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September 2024: Banffshire
Julie having not yet fully recovered from hip surgery, we decided to not do our usual ‘first week in September’ cycle touring holiday. We did, however, cycle some of the tour route as day-rides from one of the hotels we had earmarked for the tour. We stayed for 1-week at The Mill House hotel, Tynet – just to the south of Portgordon. And as we discovered, this hotel is perfectly located for two excellent day-rides! Perhaps a little ‘tired and rundown’ materially, but The Mill House staff are excellent and the kitchen surprisingly good. If you want a cycling weekend, The Mill House is central to two fabulous day-rides. Route is best done anticlockwise to minimise steep climbs. There are two climbs that exceed 150Watts: start is marked red and end green. The first route (26-miles, 1780ft ascent, grade average-B(60W) – around 3-hours) takes us northwest to join National Cycle Route-1 which, in this area, is on a repurposed railway line heading west. Here we cross the River Spay using the old railway bridge. Soon after crossing The Spay you arrive at Garmouth, where the route leaves NC-1 and heads south on Church Road; a delightfully quiet road with great views of The Spay. At Fochabers we cross The Spay a second time and, soon after, head south once more: always following The Spay. A nice place to stop for coffee and cake is Gordon Castle, just to the north of Fochabers. A little south of Gordon Castle there is a marked trail to a view point: ‘Ordiequish Earth Pillars’. I think the view has, perhaps, diminished since the trail-head was cut; a lot of tree growth obstructs the view. Soon after the view-point the road descends a small valley, and the climb back out is the hardest of the route: around 2.5-minutes averaging 122Watts and peaking at 188Watts. After the climb, you can take a rest looking out over lovely pastoral views. Back in the saddle, we continue south. At Boat O’ Brig: after a long descent, Julie knows what’s coming next; the second climb of the route. Not as hard as the previous climb, this one averages 100Watts and peaks at 172Watts: we head east uphill for half-a-mile.
Being Spay-side, there are lots of distilleries and bonded warehouses. The right-hand image is the ‘Malcolmburn Bond’: still growing in size, it covers around one square kilometre! The second route from the hotel (26-miles, 1970ft ascent, grade hard-B(62W), around 3-hours) heads southeast from the hotel. A couple of miles or so from the start you come across the memorial to the ‘Women’s Land Army’, located just east of the hamlet of Clochan. On this route you’re never too far from the sea: on quite roads with great views. The route takes you through many tiny hamlets, as here at Drybridge. We reach the sea at Cullen, where we stop for coffee and cake at the ‘Rockpool Café’ – very nice! From the café you can see the viaduct that we will be cycling over: back on to NC-1 along the coast.
Up on to the viaduct and back on the NC-1, we head west. The old railway bed makes for easy cycling along the coast. At Portnockie a short stroll leads you to the ‘Bow Fiddle Rock’. We were impressed enough with the formation to visit it a second time; with more drama in the sea and sky. It was another lovely day-ride, in fabulous weather! We did two other bike rides, and when it was raining - which wasn’t often - we visited interesting places.
	On the worst weather day we donned our waterproofs and drove to Burghead. A small peninsula with good natural defences that the Picts use to build a fort in the 4th or 5th century. Not much of the fort remains, but its well is still there, and is very much worth a visit!
We visited Portsoy, a beautiful fishing village with a rather nice dolphin statue. And whilst in Portsoy, we recommend the ‘Port House of Portsoy’.
Portsoy is where some of the 2016 version of ‘Whisky Galore’ was filmed. I couldn’t quite get the camera angle that took the image of Eddie Izzard: I would have needed a boat!
Sueno’s Stone is worth a visit. Believed to have been carved around 800AD, it is 21ft tall and is the largest monument of its kind in Scotland. We cycled to the stone as part of a short explore of Findhorn.
The last night of the holiday we stayed at Boath House hotel and restaurant. Great house and gardens with an excellent kitchen, we much recommend it! Cheers!