Who said walking beside a river was easy? Speyside Way (May 2025)
- webmasteribex
- May 29
- 2 min read
After an impromptu coffee break at Buckie on the east coast five of us started the Speyside Way in blustery weather conditions. Some lounging seals were spotted before we reached the Dolphin Centre at Spey Bay (described as underwhelming by one member of the party). The weather improved as we headed inland towards Fochabers with its curious commemorative garden to famous Fochaberians. We had a bit of a slog on the road towards the end before dashing back to enjoy the calming therapy of the hot tub at our comfortable croft conversion, Ballinluig, near Grantown.
The weather continued to improve as we continued the route over the next 4 days. From Boat o’Brig to Aviemore we passed a couple of French tricolour sporting distilleries and lots of restored dormant railway stations.
We enjoyed a particularly pleasant sojourn on the taxing 15-mile Tomintoul spur section at the Glenlivet Distillery for a cheeky mid-day flight of “uisge beatha” enjoyed with blue cheese popcorn.
The route was peppered with pleasant villages with welcoming coffee shops though the length of the daily sections began to take its toll on our feet as we reached Grantown on the Wednesday. A friend who has moved to the region joined us for our final section which ended after some welcome ice creams in Aviemore on Thursday 8th May. In total we walked about 80 miles – 65 on the Buckie to Aviemore main section plus 15 on the Tomintoul spur add-on.
Author: Patrick
Aside from the magnificent achievement of the Trio who completed the Speyside Way to Aviemore, some Ibexers mixed the Way with some bigger Cairngorm Munros; it was hard to resist the temptation especially as the weather was clear and sunny for much of the week. Ben Macdui was first, still with a decent amount of ground snow, followed by Bynack More, to see the “Barns of Bynack”, tors reminiscent of Stanage Edge in the Dark Peak.
Finally, once Patrick had warmed up with 80 miles of walking, he joined the team to climb the giant Braeriach via the boulder field of Chalamain Gap and the Lairig Ghru, a stunning pass that runs from Speyside to Deeside. The views from the plateau made the climb well worth it, looking down over the source of the River Dee (the highest spring in Britain) and across the deep corries to a number of the highest Scottish peaks. Braeriach sadly translates as the grey, drab grizzled mountain, although it was anything but on our day. One of its corries translates slightly better as “porridge corrie”!
Speaking of food… we were as ever fed very well by three kitchen teams throughout the week and thanks must go to Susan and David for organising the shopping and menus as well as all the accommodation and logistics.
Author: Patricia
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