Dee-ciders Walking Group

OUR Winter/Spring programme of walks covers some favourites, some new and some variations on previous walks. In November we tackled Lord Arthur's Hill in the Alford/Lumsden area - a fine day with interesting views and a new walk for some of the group. Next was a favourite - Wilcebe Road at Glen Tartar - another fine day and pleasant walk. However, the end of November brought wintry conditions so our planned walk to Morven Lodge in Glen Gairn was postponed and instead we stayed a bit closer to home and visited Burn o' Vat and Loch Kinord.

There was snow underfoot, but the sun shone and it was a perfect winter's day with beautiful views of the snowcapped hills in the distance. 2005 walking ended with a short walk around Cam Mon Earn, followed by Christmas lunch at the Irvine Arms - suffice to say that we all ate well, drank moderately, laughed well, undertook the obligatory quizzes well, and went home with the Christmas spirit well on the way!

It seems no time at all since then, but now we have already done the first walk of 2006 - Clach na Ben - unfortunately the weather meant that we only completed about three-quarters of the climb, mist and rain making it unpleasant to go further and, in any case, no views visible. Even those who chose to do the flat walk to Charr Bothy got caught in heavy rain. I suppose we cannot expect fine weather every time we're out, but we keep hoping. Our second walk of the year (weather permitting) will be to Morven Lodge, which is a new one for most of the group and which was postponed earlier so `fingers crossed' for a decent day.

Moira Connon