Day 1 - Saturday - Aberdeen to Gardenstown

After we had been disgorged by the "Caledonian Dozer" onto the platform at Aberdeen at about 7:30 we went in search of somewhere to stash our bags for the day. The coach to Banff wasn't until 3:30pm so we had 8 hours to kill and dragging our bags around all day was NOT an option!

We tried the left luggage area at the station first but when the attendent snapped on his blue rubber gloves and said we'd have to open and unpack every bag for inspection we beat a hasty retreat... mainly because no-one was sure if they unpacked they be able to get everything back in again...

So we headed across the road to the Station Hotel and convinced them to give us day use of a family-sized room for £55. A tenner each to stash our stuff and the prospect of a nice hot shower later... bargain :-)

We headed out for a wander around "The Granite City" of Aberdeen which was, to my eyes, dour, grey and a bit dull. I can't say that it was a great tourist day trip, put it that way. But we did manage to find Boot's the Chemist, M&S and a few other places to stock up on last minute supplies.

After lunch we all headed back to the hotel to freshen up with a shower, a bit of a nap (Ellie doing her Sleeping Beauty impersonation around the corner on the single bed) and a general natter about "stuff".

3:30 saw us boarding the coach to Banff along with, it seemed, half the old age pensioners in Scotland. Let's just say we lowered the average age on the bus by 10-15 years and most of us are 30yo+.

The bus was full so most people took the opportunity to chill out with their iPods and watch the countryside roll by.

And damned fine countryside it was too - green grass, yellow rapeseed and orange gorse mixed with the occassional granite outcrop, burbling brook or crying seabird. Lovely :-)

We meet up with the CRRU crew, Dale and Andreas, in Banff and then had a quick trip to Tesco to empty their wine aisle and then on to Gardenstown.

Gardenstown is straight out of central casting for "quaint Scottish fishing village". It's nestled in a wide bay, right down by the shoreline and then extends backwards up the steep side of the coastal cliff.

The rest of the evening was spent unpacking or around the BBQ doing a meet and great with the CRRU team and our fellow RE expeditioners.

And then someone spotted a Minke whale...