THE SPEYSIDE WAY

Trying to keep up with the Spey river isn’t easy. This long distance footpath does its best, uncovering some of Scotland’s railway and whisky distillery history along the way.

In the Monadhliath mountains, at the heart of the Scottish Highlands, is little Loch Spey, the humble source of the river of the same name. From this remote tarn a stream of water travels down, through Kingussie and Aviemore, past the Cairngorm mountains, up through Craigellachie, and into the North Sea 157km away.

Propelled by three tributaries – the Fiddich, Lossie and Dullan – the Spey reaches speeds unsurpassed by other rivers in Britain, weaving its way north to Spey Bay, where its force continually changes the size and shape of its estuary. The Speyside Way, as its name suggests, eventually hopes to shadow this journey, at least from Aviemore to Spey Bay. In its present state, however, it reaches from the North Sea coast down to Tomintoul, a distance of 58km.

Water for the whisky
Considering the proximity of the Spey river, it perhaps isn’t at all odd that Speyside is a land of distilleries. Very few of them, however, use the Spey for water – or its main tributaries – preferring instead to use the adjacent springs and rivulets. The distilling is also partly responsible for the railway history in the Speyside area. Defunct for years, the railway tracks have recently found new life. Built in the mid 1800s, they were integrated into the Speyside Way in the 1980s.

South from Spey Bay
Tugnet, at Spey Bay, is a long way from Loch Spey, but there is a practical reason for starting at what is essentially the end of the river and heading upstream. As the terrain is generally flatter from Tugnet to Ballindalloch, this initial journey acts as an uninhibiting warm-up before meeting the more vigorous hikes of Ben Rinnes and Cairn Daimh.

The fishermen’s network of traditional footpaths begins the walk up the Spey. Soon, the presence of Spey Bay’s terns, shelduck, gulls and ospreys wanes, to be replaced by red grouse and deer in the woods. From Tugnet through Fochabers to Boat O’ Brig the way travels down the east side of the Spey, climbing the hill of Aultderg and taking in an impressive view at Ordiequish of the ‘Earth Pillars’, weathered red sandstone formations.

Native oak
Scots pine and the downy birch are the characteristic trees of the area, but at Craigellachie walkers encounter some of the native woodlands which once covered all of the Highlands. Today, Craigellachie forest is a beech wood, but indigenous oaks still survive in places and the plants on the ground are more typical of oakland, indicating that many of those trees once thrived here.

Railway walks
At Craigellachie the Spey is met by the Fiddich, a river that leads wayfarers away from the Spey on an expedition to Dufftown in the south-east. This railway walk is shrouded in wildflowers and is the perfect springboard to experience the Fiddich valley and the remains of 13th century Balvenie castle. The track was originally laid in the middle of the 19th century to serve the Glenfiddich distillery, when the town itself was still only young. It was founded by James Duff in 1817 to relieve unemployment following the Napoleonic wars.

Dufftown and Craigellachie, as well as Ballindalloch further south, were all once served by the Great North of Scotland Railway Company which established the rail infrastructure in the area. The Strathspey railway line, opened in 1863, ran from Boat of Garten to Dufftown to serve the local distilleries, and the two rail walks from Craigellachie retrace part of that route. The lines were closed in the 1960s owing to lack of use, but walkers can still enjoy remnants of the old train stations along the way, from where Scotch whisky was transported all over Britain and abroad.

Telford’s bridge
Craigellachie has also benefited from the engineering genius of Scotsman Thomas Telford (1757-1834). The engineer, who is famed for building the roads, bridges, churches and harbours which opened up the north of Scotland, built a bridge in 1814 at Craigellachie. Up until 1974, when another was built downstream, Telford’s bridge carried the main town traffic across the Spey.

High spirits
Although the railways are gone, whisky distilling continues to thrive in the Speyside area. In fact, there are over forty distilleries here – more than half of the total number in Scotland. One is never far from a distillery in the triangle between Craigellachie, Aberlour and Dufftown and they are consistently found along the railway walk to Ballindalloch, with plenty of them open to visitors.

Last call
The Speyside’s rail theme begins to fade after Ballindalloch, as does the association with the Spey, for the route veers away from the river for the 24km stretch to Tomintoul. Passing the gates of Ballindalloch castle, the seat of the Macpherson- Grants in the 16th century, the hilly walk along the River Avon follows 16th and 17th century drove and cart tracks over the Avonside hills into Glenlivet estate. This area has a particularly good reputation for whisky distilling, and, in the past, distilleries from over 40km away often recruited the Glenlivet name on to their labels. The area subsequently earned the name ‘The Longest Glen’.

The final stage of the walk includes a hike up Cairn Daimh, the ‘Hill of the Stags’. The ensuing descent traverses a peat land, Feithmusach, before finishing at Tomintoul. Founded by the 4th Duke of Gordon in 1776, Tomintoul is the highest village in the Highlands and offers splendid views of the Cairngorms, the Cromdales, and further west, the future destination of the trail – next stop Aviemore.

© Walk Europe
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