Grantown to Ballindalloch, last bit of the main Speyside Way

[gld73]

Still had this middle bit of the Speyside Way to do, having already done Newtonmore to Grantown in the southern half and Ballindallock/Cragganmore to Buckie in the northern half. Doing it would complete the main route, with just the optional Tomintoul spur outstanding then.

I did a Grantown shift on Sunday, busy through the day and evening in fine weather but fortunately not called out after 10.30pm, so got a decent night's sleep. Weather on Monday was pretty lousy unfortunately, Cromdale Hills and anything higher all smothered by low cloud on a grey, wet day, so it was a no-brainer to stay low and finally get this stage done.

Anyway, good to get it done, but not my favourite section of the walk, and I doubt I'll do it again. The nicest bit was early on where I walked alongside the Spey for a bit, but even that was because I missed a turning in the woods for the official Speyside Way route on a more direct path towards Cromdale, so ended up doing an extra mile by taking the riverside path instead. Written instructions for the route tend to be from north to south, so with all the tracks and turn offs, it was difficult to follow the other way, especially as some of the signage along the route was more obvious coming from the north too. Once past Cromdale, a lot of it could just be followed by aiming for the next wire gate thing, there were several on this section.

Before I got to Cromdale, the drizzle started and stayed constant for the rest of the walk, so there were parts of the Way through forestry or around fields that were pretty muddy. A bit of mud wouldn't bother me too much if there were views to be had, but it was just a shame the route diverts so far away from the river and the old railway line for much of today's route as it really could have been any forest or field in the country I was walking through.

Riverside walk beside the Spey on the walk from Grantown to Cromdale, I'd missed the turn off in the woods for the official Speyside Way path

The 2 routes met up just before the bridge to be crossed, Cromdale church on the other side

Old Cromdale train station, the Speyside Way runs along the route of the old railway in front of it at this point, but one of the few stretches today where that happened

Fallen trees had (in the main) been cut to keep the route open, though after this particular chain gate, the path was a bit more overgrown than the rest of the route

Constant drizzle all day so anywhere that wasn't a hard surface was turning to mud

Away from forestry tracks, there are stretches where Speyside Way walkers are coralled along barbed wire corridors. Difficult to get lost in those bits at least.

More chain gates, more corridors, more rain. I gave up taking photos after this.