Figure 8 On A Bike

We turned around from the climb on Lochnagar quickly and repacked the bags for a bikepacking loop without the climbing gear. We are starting to get tired of the constant packing and unpacking at this point in our trip but this packing was a unique puzzle to repack as we figured out how to slim down our load, what can we leave behind and what do we need and what can fit in the bags we decided to limit ourselves to. Thankfully, the hostel was fine with us leaving piles of stuff in their carport which is just one of the many reasons we love Ballater Hostel. Once we got the items figured out we rolled away from Ballater to start our 5 day bikepacking loop of the Cairngorms. We felt still heavy, but comparatively light and free! Who knew getting rid of a rope and a pile of metal could feel so good! Look at those slimmed down bikes!

Waking up in Aberdeen we enjoyed the hotel breakfast for the second time (since that was our dinner), re-organized all our bags after the flight, and got on the bikes probably a little late, as if it was just another day with nothing new. Of course a lot of things *were* different; the culture shock started right away as we had to continually remind ourselves to ride on the left side of the road, adding extra confusion as we tried to interpret intermittent bike lanes and signs directing us on and off the sidewalk. We had a bunch of errands to do and supplies to get in order to be properly situated in a new country (it's hard to cook on the far end when you can't fly with stove gas or a lighter, and Norwegian climbing guidebooks aren't much help in Scotland). Any sense of "same-old same-old" definitely shattered when we arrived at the Asda (supermarket) and had to dodge waves of uniformed adolescents rolling through the snack and take-away sections, since a nearby...