Speyside Way

Highland, Moray

One of the original four officially designated Long Distance Routes in Scotland, and now one of the family of Scotland's Great Trails, it traces the River Spey, a renowned salmon river, linking Buckie on the Moray Coast with Aviemore in Strathspey and the Cairngorm fringes over some 65 miles, but with spurs added from Craigellachie to Dufftown (4 miles) and from Ballindalloch to Tomintoul (15 miles). Although it generally offers easy walking on level ground, much on past railway tracks, before Craigellachie there are climbs to over 900ft on Ben Aigan to Red Sheugh, and the extension into Tomintoul contains two more climbs on Cairnacay and Carn Daimh up to over 1,800ft. After Craigellachie it rises gently on the old trackbeds and, after Ballindalloch, a little more steeply in forest to cross the Spey at Cromdale to reach Grantown. The final stages offer views south to the Cairngorms massif and the Lairig Ghru cleft and west to the Monadhliath Mountains. Numerous whisky distilleries are sited along the route, including Glenfiddich. In 2015 the route was extended beyond Aviemore to Kincraig. Work is now well advanced to extend the route to Newtonmore.

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Details:

Path Type:	Scotland's Great Trails
Waymark:	Thistle within hexagon
Attributes:	Scotland's Great Trails Average Gradients Former Railway Coastal Forest/Woodland Moorland River
Start:	NJ425655 - Cluny Square Car Park, Buckie, Moray
Finish:	NH833056 - Kincraig, Highland
Open Date:	1981
Web Sites:	Moray Council - Speyside Way Scotland's Great Trails - Speyside Way MorayWays - Long Distance Paths MorayWays - Speyside Way Annierak - Speyside Way [blog] Walk Highlands - Speyside Way Brian's Walks - Speyside Way [blog] The Speyside Way - Parts 1-3 (Youtube)

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Publications, Badges and Certificates:

Guidebook	Walking the Speyside Way : a Scottish great trail : includes the Dava Way and Moray Coast trails  (Cicerone Press  - 2016 )
Guidebook	Speyside Way  (Rucksack Readers  - 2016 )
Guidebook	Walkers' Britain  (AA Publishing  - 2011 )
Certificate	Certificate for National Trails  (Long Distance Walkers Association )
General Interest Book	Big walks of Great Britain  (Summersdale Publishers  - 2007 )
General Interest Book	Big walks of the north  (Summersdale Publishers  - 2010 )
Guidebook	A boot up the Speyside Way  (Halsgrove Press  - April 2010 )
Guidebook	The National Trails : 19 long-distance routes through England, Scotland and Wales  (Cicerone Press  - 2015 )

Click to showhide 4 more Publications, Badges and Certificates

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