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Help planning four days on the Moray Ways

Help planning four days on the Moray Ways


Postby Sambara » Mon Dec 09, 2013 4:05 pm

My first post here after using the site and forum as a resource for walk-planning for years, so hope I'm not breaking any etiquette rules or anything!

My partner and I are currently planning to do a walk in January (weather permitting obviously) when we are over in Aberdeen visiting my family for Christmas. We have done a few long-distance walks in the past, both in Scotland and in Spain where we live, but they have been in the summer and camping, whereas this time we'll be going for the comfort of B&Bs! What I'd really like to do is the entire circular route of the Moray Way, which looks really interesting, but four days obviously isn't enough time, especially considering the limited daylight available! We've also had to rule out the whole Dava Way part due to there being no accommodation en route, which leaves the Moray Coast and Speyside Way chunks. Coming from Aberdeen, it looks like the easiest thing to do is:

Day 1 bus/train to Forres and walk to Burghead
Day 2 Burghead to Lossiemouth
Day 3 Lossiemouth to Fochabers

Now here is where I have my doubts. I'd like to mix the coastal route with different scenery so would really like to carry on down the Speyside Way and end in Craigellachie, Aberlour or take the railway path to Dufftown, with the added incentive of being able to end the walk with a distillery visit in any of those three towns. Now, seeing as most of the Fochabers to Craigellachie section appears to be on tarmac, and given that while from Fochabers we have direct transport back to Aberdeen, from Dufftown/Aberlour/Craigellachie we'd have to first get the bus into Elgin and then travel back from there, is it worth that day 4 and the extra public transport hassle? Or could anyone give me any other options I might not have thought of? Thanks!
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Re: Help planning four days on the Moray Ways

Postby jmarkb » Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:11 pm

I know you want to see a variety of scenery (and distilleries, but I'm not sure how many will be open to visitors over Christmas), but for my money, the coast is a lot more interesting than the lower Spey valley. I would just complete the Moray Coast trail to Cullen and get the bus direct back to Aberdeen.
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Re: Help planning four days on the Moray Ways

Postby Sambara » Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:22 pm

Thanks a lot... I'd also just discovered a direct bus back to Aberdeen from Cullen that I hadn't noticed before, so that's definitely an option, and I'm reading good things about that last bit of the Moray Coastr trail as well.... and I suppose the variety of landscape isn't that important for one trip!
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