From Aviemore walkers can take the main route of the Speyside Way (Stages 1–10) to complete a walk from source to sea. An alternative route is also described that runs along the Speyside Way to Grantown-on-Spey (Stage 3) then branches off on the Dava Way to Forres. From here taking the Moray Coast Trail to Cullen makes a fine end to a long trek over the hills, passing through the glens and along the rugged coastline of this exceptional part of Scotland.
Another option for those walking the Speyside Way is to take the Dufftown Loop at Aberlour (Stage 6), either as a day walk (round trip from Aberlour) or as an alternative to the official trail between Aberlour and Craigellachie.
Other walkers may prefer to start their route in the upland village of Tomintoul and follow the official Tomintoul Spur of the Speyside Way that joins the main Speyside Way route at Ballindalloch after 15 miles of delightful upland walking.
All these trails, described in the guide, allow numerous walking itineraries of varying length to be planned. Many walkers will be content to walk only the Speyside Way or one of the other official waymarked trails in one visit, so this book will offer inspiration and guidance for several walking excursions to Speyside and Moray.
| Summary of ascent on the Speyside Way and associated trails | ||
| Route/Stage | Feet | Metres |
| Badenoch Way | 490 | 150 |
| Speyside Way | ||
| Stage 1 Aviemore to Boat of Garten | 130 | 40 |
| Stages 2–4 Boat of Garten to Cromdale | 230 | 70 |
| Stage 5 Cromdale to Ballindalloch station | 1050 | 320 |
| Stage 6 Ballindalloch station to Aberlour | 0 | 0 |
| Stages 7–8 Aberlour to Fochabers | 1150 | 350 |
| Stages 9–10 Fochabers to Buckie | 0 | 0 |
| Dufftown Loop | 655 | 200 |
| Tomintoul Spur | 1800 | 550 |
| TOTAL Speyside Way – Aviemore to Buckie (main route) | 2560 | 780 |
| TOTAL Speyside Way – Tomintoul to Buckie | 2950 | 900 |
The River Spey
Ptolemy tells us that the Romans called the Spey the ‘Tuessis’. The river's modern name is Celtic in origin, possibly meaning ‘hawthorn stream’ or describing its frothing swiftness. The 12th-century manuscript De Situ Albaniae describes it as ‘Magnum et miserabile flumen, quod vocatur Spe’ (‘the large and dangerous river, which is called Spey’). In the early period of Scottish history it provided the boundary between the provinces of Moray and Scotia. FH Groome, in his Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland published in the 1880s, stated that the Spey had little commercial significance – very different from the Spey of today with its important tourist, fly-fishing and whisky industries, not to mention the importance of walking to the present economy.
The River Spey seen from Speybank Walk near Kincraig (Badenoch Way)
At 98 miles long the Spey is the second longest river in Scotland and has three main tributaries, the Fiddich, the Avon and the Feshie. It is the fastest flowing river in Britain, dropping around 600ft (180m) in its last 35 miles to the sea, its force constantly changing the layout of its estuary. Over 400 million years ago the Grampian mountains were formed, but erosion over aeons of time has resulted in the rounded shapes of the Monadhliath, where the very first waters of the Spey flow into Loch Spey, 1150ft (457m) above sea level. During the past couple of million years the great strath (‘broad valley’ in Gaelic) of the Spey was formed by massive glaciers scraping away rock and leaving gravel and sand in its place. The middle section of the valley between Newtonmore and Grantown is today known as Strathspey. Finally, near the sea the Spey passes over sandstone and terminates on the coastal shingle ridges of the wide Spey Bay.
A fisherman in the River Spey on the approach to Tugnet (Beryl Castle) (Speyside Way)
Until the 18th and 19th centuries the river was either forded or crossed by ferry at various points along its length. Then the great bridge builders took over. Craigellachie Bridge over the Spey, the oldest surviving bridge in Scotland, was designed by Thomas Telford and built between 1812 and 1814. The longest bridge over the river is the large Garmouth viaduct built in 1886 – the force and changing course of the Spey being the reasons for its great width. Timber-floating began on the river in the middle of the 16th century, but during the 18th and 19th centuries there was massive log-floating activity from Strathspey to service the extensive shipbuilding industry at Kingston, with Speymouth becoming one of the major exporters of timber in Britain. Today most craft on the river are recreational canoes.
The Spey is one of the most important rivers for Atlantic salmon and sea trout in Western Europe. On average over 7500 salmon and 3500 sea trout are rod-caught each year, generating over £8 million per annum for the local economy. The Spey Fishery Board was established in the 1860s under Salmon Fisheries legislation and is still today responsible for the management, protection, enhancement and conservation of salmon and sea trout stocks in the river. A team of bailiffs patrols the river and coastline, as poaching is a serious problem, and the bailiffs are also responsible for the Board's hatchery, where up to a million River Spey salmon are hatched and distributed to rebuild stocks in depleted areas. The Spey Research Trust is another responsibility of the Board; it both monitors stocks and promotes awareness of the Board's work to locals and tourists. Sea lamprey, freshwater pearl and otter, which are endangered or rare, also survive in the clean waters of the Spey. This has resulted in the river being designated both as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
Fishing
Fly-fishing, the premier sport on the Spey, has been practised for thousands of years. One of the earliest descriptions of fly-fishing appeared over 2000 years ago in De Animalium Natura, where Claudius Aelianus reported that ‘fishermen wind red wool around their hooks and fasten to the wool two feathers that grow under a cock's wattles’. The first British book on fly-fishing was written by Dame Juliana Berners in 1496: Treatise of Fishing with an Angle.
The young salmon spend a few years in the river in which they were born before swimming out to the salt-water feeding ground of the Atlantic. Only a tiny percentage of those hatched survive to return up-stream to the waters of their birth to breed, but