After arriving in Aberdeen the previous day and finishing our Coast and Castles North tour, and then enjoying a celebration meal in the evening, the following morning finally meant it was time to go our separate ways.

First, however we wandered up the road to the nearest Wetherspoon for breakfast.

Then we returned to the hotel, collected our belongings, said our goodbyes, and set off on our respective journeys. For Sarah and I, that meant a cycle ride to Midmar and a visit Sarah’s cousin Clive and his wife Sally.  We always enjoy our visits (you can read about our 2012, 2015 and 2016 visits).

It was late morning when we cycled through Aberdeen and picked up NCN Route 195, commonly known at this point as the The Deeside Way. This follows the Old Royal Deeside Railway line which operated between Aberdeen, Banchory and then on to Ballantyne.

We cycled past a number of old railway platforms.

At Drumoak we left the cycle network route and made our way to Drum Castle.

This is a Jacobean mansion house.

Of course, we started off with some lunch at the cafe.

Then we took a look around the castle. The castle and estate was the home of the Irvines of Drum for over 650 years.

The lands were given to the Irvines by Robert the Bruce in 1323 as a reward for services provided to the king by William de Irwin.

The oldest part of the building is the tower, the lower hall was converted to a spectacular library in the Victorian era.

To one side of the castle is the chapel, built in the 1500s.

Next, we visited the The Garden of Historic Roses.

The garden is divided into quadrants that show how roses have been cultivated from the 17th to the 20th century.

Eventually, it was time to move on and complete our cycle journey.

We headed towards Milton of Cullerlie.

We then picked up the B977 to Echt.

Here we turned on to the B9119.

Finally, we turned off towards Midmar.

Our cycle journey to Midmar, including our visit to Drum Castle, had taken in just over 27 miles.