free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
User reports on this section aren't very encouraging. Parts of it are variously described as difficult, disgraceful and dangerous. I related this news to Moira and we talked about what to do. One option would be to skip this section altogether, but if we did that we wouldn't have completed the Speyside Way. The other option was to go for it and adapt as we went along. We were after all doing this for pleasure and if we weren't enjoying it we could do as others had done and bail out to the A95.
It being August, travel restrictions had been lifted and for a short time we were car sharing. So Pete offered to drop us off in Ballindalloch and meet us in Cromdale. We'd done the Cromdale to Grantown bit just before lockdown, which shortened what was left to do. The time I gave Pete for when we'd hopefully reach Cromdale was based on the WH time, but we took longer than my prediction, which is the main reason we ended up doing what we did.
The sky was overcast as we started off along the line of the old railway, passing the old Ballindalloch station. So no photos of that part. When the line of the railway is blocked by a fence the SSW turns sharp left and climbs through trees to more open views, with fences on either side.
The story is that when the Speyside Way was opened in 1981 the landowner of this part of the old railway line had refused permission to go over his land. Something to do with revenue from fishing, which is a shame as walkers wouldn't have affected fishing any more than in other parts where fishing is happening. So the route had been forced away from the line of the old railway up over farmland which is at times awkward and gives the feeling walkers are more tolerated than welcomed.
The waymarkers and chain gates are helpful but we were also grateful for the detailed instructions from Paul and Helen Webster on this next section of the way. So as always thanks to them for their input.
Corridor of heather and fences
Purple hills of Cromdale
Nor sure where this was but the photos are in order taken so must be early on
Right turn here
Another sign
Gated footbridge
Just before a chain gate on to a path along the edge of a wood we sat on a grassy bank and had a leisurely lunch with a nice view back along the Spey valley.
We went through dozens of these chain gates
Hills now closer
I can't remember where it was in relation to my photos but part of the way goes along the side of a burn on an uneven traverse of a slanting bank involving tree roots, rocks and the like. It runs parallel to a fence on the other side of which is a good level track. I assumed it wasn't going where we were going but it did and we eventually joined it. While I wouldn't describe the path along the burn as dangerous, I wonder what the thinking is to make folk do that when there's a better alternative just over the fence?
Patchwork quilt fields
Patchwork closer up
Another sign and chain gate
Stepping stones over boggy field
Back on 10th March when the UK was starting to waken up to the threat from Covid19 we had walked the section from Cromdale to Grantown. That day Pete dropped us off in Cromdale and drove to Grantown where he spent a pleasant half hour in the Grant Arms Hotel with a cup of tea and scone before walking back to meet us. So I assumed that's what he would have done again, except that the Grant Arms wasn't serving non residents and he'd been sitting in the car in Cromdale for an hour already.
When we reached a footbridge over a burn I looked at the map and realised our route was about to go uphill again and along a muddy forest track. This was another part of the route that got a bad press (probably worse than the first) so with being behind schedule and Pete already waiting it wasn't too difficult to decide what to do. We followed the track down through the farm to the main road and continued along the grass verge, which we figured would be quicker than going uphill again.
Baled out by that farm - see what I did there?
After 20 minutes of walking along the grass verge I let Pete know where we were and he drove the short distance from Cromdale to meet us. If he hadn't been waiting I'm sure we'd have completed this section, even if only out of curiosity as to what was so wrong with it! But in the circumstances it was the right thing to do and as Moira said we can always come back sometime to finish what we missed. Maybe.
So now for the undisputably lovely part from Cromdale to Grantown - and it's interesting to see how much better the light was in March than in August for taking photos.
Keira keen to get going
Cromdale station
Cromdale Old Kirk and a stately pine
Bridge over the Spey
Church from other side
Checking the route
Not that we needed to
On we go
Sprinkling of snow on Cromdale hills
The twisted pine
Another view back to Cromdale hills
Seat for a photo
Grantown golf clubhouse
Anagach woods, habitat to endangered capercaillie
Grantown golf course
Grantown main street
Our overall verdict on the Ballindalloch to Grantown part of SSW?
Admittedly we skipped the arguably worst part but we enjoyed it and wondered if the expectation of long distance 'way walkers' is different from that of 'hill walkers' who are used to difficult and lumpy terrain. We certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from doing this section and if concerned about areas of rough, slippy, muddy ground, you could take a pair of poles like we did.
