On rolling the Dyce

I wasn’t feeling in the mood being touristy yesterday, so all I did on that front was to visit the Aberdeen Maritime Museum. It was about fishing, a bit about clippers and a lot about the offshore oil industry. One very interesting bit was a video about the helicopter flights out to the rigs. It seems Aberdeen Airport has a large number of helicopter movements.

I returned to the Youth Hostel to give Leonardo some well deserved TLC. I was working on the drive near the front door when a gent asked me if I was doing repairs. I said: No, I am just doing maintenance.

In the early evening, I was sitting in the Grill pub, contemplating the maps I would be using to get to Rosehearty, when the person sitting beside me asked about my bike trip, having noticed both my helmet and the Sustrans map. We fell to chatting. He was a Welshman who had worked in Aberdeen, but now lived in Houston. He was back on a business trip. I asked the obvious question to which he admitted that yes, he worked for the oil industry. He also said he was glad I was still using paper maps. I gave him a sheepish grin and a nutshell account of the day before.

As I was leaving the pub, I overheard a Brit complaining: “Only in Scotland: it’s raining and sunny at the same time.”

It was getting dark after supper, so I walked the bike back to the hostel. As I neared it, I was approached by a young man coming from the hostel. He inquired if I had a bicycle pump. (My thinking is that he had asked the staff at the hostel if they had a bike pump and been told something like: “No but there is a well-equipped bike tourer staying here who might have one and be prepared to lend it” followed by a general description of yours truly.)

Being someone of a helpful disposition and someone who has had the help of strangers, I cheerfully put the pump at his disposal. He turned out to be from Marseille. He had just arrived with his Peugeot bike. It was something of a vintage affair, possibly older than he was as it had gear leavers on the down bar. It was obviously a road bike, judging from its skinny tires but someone had replaced the handlebars with a hybrid style set of straight bars. It had no racks for panniers. (He was going to use a backpack.) In my conversation with the young man (early twenties) it emerged he had just arrived by air (hence the lack of air in his tires) and was heading off the next day. To where? Oh, I was thinking of Inverness or possibly Aviemore. This set off alarm bells. I explained that was heading to Inverness, but I had planned on three days. (Admittedly, I was going to take a relatively scenic route.) I asked if he had bikes in the UK before, to which he said “no.”

I therefore, asked him to come with me so I could show him some of the potential flaws in his plan by spreading out my maps for him. I also warned him about how it can be tricky to get on a train with a bike owing to limited spaces. As well, I noted the approach of the weekend and the consequent shortage of accommodation. I hope I sounded like I was giving constructive cautions rather than being a naysayer.

The next day seemed bright to me as I got ready, but the friendly young Scotsman at the reception seemed to think it was going to cloud over. I recounted my anecdote about rolling the the weather dice from the Gigha ferry.

From the Hostel, I made my way downtown to where I picked up the NCN 1. It took me through Old Aberbeen and the University on torturous cobbles then by poorly signed roads to the Dyce Railway Station which adjoins Aberdeen Airport. I can confirm a heavy traffic in helicopters as used to supply oil rigs.

The station was also the point where I got on the Formatine & Buchan Way. This is a multi-use path (bikes, pedestrians and horse riders) built on the rail bed of the Formatine & Buchan Railway which from Dyce to Fraserburgh and Peterhead before being done away with by Beeching (though it remained in freight use until 1979).

The NCN 1 used parts of it, other sections being deemed too rough. (Which makes me wonder why they routed the NCN 1 over the cobbles of Old Aberdeen.) Apart from a flooded bit 2.5 miles before Strichen, it was quite alright for Leonardo on tough 37mm wide tires.

The weather was annoying as it was mostly sunny but cool with a somewhat contrary wind. The annoying bit was that it would start raining for a few minutes before stopping. Furthermore, it seemed the hardest rain happened when I was in sunshine! Somehow, I was getting wild results from my dice rolls.

At Maud, I came across the former junction between the Fraserburgh and Peterhead lines at a station that had four platforms. I made Fraserburgh a shade too late to visit the Scottish Lighthouses Museum. From there, I made slowish progress against the wind to Rosehearty and my hotel. As I was walking to get supper, I saw a man putting up signs for some sort of event which included a “Warning Cyclists” sign. Intrigued, I asked what it was about. It seems there is a “bike, run or walk” event happening tomorrow! I don’t feel the urge to sign up.