Day 2 – Ups and downs
Stotfield Hotel stands opposite the Moray Golf Club which has two 18 hole courses and a putting green that was getting good use as I arrived at about 2.15 pm. It was spitting with rain but it didn’t come to anything and, having put Lucy in the conference room for the night, I lugged my two panniers and bike battery up to my room on the first floor. The Hotel has a rather sad feel to it. Grand structure with a wide staircase but needs a lot of tlc to bring it back to its Edwardian best. The room was fine with a good shower over the bath and I washed everything and hung it up to dry, having squeezed as much moisture out of the clothes by wrapping them in towels and wringing hard. It worked: by morning they were dry enough to wear. It was simplest to eat in and I got to the bar at about 6.45 and had a pint of Tennents bitter, sat down and ordered Haggis Pakoras for starters – sorry they’re off tonight. Ok Beetroot Falafel bites. I’ll have the Homemade steak and vegetable pie to follow. Service was quick but surly. All the waitresses were large ladies who looked as though they would rather be somewhere else and food was plonked down without a word. The Falafel bites were good but the pie – oh why can’t people accept that a pie needs to be enclosed in pastry. I was served a steak and vegetable stew with a flaky pastry biscuit. It was tasty enough and there was plenty of it served with mashed potato but it wasn’t as advertised. I suppose £22 for two courses wasn’t bad value but not a great experience. The highlight was a magnificent sunset over the Moray Firth.
I woke early again and was down for breakfast at 0800. Different waitresses but still surly. The fried eggs were seriously overcooked, the potato bread was greasy and there was no haggis or black pudding – altogether pretty disappointing. I made do with sausage and bacon and was away from the hotel by 0857. The sun shone brightly and it was forecast to stay dry until later in the day. I made my way down to the harbour and East beach and stopped to take a picture.
The way out of Lossiemouth was a cycle trail which took me to a lightly used road that passed the former RAF Milltown airfield, now abandoned and covered in crop stubbles, though the runways are still there. Shortly after the airfield the navigators instructed me to turn right down a farm track that deteriorated into a grass track through the woods. Storm Floris had covered the track in fallen branches and I had to GOAP for a couple of hundred yards before I once again found some blacktop. The road was little used and I made good time to Garmouth where I found an excellent cycle track along an old railway. At the start there was even a cycle repair station with track pump and other useful bits for self-service. Although only about a mile long this route crossed over the River Spey (second of the great salmon rivers I have crossed) by way of a magnificent iron viaduct. Impossible to get a picture from the side so here is one off t’internet.
The carriageway is so narrow that there is only room for one user and I had to stop and pull Lucy to one side whilst a young lady with pram came towards me. Further on a cyclist stopped to allow me to proceed.
The track joined a side road and I made my way to Buckie, once home to the largest steam drifter fleet in Scotland but now a shadow of itself. There is still industry and the port refits RNLI Lifeboats amongst other shipbuilding works.
My route now took me uphill and I joined another cycle track, this one not tarmacked but a good surface except in a few places where someone had put loose gravel which nearly had me off the bike. A fairy trail had been constructed for small people, with grottos and wendy houses along a mile or so of the track. I was about 80 feet asl and continued across country until I reached Portnockie where an unlikely diversion through a farmyard arrived at the best bit of cycle tarmac I’ve yet encountered. Sadly only a couple of miles long it the route looked down over the Cullen Golf course – very picturesque.
At Cullen I was pushed back onto the road, not any old road but the A98 which I had been trying to avoid for the last couple of days. Not a pleasant experience made even more scary when a truck towing a caravan decided to overtake a tractor and trailer coming towards me. A minute or so later and I’d have had to bale out onto the verge but all was well. I was glad to reach Portsoy where I found another cycleway to Banff, mostly on minor roads but signed as the National Cycle Route 1 which I’ve been following most of the day and with a lot of ups and downs. Back down to sea level at Banff but still on a cycleway, I skirted the harbour and crossed an old stone bridge which had a pavement that I could ride on and avoid the traffic. It was then back on the A98, fortunately not busy, along the coast to Macduff and I climbed a steep hill out of the town until I was able to turn off onto a B road.
Now the climbing started in earnest and I was reminded of Cornwall last year when I saw a sign saying 20%. For the next 10 miles or so it was up and down some very steep inclines and I was thankful for the motor which hadn’t been used much until then.
As it was, I used about 20% of the battery over those 10 miles to New Aberdour. At that point I went back down to sea level and the last 5 miles or so were along a cycle track beside the carriageway. I found my way to the centre of Fraserburgh and my lodgings for the night just before 3pm.
It's been an interesting day with very different topography, generally enjoyable except for the A98. The weather has been kind with no rain at all although it is still quite chilly at times. Tomorrow, I turn the corner and head south to Aberdeen.
