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Parked up in van at Linn of Dee for the night and started not too early with an easy cycle into Derry Lodge.
Dumped bikes and headed up the excellent path on other side of the river.
- Nice place to dump bikes
Weather was gorgeous and it was beautiful climbing up through the naturally regenerated woodlands.
- Pretty woodland
- Good path
Eventually we got onto the rockier stuff, much more quickly than we expected. In fact we got from van to the top in about 2.5 hours but it was only when we turned to continue onto Ben Macdui that we appreciated how strong the wind was and it was helping to blow us up the hill.
- Getting rocky
I could barely stand up and was being severely buffeted sideways. Thinking Macdui might be a bit too long and arduous in the wind, we decided to turn back and just have a relaxing day instead, getting back to van for a cuppa with a nice view.
- Blowing a hoolie