ACC Mince Pie Run 14/12/14

A large group gathered at the Forfar Leisure Centre for the annual Mince Pie Run which was being hosted by Tom & Mary this year.

The snow and ice which had blanketed Forfar for most of the week disappeared overnight and although there was a strong wind it was fairly mild.  We headed up the brae to Ladenford and there were a few spots of rain and it looked grey to the south and west so rather than go down the side of the A90 we turned left and enjoyed the wind behind us for a few miles through Craichie, Bowriefauld and Letham.  We had a wee break at Trumperton and were heading for Froikhiem when Charlie suggested heading over Guthrie Hill which cut a big loop of the planned run, we had over an hour till lunch would be ready and were only 8 miles from town so we headed for a loop round by Redroofs through Montreathmont Forrest and then on to Melgund Castle. Melgund Castle was built in 1543 by Cardinal David Beaton, Archbishop and Chancellor of Scotland. He obtained this secular property, the barony of North Melgund for his favorite mistress, Marion Ogilvy.

From Melgund Castle it was onto the Brechin Rd and into a fierce headwind for the last eight miles Tom & Mary's  where a fantastic spread awaited us, there were over 20 of us there for the afternoon and had Birthday cake for Etta plenty mulled wine beer and good chat, Ron proposed a vote of thanks to all helpers and made a collection for the injured cyclists legal fund before we drifted off into the dusk for home.

Arbroath 15/02/2015

A good size group headed out on a warmer day than expected with the wind from the South East we headed East out towards Arbroath with the thought of having the wind behind us on the way home.

From Lunanhead we took a right through Myreside onto the Montrose Raod past Rescobie Loch and a right through Mains of Balgavies followed by a left onto the Arbroath through Friokheim past the crem.

At the Boysack turn wee Jimmy turned for home and when we turned left again at Chapleton Ron went straight on to Arbroath with the aim to find a new community cafe on the High Street.  We were heading along towards Inverkeilor when we took a right up to Gilchron crossing the Arbroath Stonheaven Rd at Brunton and then a series of right and lefts took us onto the main cycle route.

With talk of a food stop as we rolled towards Arbroath the group decision was the Meddowbank Inn where I was leaving for home and David taking over, taking the group along the coastal path before turning home to get the wind via Panmure.

A dry day for all with the main group getting in over 40 miles - not bad for February.

Next up is a rendezvous ride to Newtyle meeting at the Commercial for around 12:30

Stracathro Rendezvous Ride 01/02/15

A crisp and cold morning greeted us at the leisure centre with Big Jim out for his first Sunday run of the year, inspired by lunch the previous week.

Eight of us headed for Stracathro with new Captain elect Gus setting the route, we took the reverse of the Wednesday night Finavon run which pretty much takes the route north of the Lemno Burn through Battledykes and Oathlaw and down into Finavon as Ron and Jim were stopping at Peggy Sue's for coffee and cakes.  We left them there and headed up the long brae to Justinhaugh and Knowhead, at Tiggerton we took the lesser used right fork down through Balnamoon, Mill of Balrownie and into Little Brechin and the back road to Keithock House and into Stracthro.

It was good to see our hard earned tax's being frittered away by an overstaffed underworked NHS staff in the closed canteen watching Andy Murray play tennis as we headed up to the transport caf on the dual carriage way.  

After thawing out Capt'n Gus took us up over the Hill of Stracathro and into Brechin via East Pitforthie, down over the bridgeand up Hillhead of Burghill before we headed into the wind to Aberlemno and home.

ACC Annual Lunch - Drovers 25/12/15

A good sized group of 10 headed out of the Lochside Leisure Center just after 10 up the Dundee Loan and out towards Lour.

At the old Chicken factory Raymond turned for home as he was driving some of the Ladies to lunch leaving the rest of us to a headwind along to Glamis via Inverarity.  From Glamis the wind was behind us pretty much all the way to the Drovers where we arrived on time after 25 miles.

Lunch was fantastic as always, 18 of us sat down to a great menu with plenty of choice, not bad at 3 courses for £25!  The  run down to Forfar was much colder and darkness was creeping in as the last of us trailed in.

Sunday 11th Jan The Bothy

With this being the camping weekend there was nobody at the leisure centre for the 10:00am run, the weather was miserable - cold and damp with heavy grey sky.  Heading for the bothy it got colder the higher the altitude but the roads were not to bad, just one big patch of ice on the step bend before Peel Farm.

Just at Peel farm a car containing Keith passed in the opposite direction, arriving at the bothy only Charlie was there, he had left at 9:15 but that meant that the teapot was ready and the fire was on, Charlie confirmed that Norman Gus and David were likely to have been in the car as well.

There was beer left over for pudding!

Unfortunately we had to pour our own the beer was from Kirrie Ales - Fruity Wee Blonde and Eden Ales Clockbrew - both very tasty.

There was snow falling as we left so it was straight home to Forfar and the two of set a good pace especially with the wind behind us getting back into Forfar before dark.

Sunday 4th Jan

The first Sunday run of the year was blessed with a bright sunny day with a gentle breeze but very cold, nine headed out of the leisure centre for the Brechin Castle Garden Centre.

With the icy weather we decided to stick on the main roads for the early part of the run and had a nice gentle run to Froikheim and then turned towards Brechin, we had made good steady progress and as the weather was fair we took a right and headed towards Bridge of Dunn.  This meant 5 miles off the main road so we had to ease back and take care on some icy spots.

After the climb back onto the main Montrose Brechin rd we had a slight headwind as we rolled into the town up the wee brae to the cross and out to the garden centre where Brian turned for home.  It's always busy with shoppers but we managed to get a table and some warm food and drinks.

The weather was still fair when we left and headed towards Careston with wee Jimmy setting the pace into the wind, not bad for 82, at the junction Norman and I headed for Noranside and the Drovers at Memus for some fluid replacement leaving the rest of the group for an early finish.

Glen Isla 7/12/14

Another bright sunny Sunday, all be it cold and breezy welcomed us to the Forfar Leisure Centre for  the run up the hill to the Glen Isla Hotel.

Six of us headed off, Brian being the first casualty off the day coming off on some black ice  in the car park, thankfully both Brian and his bike were OK and after dusting himself down we headed on the main road to Kirriemuir.  We had our first flurry of snow in Kirrie just as we turned left for Glen Isla at Viewfield.  We were into the wind virtually all the way, the flurry of snow disappeared then came back with vengeance as we climbed the brae at Purgavie and was pretty heavy by the Sawmill, by that time we all had stopped to dawn full water proof body cover with the President and Secretary bloused out at Dykend to go to Peel Farm leaving just David, Gus, Ron & for the remaining seven miles or so to Glen Isla.

By the time we arrived the roads were white and it it was showing no signs of easing off, thankfullt there was a roaring fire to warm us up and we had a cracking bowl of soup, it was good to see the place fully booked with the new owners making a big effort to squeeze us in.

The first seven miles backdown to the lower levels at intrathen were slow, the tyre tracks in the snow were turning to ice making conditions slippery and we saw a few cars getting caught out with the conditions.  We all made it with no falls and the rest of the way was just slush and with the wind behind us we made good progress sticking to the main raod all the way back into Forfar.

Next Sunday is the Mince Pie Run to Tom & Mary's, with the group leaving from the Leisure center at 10 with a rendezvous time of 12:30ish.