Chasing the train and beating the rain

Today was going to be a rest / tourist day due to heavy legs and forecast heavy rain, however an improved forecast and restless legs meant that I quickly planned a short ride to Broomhill Station on the Strathspey Steam Railway, hoping to lay the ghost of my failed steam train video attempts. I worked out when I'd need to set off to catch the train, and after a quick spot of gift shopping in town I headed out along the Old Military Road to the Old Spey Bridge, crossed the A95 and headed south on the Speyside Way. At one of the gates along the way that needed opening and closing I met a young lad coming in the opposite direction on his mountain bike. We exchanged pleasantries and I casually mentioned that the gates were a bit of a pain, whereupon he equally casually replied "Oh I just usually lift my bike over them". Ah, what is is to be young!

I carried on the track, opening and closing gates, and came to Balliefurth Farm, where I'd encountered the pigs a couple of days ago. No pigs, but a fine looking cow that I stopped to take a photo of. As I was getting ready, the cow lowed, possibly asking me to get its best side! After taking my leave I continued along the track, starting to get a little nervous about the time as there was no sign of my planned turn off yet. The station I was heading for was a terminus, so I had bags of time to play with, but I wanted to get a video of the train entering the station if possible. Eventually I came to my turn, and headed right onto a farm track that soon brought me out on Station Road. I was feeling chuffed with myself, as it was literally a couple of minutes to the station and I had ten in hand, when I heard the sound of an incoming steam train and saw in the distance the 11:21 arrival at Broomhill steaming in a good eight minutes early! There was nothing for it but to head to the station, and onto the platform where the train had pulled up a few hundred yards past. I watched (and videoed) as the locomotive uncoupled and came back down the track to reattach itself to what would now be the head of the train as it headed back to Aviemore.

After taking another couple of videos of the train departing, I too left the station, heading back along Station Road and over Broomhill Bridge, which was opened on November 27th 1894 by The Right Honourable The Countess Dowager of Seafield. I could feel the wind blowing now, quite strongly and seemingly from a southerly direction, and it felt a lot colder than recently. Fortunately at the end of Station Road in Nethy Bridge I turned northwards onto the B970 towards Grantown On Spey, with the wind now at my back. I passed the Nethybridge Hotel, where chairs with white lace trim were being taken into a well mown field opposite. If they were for a wedding I hoped the bride had her coat, and the wedding was to happen before the rain came. Further along the road I stopped to take a photo of the lovely Abernethy Old Kirk, the earliest record of which is in a Latin document from 1187-1203, although the present building dates from 1767. It is a Commonwealth War Graves site with 11 burials there.

In the field opposite there was a woman tending to an allotment, and I thought she had a radio on, but it turned out she was talking to a friend on the phone, quite loudly! Next door to the Kirk is Castle Roy, and I reacquainted myself with Murdo who had moved from a field by the car park to just by the castle walls, where he was contentedly grazing. From here it wasn't long before I was descending to re-cross the A95, and I stopped underneath the Old Spey Bridge to take a couple of photographs. Up close the stonework is impressive, even though it has weathered, and the bridge must have looked a fantastic sight when it was newly constructed. Shortly after, I diverted off into Anagach Woods and, rather than head straight back to Grantown On Spey, I turned right into the woods and followed some great forest track towards Cromdale. The tracks varied in surface, and criss-crossed making it difficult to work out where I was, or should, going. However, thanks to some expert navigation(!) I found myself at the bridge over the Spey at Cromdale.

I'd driven over this the previous day, and it is signposted as a Weak Bridge, with only room for one way traffic. It's an interesting metal girder bridge though, and on the opposite side of the bank to me was a pretty church, belonging to the Church of Scotland. Being at river level there was a bit of climbing to do to get to the B9102 which pointed to Grantown On Spey in a mile and a half. It was starting to spit now, and I followed the road back into town and back to my hotel, just in time to avoid the rain. Another very good day, now for a bit of rest and relaxation.

An unexpected journey, and planning on the fly

Today's trip started in Fiddich Car Park in Craigellachie, where I'd started my Speyside Distillery tour from last September. Driving from Grantown On Spey, I passed Tormore distillery, which I'd 'missed' last year due to me looking in the wrong place. In fact, I'd been looking for the site of the 'former' Tormore distillery, when the one I passed was very much in use and pretty large. I blame Google maps for misinformation! I drove past a few more sites that I'd cycled on in September, and eventually reached the car park. I took the bike out of the car, set off, and within a few hundred yards started climbing. I'd known there was a fair amount if climbing early in the trip I'd planned, but wasn't quite prepared for it to come this early.

It wasn't onerous though, and I plodded on up the hill, reaching a Forestry Commission turn off for Ben Aigan. This turned out to be a steep climb on a wide, reasonably smooth forest track, which just kept going and going. A couple of times I reached a false summit, where it looked as thought the track was topping out, but on getting closer it continued to rise. Thinking the term Speyside was a bit of a misnomer, I continued to climb, eventually reaching a point where the trees gave way and afforded a great view of the Spey stretching out into the distance, far away and a lot lower down than I was. Eventually the track topped out and starting to descend, so I looked forward to a decent stretch of downhill to get back to the river. No such luck! My computer (and the Speyside Way) sent me off down a steep grassy track which unfortunately soon became boggy with standing water, and worse - blocked by fallen trees.

I climbed over a couple, ducked under a third, and squelched along to a point where the grass track eventually rejoined a forest track, turning back on itself to continue downhill. This turned into a rough farm track which, though pretty with gorse in bloom alongside, became a tough ride, eventually spitting out down some steps to join the road at Boat of Brig. The route then ducked under the railway line to Elgin and started climbing steeply again. This proved too much for me following the exertions of the forest previously, and I walked to the top of the climb, not too far. After remounting the road then undulated gently north, before hitting a steep downhill Z-bend followed by steep uphill (on foot again!), just before another Forestry Commission place at Earth Pillars. It continued to undulate before dropping down into Fochabers alongside Ordiquish Forest. At Fochabers I turned left and picked up the Speyside Waya again, which turned out to be singletrack through some woods, with tree roots plentiful. It picked up the River Spey at last, with the surface varying between singletrack and rough gravel. I saw a large heron flying over the river, and tried to get a closer picture of it, although each time I tried to sneak up to it, it must have heard me and flew off again.

By Garmouth the Speyside Way meets NCN 1, which goes over the Garmouth (or Spey) Viaduct. I detoured off over the viaduct, took a few photos and returned, to continue on the Speyside Way up towards Spey Bay, where I stopped at the WDC Scottish Dolphin Centre to chat to a couple who were touring with e-mountain bikes. It turned out their daughter lived near my home, and we compared collarbone injury details. I headed off eastwards on the Coastal Trail and headed inland before coming to Portgordon, where I took NCN 1 and rode on the old railway for a while before being spat back onto the road by Buckpool Golf Club. I followed NCN 1 through Buckie, past the football club, and back onto the old railway to Findochty.

The track became a coastal path then, past Findochty harbour and heading towards Portknockie, also with a small harbour. Here, the track picked up the old railway line again, and continued on to Cullen over a number of viaducts. I left the track and dropped down into Cullen, passing the harbour and pausing at Cullen beach for an energy bar, and to consider how to get back to Craigellachie. I didn't fancy retracing my route from Fochabers up and over to Boat of Brig and then back onto the boggy grass track in Ben Aigan forest, so looked at the options. I decided on heading towards Fochabers on the A98, taking the High Street through town and picking up the A98 again for a short while before turning off towards Rothes and then on to Craigellachie. The A98 was busy in patches, but the motorists were pretty considerate and it never became too daunting a journey.

Although not as scenic as the coastal route, there were a couple of interesting highlights, notably a place called Hill of Maud (Maud being where my mum is from) which looked a pretty damn big hill, and Bells Inchgower distillery. I eventually reached Fochabers and came off the A98 to go through the town, then picked it up after the River Spey before turning left after a few hundred yards onto the B9015. This turned out to be a pretty good, wide road, better than some of the A roads I'd been on, with not much traffic. Best of all, there were few climbs on it, and as I headed south I looked over to my left at the imposing Ben Aigan, and thanked my stars I wasn't heaving my old frame over it. Eventually I came to Rothes and passed the Speyburn distillery before coming across the Glen Grant distillery at a roundabout where I picked up the A941 Perth road. After a few miles I spotted a sign for the Speyside Cooperage Visitor Centre in four miles, and knew then that I was nearly back at the car park.

Just before the road turns left into Craigellachie, I turned right down a wide path to the old bridge at Craigellachie, designed and built by Thomas Telford in 1814 (although the iron bridge framework itself was actually constructed in Ruabon in Denbighshire. After riding over it, and taking a few photos, I rode under the new road bridge into Craigellachie and back to the car park. The Speyside Way through Ben Aigan had left a bad memory on me, but considering we've just had a wet and very windy winter it's no real surprise that the surface has suffered in places. I'm glad I did the ride from Craigellachie up to Spey Bay, and it would be good to ride it again when it is drier. That said, the new route back I worked out turned up trumps, with some great scenery and photo opportunities, and I'm glad I took that option too. Just goes to show, sometimes you don't get the ride you were expecting, but good planning skills are essential to cope with those circumstances.

Water and stones - Scotland 2022 day 2

A late change of plan saw me decide to take the trip south to Ruthven Barracks today. After setting off from the hotel I made my way to Forest Road where I came across some lovely forest track (as you would expect!). I followed this along and after a couple of wrong turns, going back and forth, I eventually found myself on the Old Spey Bridge. Here I stopped for a photo and to reset my bike computer, which got confused by my toing and froing. While I was doing this, a friendly little red squirrel hopped onto the parapet, staying around just long enough for me to pull my phone out, at which he promptly disappeared, a little camera shy!

Having sorted my computer and with directions, I headed off, crossing the A95 and taking the B970 towards Nethy Bridge. The road undulated gently and after a few miles I came across Castle Roy, and it's guardian Murdo. The castle was built between 1190 & 1220, Murdo is somewhat younger. The Spey valley lay to my right, looking very lush in the morning sunshine. After passing Abernethy Golf Club, I came into Nethy Bridge, the bridge over the River Nethy being very pretty indeed with a row of daffodils lining the river bank. Leaving Nethy Bridge I continued on the B970, stopping every now and then to take a photo of the gorgeous scenery. I came across lovely river vistas, donkeys, and Loch Pityoulish, where it seems some people were wild swimming! Eventually I reached Coylumbridge and a junction, where I turned right past the Coylumbridge Hotel. Shortly after this, I turned left onto what eventually became the Old Logging Road, a rough gravel track that lead towards Loch An Eilein. I stopped here for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet, the clear water and the views out towards the mountains. Suitably refreshed, I retraced my route to the Old Logging Road then continued on to rejoin the B970, where I turned left and headed towards Feshiebridge. The road, as most in this area, was rolling and I had moments of speeding along nicely only to be brought to a slow crawl again as the road rose up. Still, the scenery continued to impress, especially when the trees opened out and showed views over towards the Spey.

At Feshiebridge, the road turned sharp right over the River Feshie, which was giving a good show of waterfalls over the layered rocks. I came across a group of young kids on bikes here, chaperoned by a couple of presumably teachers. I think I lost my intended route here, but continued on the B970 which was also NCN route 7. At another sharp right the road crossed the River Tromie, which was also producing a good torrent of white water. The road then passed the RSPB Insh Marshes, before reaching the imposing Ruthven Barracks, a small 18th century garrison built between 1719 and 1721. Standing on a mound, it is easy to visualise how dominant and foreboding it would have looked shortly after being built. Leaving Ruthven Barracks behind, I followed the B970 into Kingussie, turning right away from NCN 7 and going through the town. The road eventually became the B9152, and at one point outside Lynchat there were flocks of gulls and ducks in the fields on either side, making an unholy racket over something. Further on the road passed the Highland Wildlife Park advertising a Polar Bear Cub, followed by a sign for Working Sheepdogs. I wondered what sort of working they did, admin, manual??

At Kincraig I turned off  to have a look at Loch Insh, although truth be told I only made it to the bridge over the River Spey which afforded a fantastic view. Rejoining the road I continued on towards Aviemore, pausing at Loch Alvie for another photo stop. Entering Aviemore I turned off to go behind the railway station, passing the Strathspey Steam Railway where I saw a coach from Bideford, near Barnstaple where my mum and sister live. I picked up NCN 7 again here, passing a splendidly painted route marker and passing the Cairngorm Brewery (pausing to see if there was a bar / shop open), and eventually passing under the railway through a very narrow tunnel. This brought me onto a nice gravel track through some woods, which I followed until my computer beeped at me to indicate I was off course. I retraced my steps, as I hadn't seen any obvious path off, and saw what could have been a track, although it was going almost vertically uphill. I pushed to the top of this, and sure enough there was something that looked like a singletrack trail. I followed this, which was rideable but would probably be best described as gnarly, having roots and pebbles to trap the unwary rider.

This wound its way up and down before eventually rejoining the gravel track, which gave a glorious sweeping through the woods into Boat of Garten. Aside from the gnarly off-off-road piece, which I'd probably avoid if I rode the route again, the journey from Aviemore to Boat of Garten turned out to be great fun. I knew at this point that the Strathspey Railway was running today, and was hoping to get a video to send to my father-in-law, having failed three times before to get something on camera for him. As I was passing the holiday chalets on the outskirts of Boat of Garten I heard the unmistakable rattling and clunking of a steam train, and glancing to my right I saw the roofs of the carriages passing below. The curse of the missed train video strikes again!! I called in at Boat of Garten station to see when the next arrival was, but sadly it wasn't for another hour. My disappointment soon abated when I left the town and crossed the Spey, where I got a great shot of the river with the snow covered mountains behind. At the end of the road I came across the B970 that I ridden down before, and instead of turning onto it I crossed into Abernethy Natural Nature Reserve to take a track that I'd noticed from the road earlier.

This turned out to be a typical forest singletrack, being lumpy and soft and slower than being on the road, however I persevered and eventually popped out onto the road leading towards Loch Garten. I stopped for more photos then continued on past the Loch along rolling roads through forest to eventually rejoin the B970 outside Nethy Bridge. At the bridge, this time I turned off the B970 to pick up the Speyside Way by Nethy Bridge station. This had a grassier surface than I'd seen in other parts of the Speyside Way, which was a little lumpy in parts. There were also several gates to pass through, as it passed by several farms, so progress was a bit stop go. At Bailliefurth Farm the track to a diversion past the farm yard, and on picking up the original way again I came across a small group of light brown pigs with darker spots, as well as a sign post indicating I was only 3 and a half miles from Grantown On Spey. Just outside Grantown the track got closer to the River Spey, and I stopped to take a photo of the new Cairn Distillery that is being built alongside the river, due to open for visits in Spring 2022.

In due course I came to the end of the Speyside Way at the A95, and crossed over to return to Grantown. I decided to stop for tea at the brilliant Grantown East, a Highland Heritage and Cultural Centre that also has two old railway coaches where you can get something to eat. Having worked so hard on the road, I decided to go for a Locomotive Breakfast pizza and a cappucino. I have to say it was a great decision, the pizza was probably the best I'd ever had! Suitably refreshed, I got back on the bike and headed back to the hotel, through the delightful forest track again, where a hot bath was calling me. 

Spring has sprung - Scotland 2022 day 1

When I woke in the morning the temperature outside was below freezing, so not unnaturally I chose my outfit accordingly. After breakfast, when I got round to setting off, it had risen to three degrees, and the forecast was for a top temperature of 12, so I was more bothered about nippy fingers and toes at that point. I set off out of the hotel and chose my route on the bike computer, however I didn't realise until I set off that the reverse route I'd created hadn't synced! Not a problem I thought, I'll just follow the original but going backwards. I set off along a B road out of Grantown On Spey, past the golf club where a few hardy souls were teeing off. It was a quiet road, and I was only passed by one car in the first half hour. The road undulated in a fairly benign way, nothing too strenuous too start with. I passed several fields with sheep and cattle, and there new offspring, I also came across a couple of sizeable rabbits playing on the road.

Shortly after this, I came down a left handed descent and was presented with my first view of the River Spey, and what a glorious sight (and sound) it was! A little after, the road rose up and presented me with my first stiff challenge of the day. I puffed up it, noting with a little concern that my chain was making a right racket in bottom gear. At the top of the climb and looked backwards and drank in the view of the Spey plain with the mountains behind. The road continued to undulate with the Spey always on my right hand side, and at a turn off for Advie I took a quick detour to snatch a couple of photos of the river from the bridge. Further on I passed an entrance to something that I had a feeling I should have taken, as it looked like it dropped onto the Speyside Way, however I continued on the road and eventually picked the Speyside Way up at Blacksboat, I'd been here in September last year, and bemoaned the state of the surface, and it looks like they are still working on it, as a couple of little dumpers were beavering up and down. It looked like they were dropping something onto the rocky surface with a view to flattening it, however at one point the way was barred by a skip with a dumper behind. I prodded the newly flattened surface to see how it stood up, and I left an impression of my foot! I decided to walk on the side for a few hundred yards to avoid ruining the new surface, but eventually it firmed up so after further testing I hopped back on the bike and rode on. After a short while, the new surface stopped and the old ballast-like surface returned. Fortunately it wasn't long before this too disappeared and the Tamdhu cooperage came into view, and here I left the Speyside Way and headed up the hill towards Cardow. Passing the Cardhu distillery, I turned onto a bumpy farm track just before Knockando Primary School and rattled on to a lovely quiet road, where I turned left.

From this point, the thing that struck me was the amount of gorse that was flowering, there seemed to be yellow flowers everywhere for miles along the road. The trees were also producing copious amounts of blossom, making for a very scenic ride indeed, particularly as the road undulated and as it was quiet I could flow down the hills into the corners nicely. Eventually I came to the junction with the road for Forres where I turned right and started climbing again. My chain started it's infernal racket again so I stopped and managed to fix the issue, climbing became quiet again (apart from my laboured breathing of course). I was getting very warm at this point, as my winter clothing couldn't cope with the sun which typically shone when I was putting an effort in, and when I was coasting downhill it went behind the clouds! After a long bit of climbing the road started undulating again, and after a while I came across a village called Dallas! Sadly there was no South Fork farm around. Soon I turned left at a junction and started dropping down towards Forres, through a lovely village called Rafford. In Forres, I came across a brightly painted Highland Cow statue, one of which I'd seen in Grantown the previous evening.

Further on I headed to Sueno's Stone, a 7m Pictish cross slab featuring carvings of a battle. After I took a couple of photos I headed back into town and treated myself to a coffee and sandwich at Cafe 1496, a little pricey but given the size and quality of the sandwich I had no complaints! After lunch I found the start of the Dava Way, which follows the line of the old Highland Railway for 24 miles between Forres and Grantown On Spey. Like a few disused railway lines, the surface varies considerably, in some places hard packed dirt, in others it seems they have left the ballast lying around which makes it tricky, and in others it is soft grass which sucks at your wheels. There were a couple of deviations from the original route on the Dava Way, and at times it turned off into the forest at either side onto forest tracks. There were great views on either side at times too, although at other times trees obscured the view (or hid the railway I guess). Shortly after the start of the Dava Way it goes past the disused Dallas Dhu distillery which still offers self guided tours. There are many informative Way Points which give information about interesting things along the way, including a wind farm trail, a viaduct, a bridge which allowed livestock to cross a river underneath, an old croft building and a couple of lineside buildings, all of which gave me opportunities to take a break from the long uphill plod to the highest point. I was looking forward to a downhill stretch into Grantown when the signs unceremoniously pitched cyclists and horse riders off the track and onto the A939. Although not a busy road, cars were still speeding past and while it didn't bother me a great deal, I could imagine horses and inexperienced cyclists not enjoying it. As it was, the lack of return signage to the track meant the last few miles were becoming a boring road slog, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a blue finger post in a turn off.

This, it turned out, put me back on the Dava Way albeit through a forest switchback for a while until it seemed to return to the 'proper' disused railway. This crossed the A939, and headed into Grantown On Spey through what appeared to be a rock cutting, at one point a waterfall was turning the right of the track into a stream. I reached the end of the track by Grantown Caravan Park and dropped down into town to head back to my hotel where I treated myself to a hot bath, a pint and fish and chips. Heaven.