Resisting temptation to wander further into the Cairngorms
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The cloud hung low over the Cairngorms for the duration of my walk, though I was quite happy as I’d expected to be wrapped from head to foot in waterproofs all day. In the end it stayed dry the whole way, bar a shower right at the start.
I’d parked my car at the Rothiemurchus Centre car park down the B970 from Aviemore, which is also on National Cycle Network Route 7.
Feeling a bit dozy after a sleepless night, I started to head off in the wrong direction – down the road towards Insh – until I suddenly realised what I was doing and went back to start again!
What I should have done was go out of the car park, turning right to join the tarmac cycle path which parallels the main road.
This walk is suggested on the estate’s walking map – available in the information centre – and is waymarked, though I’d say a map is still required as the markers are often quite discreet and more useful as confirmation you’re going the right way rather than as signs to follow.
At the first side road you come to, take a right turn following the sign to Tullochgrue and Black Park. This dead-end road heads slowly up towards the foothills of the Cairngorms, staying left where a cycle route heads right towards Loch an Eilein.
The climb up the single-track road steepens at S-bends ahead then comes out of the trees, giving you a great view back over Aviemore and across to Loch Morlich as you get higher and higher, even on a day like this.
Follow the road past the farm and, immediately after a cattle grid, turn left down a rough vehicle track that leads down through heather and pines to meet a well-made cycle trail.
Turn right onto this path and follow it through a couple of gates before reaching an obvious crossroads.
I headed left here, which is signposted to the Lairig Ghru and Loch Morlich, then stopped for a bite to eat at a perfect flat stone beside the picturesque Lochan Deo.
These wonderful trails would make a fine setting for a family cycle or a training run, for those that way inclined. Today I was happy to settle for a gentle stroll, though that sign to the Lairig Ghru had got me thinking about longer walking adventures.
I’ve never done the full through-route of the Lairig Ghru, but I remember my dad and his hillwalking friends heading to the Cairngorms when I was (much) younger to do just that. I’ll have to follow in his footsteps one of these days.
My route soon took me past the junction I would follow back to Inverdruie but I followed the path slightly further up to the Cairngorm Club Footbridge, something of a gateway to the Lairig Ghru and the heart of the mountains.
I’d decided in advance this would be my turning point – not least because if I went beyond here I could be away from home for days!
On my return I forked right, following the sign for Colylumbridge along another superb path – as good as the other trails I’d been on, despite the less obvious path indicated on the OS map. After going through a gate, it basically follows the course of Am Beanaidh downstream, though only rare glimpses of this river are possible from the path.
Then, a while after crossing a tributary burn by a footbridge (or by the ford – a great one if you were on a mountain bike!), cross a stile and continue another kilometre to a gate. Beyond this it’s only a short way before you meet the start of the cycleway you were on earlier, and bear right.
You’ll soon end up alongside the nice campsite at Coylumbridge. Keep going until just before the road entrance to the caravan park, then turn left onto the Old Logging Way, a superb shared walking and cycling route that parallels the road.
This will lead you all the way back to the Rothiemurchus Centre, where there’s a cafe and farm shop that’s worth a look if you’ve worked up an appetite, and hopefully had better views than I did!
