Day 14
Thursday 24th - May Old Deer to Rattray Head
Final Day! And a bit of near-the-end acceleration, with an early start and a lovely sunny breeze, carried me from Longside up along those tiny roads, by Rora, Outhill, Pitbirn, Overside and Bylands (lovely names!) to cross the A90 opposite a hotel. Some overgrown and muddy track led on to the final tarmac stretch past Old Rattray Church - where I might have spent longer had the rain not started in earnest. Seemed appropriate as Challenge-finishing weather, but I kept remembering those four or five kilometres back to the main road afterwards, for the bus.
Then, about 500 metres from what must have been the accommodation-block for lighthouse-keepers, I heard a vehicle approach! This was a delivery van, and since it transpired that the block ahead had become a hostel, the driver assumed I was heading there in the now-driving rain, and offered me a lift. I explained why I could not accept - but how eternally grateful I would be if he could wait long enough to take me back to the road. He muttered about a tight schedule; then, taking pity on my drookit state, agreed to wait by the buildings if I could be back in about ten minutes.
There followed a forced march down to the buildings, a pack-drop by his van, and a sprint finish over huge sand-dunes to the beach and back...now, have you ever tried sprinting in deep soft sand, up and down steep high dunes, in wet heavy boots? Of course this included a hurried, totally non-artistic photograph of the lighthouse - that name familiar to every addict of the Shipping Forecast: Rattray Head.
photo © Jean Turner
Puffing, sweating and dripping, I returned in triumph to the van, where the driver fed me tea from his flask, and a muesli bar! Aren't people wonderful? And he dropped me at the A90 with 10 minutes to spare for the bus, which in turn led to excellent connections in Peterhead and Aberdeen, and time to pitch at the campsite and shower before the night's festivities.
A fantastic fortnight, as always, and again filled with new places and new experiences. Next year, however, I might just settle for a short and sociable route!
