyone in wonderful sunny conditions.
Graham