In the end a man with a low-loader arrived from Huntley and took the BMW to Aberdeen, the nearest BMW dealership, to have a new tyre fitted. The old one had a screw in it. We hung around Ballater most of the day, awaiting a call from said dealership, which eventually came, vouchsafing that the car would be ready for picking up latish on Thursday.
Meanwhile we had done the golf course walk, interrupted briefly by a shower and two men with strimmers. Plenty of evidence of the river surge the previous week – uprooted trees and shrubs scattered on the banks. Later we went down Glen Muick and walked part of the way to the loch, but encountered some small insects and retreated. Returned to town and haddock and chips, excellent as usual.
We decided to drive to Pennan yesterday and pick up the BMW on the way back. It poured most of the way there, but miraculously on arrival the rain relented and we were able to enjoy the visit, including some fish cakes and drinks at the hotel, which is under new management and looks wonderful. Many other houses in the village have been smartened up following the landslide, and the whole place is marvellously revived.
We went on to Aberdeen, where we got caught up in some horrendous rush-hour traffic but did manage to collect the BMW. Our satnav then directed us unerringly (though slowly) back on to the South Deeside road while the BMW unsurprisingly lost us, headed for the A93 and took a quarter of an hour longer. Nevertheless we all managed to reach La Mangiatoia for supper just after 7.30pm, the appointed hour. Quite a tiring day, but great to see Pennan again.
Today, egged on by a positive weather forecast, we set off for Cairn Gorm in the BMW, under grey skies full of rain. Happily by the time we got there the sky had relented somewhat, and we enjoyed a coldish break of three hours plus, during which we went up in the funicular, had lunch in the restaurant, bought me a pullover and took some quite good pictures. As we looked round the camera obscura the rain started again and we headed home. Fortunately a warning on the way there that one of the tyre pressures was low proved to be a computer error. But we checked pretty carefully.
On the way back we happened on the scene of an accident with thousands of police and a helicopter in attendance. We deduced that a man on a stretcher was a motorcyclist, but at least he was alive.
It was the Eagles’ 44th wedding anniversary; so Dot bought cakes when we got back.