TGO Challenge 2025 – Part 4: The Deeside Way, Ballater to Aberdeen (Days 12-15)

Day 12: Ballater to Aboyne

20.9km and 51m of ascent. Total distance so far: 299.0km

There were 6 Challengers staying on the main tent field, and I was very much the last to go. But even so I was away by 0840, which timed it just right to pop into the Co-op to buy something for lunch, and then hit The Bothy as it opened for some breakfast.

Having already destroyed the trekking pole rubber knobs I’d bought on day 5, I was pleased I was able to buy yet another set in the attached shop.

Today’s plan was super simple – follow the Deeside Way to Aboyne. And there’s not much to say about it – following a former railway track and seeing occasional glimpses of the River Dee.

I’d paused briefly on leaving the campsite to say hello to the Spanish contingent who were pitched in a different area of the site, but they got ahead of me while I was filling my face in Ballater. Even so, I caught them later in the morning and walked with them for a while, but one of the team had a leg niggle (I know the problem!) which meant I soon outstripped them.

I targeted Dinnet for lunch as I knew there was a convenient bench under a tree in the car park, and made full use of it. Just as I was finishing up, the Spaniards turned up and dragged me along to the pub, which turned out to be closed until 3pm. No way I was going to wait that long so I pushed on, after hearing there was something a few miles further on.

That something turned out to be a burger van in a layby next to the Gliding Club. But they had nice cold drinks, which was all I needed.

I stopped in Aboyne to get a few bits and then found the quiet way into the campsite, arriving just after 4pm, and so leaving plenty of time to relax.

I remembered from last time I was here that the patch of ground for tents wasn’t great quality, but I’d forgotten why – it was stony and tree-rooted and consequently took an age to get tent pegs in satisfactorily.

I was also at a decision point, as the next day I would leave the Deeside Way to strike north of Aberdeen to my planned finish, but at this point I just wanted, nay needed, the easiest route to the coast available. But sticking to the Deeside Way meant abandoning my booked accommodation for day 14 (as I’d missed that it was amendable but not cancellable), which I didn’t want to do.

As I was mulling all of this, I glanced at my route card and found I should have been calling Control, so did, and had a nice chat with Ali. At the end of that I felt more certain about what I should do – stick with the Deeside Way.

Once off the phone, I measured out the last two days and booked a hotel in Banchory and a campsite in Peterculter. I also made a note to amend my, now unwanted, Premier Inn booking the next night (because that way I could move it to the equivalent night the following year).

It’s the Deeside Way all the way now then.

Day 13: Aboyne to Banchory

23.0km and 329m of ascent. Total distance so far: 322.0km

I remember the first stretch of today’s walk as being a bit tortuous last time I did it – a lot of fallen trees to skirt around and a beast of a pointless hill to go over. But in the end it wasn’t as bad as I remember. for one thing, the fallen trees have now been cleared – to the extent that I couldn’t even spot where that spot had been.

I made good progress until the hill and then slowed down, much as expected. I was still in Kincardine O’Neil for just after 10:30 and a had a long stop at the village store, sitting on the pavement sipping a milky coffee and noshing on a bacon and sausage bap.

The next bit was more road-based, and I struggled to build a rhythm, stopping again at Potarch and again at the 12km mark.

Then came the path through the forestry and its endless undulations. This became a struggle both foot-wise and asthma-wise – I was really feeling it today.

Somehow, I got to about 19km and was caught by a group of 4 Challengers – Ed and Seb who I’d seen in Ballater and a couple whose name escapes me. We walked the rest of the way together, which made the remaining distance pass very easily.

Ed, Seb and I were also staying at the same place. We checked in and went out to get ice cream from a shop we passed on the way into town. I had a quiet night with a steak in the hotel opposite and a bit of tv back in my room.

Day 14: Banchory to Peterculter

21.2km and 125m of ascent. Total distance so far: 343.2km

With “only” 20km to do today, I didn’t need to be up and out early, so it was sod’s law that today was the day my body decided to go for a 6am wake-up. Consequently, I was ready to go just after 8am, but consoled myself that it meant a good long afternoon relax at the camp site.

This was way too early for the local cafes, so I had to content myself with grabbing something from Greens/Co-op.

The walk itself was very much “more of the same”, and not very remarkable. There was noticeably more evidence that this was a former railway though.

I stopped at the Deeside Railway place and popped into a nearby cafe for a breakfast bap and a coffee. Then I made stuttering progress along the trail for the remaining distance to Peterculter.

I was at the campsite before 3pm, which left plenty of time to rest up my poorly ankle.

Day 15: Peterculter to Aberdeen

17.8km and 85m of ascent. Total distance so far: 361.0km

Away for just after 9am after a leisurely pack-up, I deliberately took it easy today. I had a train booked from Aberdeen to Montrose for just before 3pm and only 10-11 miles to walk along a flat path.

I adopted a very easy pace, stopping to read all the information boards at the former railway stations, and making use of benches when they appeared.

The waymarked trail deposited me in Duthie Park, at which point I then had to actually navigate the rest of the way. I soon hit the river itself and then it was just a matter of following it to the port.

I followed the port perimeter which brought me to the village of FootDee.

I stepped down onto the shingle beach and judged where to stand so that the North Sea would gently lap at my feet. Not close enough, so I went further. Then a large wave rushed in and almost buried me to my knees.

I took a few pics, doodled in a patch of rare sand, then headed for the station, stopping only to grab a KFC for lunch, which I’d been craving for a few days.

I got off the train in Montrose and found myself amidst a throng of other Challengers – none of whom I’d noticed on the train or waiting for it. I hung back a bit to let them all finish officially before me – just in case I was close to securing the coveted last Challenger home spot.

I signed in, then plonked myself down at a table with Rich Flint and John Burt, amazed to find I’d finished after these two stalwarts of the late finish. (I was actually about 9th from last).

While I was there, Kevin came in as the final Challenger, having had some issues finding the bus to Montrose.

Aftermath and Thoughts

For once, I actually made it quite late at the dinner – usually I’m so tired that I don’t last much beyond the dinner itself – but this time I made it beyond the closing of the bar, which for me is good going. This I attribute to the quality of chat and catch-up with my Challenge pals, some of whom I hadn’t expected to be there, them being Thursday finishers this year.

My plan had been to do parkrun the next morning, but the state of my lower right leg ruled that out, so I settled for a lingering breakfast with Mark, then a long chat with co-ordinator Di, then a bit of time-killing in the town. I’d booked a later train when I’d expected to be doing parkrun, so had quite a bit of time to kill.

This took me in search of coffee, and I was alarmed that the plethora of places I’d noticed in previous years had dwindled massively to the extent it was hard to find one. Miraculously, just as I was about to give up, I found a backstreet tea room that seemed vaguely familiar. It was indeed the place I’d visited after my very first Challenge (called Mum’s then, Jane’s now). I went in and as the only customer ended up chatting with the proprietor, in one of those conversations it’s difficult to extricate yourself from.

Down at the station, I found Mr Flint, unexpectedly. Moreover, we were waiting for the same train, so shared the journey to Edinburgh at which point we had separate onward trains.

I’m back home now and the dust has settled. My foot/ankle has got better. Weirdly I’ve been fine running on it, and only developing pain when walking. This made me hypothesise that maybe it’s my footwear that’s helping cause this.

Having spent 4 months marathon training over the winter, I’ve been wearing running shoes the majority of the time, and they are both support shoes and have a drop, whereas my hiking shoes are zero drop shoes and zero support. I reckon the lack of backpacking, or even much hiking, has just been a shock to the system when I suddenly resumed after such an intensive period of running.

I’ve even worn my running shoes for hiking in, and these have been fine, apart from that they are less comfortable space-wise over a long day compared with a more curtailed running session.

My gear did really well this year, although the curve ball of two weeks of unexpected wall to wall warm weather caused some issues in terms of carrying things I didn’t need. I reckon it’s my own fault as I purposely left my sun umbrella behind, thinking I wouldn’t need it.

I do wish I’d brought a chair with me this time – with such good weather I’d have spent a lot more time sitting out at camp.

Apart from the weather-related things, there were a few lessons to take away:

• I really need to quit doing these lonely routes. This year just felt like an unaccompanied slog and I reached the point that I just wanted it finished quite early. For any future Challenge, I need to seek out a more sociable route.
• I also really need to give my head a wobble in terms of the distance. This year’s route was planned at 390km, which if I’d done it all I could have expected to actually be 410km or more on the ground. In the end I did 361km, making it my second longest Challenge. The long route goes hand-in-hand with the lonely route thing too. I need to rein this back in as well, next time.
• There was too much road – I reckon around 320km out of the total was on either road or hard-surfaced tracks. I don’t mind a bit of road walking, but even so that’s a bit too much.
• This year’s camps made the trip. Usually I find that the camps on the TGOC are middling – they’re camps in places I need to stop to make my route work. I might get 2 or 3 nice ones each year, but the majority are nothing special. This was really turned on its head this year, with the general standard much better than usual. I should do more of this.
• On the last two Challenges I’ve developed some sort of leg niggle about 2/3 of the way in – obviously partly because I’ve given myself a long route, partly because I’ve fallen behind, partly because of lack of backpacking in the months leading up to the Challenge. I need to give myself the option of an easy finish every time, and not feel like I’ve failed by choosing to take it.

I spent much of this year’s walk with a battle raging inside my head – between the desire to go high to “make the most” of the weather, and the need to simply get through the walk. At so many points I felt like I was wasting the nice weather, whilst not really having any actual inclination to go up things. I think there’s this sort of unspoken pressure you put upon yourself to do more epic routes and go up higher things, purely because you see other Challengers doing them. But there are plenty of Challengers doing low routes that you don’t really hear of.

This just underlines that the Challenge is what you make it – it can be anything from an insane orgy of Munro-bagging, through to a short lowland route that never goes into challenging terrain. I tend to go for a predominantly low route, but make it more epic in terms of distance. When I do put Munros on the route, I tend to end up not actually doing them, and then beat myself up for falling short.

I need to remember: all routes are valid and it’s as epic as you want it to be. And at the end of the day it’s a holiday.