After the fun and success of last year’s hut-to-hut hiking adventure in the Austrian Alps, we planned for a similar-but-different walking trip on the Speyside Way in Scotland this summer. The two significant differences between the trips are that this one is generally between small hotels in villages along The Way rather than mountain huts, and, for the first time in almost 20 years, we would be traveling without kids. Both of our daughters had their own traveling gigs with one in England and one in Mexico. Instead, we were joined by my sister and her husband, Lori and Ken.
We chose the Speyside Way for a several reasons. First, everyone but me had walking experience in England and wanted to try somewhere new in the UK. Second, my family lineage is Scottish. Third, we thought it would be cool to walk from the highlands to the sea, visiting the diverse landscapes in-between. And, of course we considered the plethora of whisky distilleries in the region as a distinct advantage. Ashley had made reservations at hotels along The Way, though a couple of times we had to resort to a Plan B. We expected to have dinner and breakfast at each hotel, and hoped they would be able to pack us a lunch for the trail if there wasn’t a pub along the way. Ashley also hired a luggage transport company to carry most of our luggage between hotels so that we only had to have the day’s supplies on our back (e.g., water, lunch, camera, the other 10 essentials).
Day 0: Glasgow to Grantown-on-Spey
Ashley and I had a couple of days of sightseeing in Glasgow at the beginning of the trip, mostly by foot as a way of preparation for the trail. We also tried haggis for the first time and had our first educational tasting flight of whisky. We took a train from Queen Street Station to Aviemore, which takes roughly two hours and 40 minutes. Although we could have started walking the Speyside Way in Aviemore, we opted to skip this section and instead add a leg along the coast at the other end. We took an historic steam train from Aviemore along the Strathspey Railway to Broomhill, a station in the middle of nowhere and about two thirds of the way to Grantown-on-Spey. Ashley wanted to walk the remaining four miles, but I wasn’t too keen on dragging my roller bag that far. Instead, a friendly local man at the Broomhill station volunteered to take us into town and dropped us at the Craiglynne Hotel, where Lori and Ken had already arrived. “It’s the least I can do for a visitor,” he replied cheerily as he dropped us off.
Day 1: Grantown-on-Spey to Ballindalloch
This leg of The Way starts out flat for several miles before crossing the Spey River and climbing through rolling meadows and Scots pine timberlands. We’re happy to finally be on the walk. There are lots stiles to pass through, dozens of cows, and hundreds of sheep. Rabbits are plentiful. The ascents aren’t nearly as steep as in Austria, but tiring nonetheless. The books say that it is roughly 14 miles to Ballindalloch Station, which is true. But that doesn’t count the extra 1.5 miles uphill from the station to the Delnashaugh Hotel. For us, it’s a long first day. We’re happy to have earned our first cold pint of Tennents in the hotel pub, where we meet a couple of other walkers heading “upstream” and Spey River fishermen (“It’s called fishing not catching!”). The rooms are very comfortable, the Ballindalloch Castle is just up the hill, and the Ballindalloch Distillery is just down the hill.
Day 2: Ballindalloch to Craigellachie
This is distillery day! The Way largely follows an old railway turned trail and is suitably flat, passing old train stations and under stone bridges for roughly 12 miles to the Highlander Inn in Craigellachie. It also passes distilleries with names like Tamdhu, Knockando, and Dalmunach. Short jaunts off the trail take you to Aberlour and Macallan. Past Cragellachie are Balvenie and Glenfiddich. If that isn’t enough, there are the tasting collections at The Mash Tun and The Quaich whisky bars. We ended up at the Whisky Bar downstairs at the Highlander, sampling a couple of tasting flights and honing our whisky knowledge with Tatsuya, the man behind the bar and true expert.
Day 3: Craigellachie to Fochabers
The Speyside Way changes again on our third day, this time following primarily little-used roads though the countryside. Initially The Way is paved and passes a few country estates before giving way to gated forest roads that climb the side of Ben Aigan. Looking north from the top, you catch your first glimpse of the Moray Firth in the distance. The Way descends again to the Spey River and then up and down into Fochabers. Although we walked 13 miles, mostly on roads, they were not busy. In fact, we saw a total of eight vehicles until we got close to town. We hit the ice cream shop on the High Street before finding our room at the Red Lion Hotel, which is a bit rustic yet comfortable. We had a nice dinner at the Gordon Arms up the street.
The view from Ben Aigan with the Moray Firth in the distance.
Day 4: Fochabers to Garmouth
This was intended to be an easier day to give our tired feet a bit of a break. First, we walked four miles to where the Spey flows into the Moray Firth and spent some time throwing rocks from the beach into the sea and visiting the Scottish Dolphin Center at Spey Bay. We didn’t see dolphins, though others had seen some that morning, but we learned about them and the salmon that used to be so plentiful in the river. Then we hit our first Plan B – apparently we had booked the B&B up the beach from the Dolphin Center for the wrong day. But with some quick cellphone research, we only had to backtrack a half-mile to the converted railroad bridge and cross the river to the Garmouth Hotel. The obligatory post-walk beer was particularly tasty, as was dinner, before we walked the mile to Kingston to watch the sunset from the beach.
Day 5: Garmouth to Cullen
This was our last day of walking and we traded the river for the coast. First, we walked to the town of Buckie, where the Speyside Way officially ends. We continued along the Moray Coast Trail through the towns of Findochty and Portknockie to Cullen. The entire distance is about 15 miles, but it seemed longer on what must have been the hottest day of the year. Highlights of the day were the trail segments that run along the coast where we saw seals on the beach, watched the kids of Findochty jump off the jetty into the sea, and gazed at Bow Fiddle Rock. We had a fine lunch in a pub in Buckie, cold drinks from the store in Findochty, and a well-deserved tablet* ice cream in Cullen. The second Plan B, similar to the first scheduling mishap, brought us to the Royal Oak Hotel, which was fabulous. Of course, we enjoyed the famous Cullen Skink*, and tried to catch the rainbow in the setting sun over the bay.
*Local Delicacies!
Day 5+: Cullen to Aberdeen
From Cullen we took the same taxi that had been delivering our bags from hotel to hotel, to the airport in Aberdeen. It took just over an hour on curvy country roads. We weren’t leaving Scotland yet, but rather picking up one of our daughters to continue on the next leg of our Scottish adventure.
We were lucky to have great weather on our walking trip on the Speyside Way. It only rained on our last night. During our journey, we ate haggis with neeps and tatties, Balmoral chicken, Finnan haddie, and fish and chips. We tried the local brews (Tennents was the favorite post-walk thirst quencher) and made a small dent into the world of whisky (yes, I spelled that correctly). And we generally managed to avoid the dreaded midges! Wouldn’t change a thing.
