Highland Trails part 1 - Speyside Way
It was my ambition to run in the Scottish highlands this year. The opportunity came when three of the engineer trainees I work with moved up to Perth, Scotland. With a bonus bank holiday for the Coronation I would have plenty of time to travel, visit staff and hit the trails.
The route from London to Perth is straight forward. A five hour journey by train to Glasgow is followed by a 90 minute train trip to 'The fair city'. My evening meeting left enough time for a short run around Perth. It was a gloomy, drizzly day, but the clouds cleared enough for me to see the top of the nearby Kinnoull Hill 222m above the city. I headed in that direction.
First I needed to cross the River Tay. A footbridge followed beside the railway line over the water giving beautiful views north and south. Once on the other side the ground began to rise as tarmac gave way to trails. I was soon beneath the tree canopy and pushing hard to cope with the elevation. It was damp and warm with birdsong filling the air. To my left a deer flashed past and vanished from sight.
The winding path eventually arrived at the viewing point where I could just make out the wide river and many church spires through the mist below. A few hundred metres further on was Kinnoull Tower, a folly built by the 9th Earl of Kinnoull to resemble the castles he had seen along the Rhine in Germany.
The woodland paths weaved one way and then another as I descended the other side of the hill and made my way into Perth back along the railway bridge.
The following day I took a Megabus north to the Cairngorm Mountains. My first stop was Aviemore. This is a popular ski resort in the winter season. A local bus ride took me another five miles to Boat of Garten where I was staying in a caravan park. Some supporters of the charity I work for had kindly allowed me to make use of their static home for free.
Just ten minutes after arriving I was changed and out the door in my running gear. I needed to be back in Glasgow on Monday so I was going to make the most of the day and a half available to me.
My plan for the afternoon was to visit the local loch and get a few flat miles in before spending the following day in the mountains. I ran through Boat of Garten which is known as 'Osprey Village' - although I didn't see any of the birds during my time there. The village consists of a dozen or so homes, a pub, a post office and a caravan park. The River Spey runs past and gives the village its name based on the ferry crossing that used to be there. There is now a road bridge which I crossed before heading east into Abernethy Forest Nature Reserve.
Thick woodland was a joy to run through, with soft loamy soil underfoot and birds singing high above. It was a dry day, cloudy but with breaks for the sun to shine down and very warm. I followed a trail path deeper and deeper into the pines until a sign appeared for Loch Garten. The surface of the lock was still and reflected the far hills on the other side. An elderly couple had arrived before me and the wife was just walking into the cold water for her daily swim. I was tempted, but there was more running to do first.
Rather than circle Loch Garten I decided to take an alternative path to the nearby Loch Mallachie, a smaller but equally picturesque place. After taking some photos I returned the way I had come and then set out north along the Speyside Way.
There are four major long distance walks in Scotland; the West Highland Way, the Southern Upland Way, the Great Glen Way and the Speyside Way. Running from Aviemore to Buckie on the Moray Firth, the Speyside Way stretches for 65 miles in total. I followed it for six miles via Nethy Bridge as far as Grantown-on-Spey.
The first few miles to Nethy Bridge were pine forest. Small blue, and orange tip butterflies danced in the air as Capercaillies croaked and clicked invisible under the bushes of yellow flowering heather. Great tits and Chaffinches whistled and chirped as they flitted from branch to branch on pine trunks draped in grey and silver blue lichen. Clam shaped fungi clung to dying trees and every now and then another deer startled and fled through the white flowers that covered the ground.
At Nethy Bridge I stopped for a coffee at the small cafe by the forenamed bridge. It was busy with cyclists and walkers and I was glad to get back out into the peaceful isolation. The woods were now behind me as I ran through open farmland past cattle and sheep, their lambs vigorously suckling. The river flowed silently, yet powerfully beside me, and mountains rose up all around. The path was flat along the valley floor as it followed an old disused railway line.
At Grantown-on-Spey I took an alternative trail which was marked with a Capercaillie bird. Unfortunately it wasn't marked very often and I soon became lost in a thick wood. I tried using my phone but it wasn't able to accurately locate me so I headed in the direction that most felt like south. At one point I was trapped in a field surrounded by electric fencing. I did manage to find a corner that wasn't hooked up to high voltage and climbed over the barbed wire. After fifteen minutes of navigating fallen trees and thick mud I emerged into a clearing and spotted a signpost. I headed downhill and was relieved to see the River Spey below.
Now back on the Speyside Way I retraced my steps to Loch Garten. I arrived at the waters edge, hot tired and thirsty. There was no way I was drinking the water, the Loch was a reddish brown colour, but very clear. Instead I removed my shoes and socks and paddled out, allowing the freezing water to chill the muscles in my legs. I jogged the last mile back across the bridge to Boat of Garten which brought the distance to 26.2 miles. Time for a pint of local Cairngorm beer.
