Steaming along a Speyside classic
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This popular route is a well known circuit around Speyside and, with easy navigation and well made paths, it makes a great trip out even if the wind is up and the cloud is down on these shortening days.
We’ve had some sunny intermissions between the recent wild autumnal weather and I’ve been lucky enough to get out running in Speyside and make the most of the blue skies.
This circular run takes you through some of whisky country’s best-known villages and uses a low hill crossing to link two sections of the Speyside Way, making a venture out into the cold worthwhile.
I start this run in Craigellachie, but with ample parking in Dufftown and Aberlour there’s a good starting point in each town. There are also regular buses from Elgin so, if you don’t feel like attempting the full route, one or two sections can be completed with the bus taking the rest of the strain.
Park in the Fiddich Park car park, and turn left to start along the Speyside Way towards Aberlour. A short distance along, a sign indicates right to the Telford bridge over the Spey, a worthwhile detour if you have the time (I often walk out to it on warmer summer days after I’ve finished my run).
This unique bridge was completed in 1814 to a Thomas Telford revolutionary design of a single iron arch, with imposing medieval style towers on either side, and the grandeur of the bridge fits perfectly with the subsequent Baronial architecture so prevalent in this area.
The Speyside Way follows an old railway line, snaking beneath the main roads and then south towards Aberlour between the A95 and the River Spey, the latter dotted with fishing huts along both banks.
The smell of baking shortbread from the Walkers factory announces our arrival in Aberlour, and it is because of this I now start and finish my run in Craigellachie. A couple of short flat kilometres at the tail end of a run can seem very long when crippled by hunger pangs from the delicious aroma!
The path leads into the village along the river and into the Alice Littler Park where the old station building is one of the many reminders that you are running along a disused railway line. I suppose if there is anything to thank Beeching for it is for providing us with fabulous recreational facilities in the form of easily maintained ways through spectacular scenery.
Take the lane to the left of the station building that leads up onto Aberlour High Street and cross straight over, to jog up past the Fleming Hospital. The road begins to steepen, and look out on the left for a green footpath sign pointing along Allachie Drive to Dufftown.
Follow this minor road as it makes its way up the hill, ignoring residential turnings to the left. I always make an effort to pause and turn around to take in the views opening up across the Spey Valley. The warehouses of the Macallan distillery below Archiestown are visible, along with an ever-widening view towards Ben Aigan to the north.
After a good steady pull the road eventually turns into a forest track, and the gradient eases. Again, remember to look up, and right, as Ben Rinnes appears to the south especially on the incredibly clear days we are sometimes treated to in autumn and winter.
Continue to follow the track through the forest, the way always marked with signposts or Scottish Rights of Way arrows, until you reach a gate at the end. On the other side of the gate the track becomes a path and Glen Fiddich is revealed ahead of you.
This path is known locally as The Gownie, and is one of the old ways between Aberlour and Dufftown. Still used regularly during the day, I have heard that those who have enjoyed one too many whiskies in their neighbouring village also use it as a way home at the end of a good night.
Now’s the time I make the most of a good trail shoe tread as this section of path is often muddy and quickly drops from moorland into boggy forest. A special treat lies in the last descent as you arrive at the top of a steep, grassy field that offers the opportunity to race, arms and legs flying, down the incline.
At the bottom of the field you have the option of turning left along a track which leads straight down to the Glenfiddich distillery and shortens the route by a couple of kilometres. I prefer to continue to follow the arrows and head straight on to make a detour around Dufftown.
A fenced-in track takes you along the hillside and drops you into the village next to the football ground. Turn right along the main road and then left down Albert Place. Noting the royalty-themed street names, watch for the very Moravian Tomnamuidh Road on your left. Follow this straight ahead as it passes between fields and into a wood. Shortly, to your left, you’ll see the worthwhile reason for the detour as a path leads down the hill to Balvenie Castle, in the care of Historic Scotland.
The road round the castle joins up with the road into the distillery, and turning left along this will take you back to the main road. Turn right onto the main road, and run alongside the road until you reach the historic Dufftown to Keith railway station. If you have chosen to take the shortcut then this is where you will rejoin the route.
I’m no railway enthusiast but I still find the old trains that usually stand at Dufftown station interesting – plus, pausing to peer in the windows gives me a good excuse for a breather and some Jelly Babies.
Turn left and run along the platform, past the ticket office, and back onto the old railway line, heading north back towards Craigellachie. It’s a good 6km back to your start but this tree-lined spur of the Speyside Way is spectacular in all seasons, especially in autumn as the leaves turn.
The old track bed is soon joined by the River Fiddich, which accompanies you alternating from side to side, back to the Fiddich car park. The engineering accomplishment of the railway track is evident by the regular cuttings and bridges on this section, which was last used by locomotives in 1971, freight continuing to use the line for several years after the Beeching axe.
This 20km route is just short of a half marathon, but would work equally well as a day’s walk. All three villages have an ample choice of cafés, pubs and hotels (not forgetting distilleries) – services I find vital as a steaming cup of tea and large slice of something sweet form an essential part of the warming reward for venturing out into the cold.
