Tue/Wed/Thu

Gave golf a rest on Tuesday and spent a bit of time in the gym before meeting up with Jas and Ken, who had just flown in on one of his brief sabbaticals from Abu Dhabi, at the Legion.

It was the second week of our Wednesday night Summer Quaich competition and the forecast was even better than it had been for the last 10 days or so. It had promised to be warm but it exceeded our wildest expectations. When I left Fraserburgh it was a very pleasant 14 degrees C, and this increased to 17, just a few miles inland at Strichen. By the time I got to Inverurie it was up to 21, and the official starting temperature in the golf club car park was 22 degrees, although John McWhinnie reported his car had clocked 24 degrees at one stage on the South Deeside Road. Witness first outing in shorts in Scotland this year!

Thursday was the usual management meetings day in Fraserburgh and Aberdeen but I managed to make it (just!) to the gym before the 4 pm deadline and put in an hour or so's work before heading home. I had asked Jo if she fancied coming along, but she couldn't make it today - perhaps tomorrow?

Saturday/Sunday/Monday

Saturday did turn out lovely - in fact the best season opening day I can remember at the golf club. We drove to the Green Inn for the evening's gourmet meal and accommodation - preceded by a couple of pints in the Prince of Wales, Ballater.

The meal was excellent, as was the breakfast in the morning and the weather again, so we all wandered over from Deeside to Donside and paid a visit to Corgarff Castle, one of Historic Scotland's properties. From there, we followed the Don eastwards and had planned to lunch at the Glenkindie Arms Hotel. We arrived there just before 12:30 and went inside and sat at two tables adjacent to the bar. There were a few other customers eating and drinking, so we waited for service - and waited and waited. A young girl was drying forks and knives and completely ignored us for about 15 minutes before one of us eventually stood up and asked for some drinks - forks were slammed down and huffily and very slowly we were served. I was a little disappointed that the only ale on offer was from Inveralmond - we had hoped for some from the new brewery we have all been hearing about, but I didn't want to ask any more difficult questions.

We were all a bit put off by the hostile reception and decided to give lunch here a miss and headed further east to the Kildrummy Inn for lunch, but couldn't get in there as it was fully booked, so we carried on to Bridge of Alford and stopped at the Forbes Arms. A fine pint of Ossian's and the carvery lunch soon made us forget our previous failures. On a day like today, it's such a lovely spot and Leslie and I posed outside (above).

Made it back to Banchory in time for Sunday doubles.

Monday was also lovely, and having missed Sunday golf, I couldn't resist and contacted Keith and Jas and we played 16 holes after work.