Day 72: Grantown-on-Spey to Spey Bay, Moray

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

17th March 2021: 105.36km walked today taking the total to 7412.34/8868km. 16% of 88 entries submitting 658.53km.

Today takes us on the Speyside Way from Grantown-on-Spey to Elgin. On route we pass some of the famous Speyside distilleries. From Elgin we walk to the Moray coast reaching it at Lossiemouth before turning east.

Route 21: Inverness to Aberdeen

Continuing along the A95 we arrive back in Grantown-on-Spey before rejoining the Speyside Way through Anagach Wood. This is a beautiful natural Scots pinewood and is home to the capercaillie. The woods were originally planted in 1766, with trees from the nearby Abernethy Forest, but the woods were allowed to regenerate naturally in the early 19th century and are now self-seeding. We walk past Crow Wood before reaching the River Spey, where we cross over on an old iron bridge which was constructed in 1922 to replace an earlier suspension bridge. It is likely that there used to be a ferry, as a short distance away there is a place called Boat of Cromdale.

Just over the bridge is Cromdale Old Kirk which is in a beautiful situation next to the Spey. Cromdale is an ancient Christian site, and the foundation is attributed to St Moluag of Lismore. The village of Cromdale was the market centre for the area from 1609 but this role was taken over by Grantown-on-Spey when it was built in 1766. In 1690 the Battle of Cromdale occurred at the Haughs of Cromdale. It was effectively the last battle of the 1689 Jacobite Rising, which was trying to restore James VII to the throne, and saw the Jacobite army defeated.

Before reaching Cromdale itself we turn left on the Speyside Way which follows another disused railway line in a north-easterly direction passing the old Cromdale Railway Station. This is now a private home, but the owner has maintained its appearance. Leaving the railway line, we cross the A95 then follow a forest track uphill through Tom an Uird Wood. The path then takes us through Meilklepark Wood where just after we leave the Cairngorm National Park. We pass through the Woods of Knockfrink and the Garvault Plantation before reaching the A95 which we cross before heading towards the River Spey.

Nearby is the Tormore Distillery which was built in 1958 and was one of the first distilleries which was built after World War II. Even though it was only built in 1958 it achieved listed building status in 1986 due to its design by the architect Sir Albert Richardson. The name Tormore comes from the Gaelic Torra Mhoir meaning ‘the big hill’. It produces single malts using the water from the Achvockie Burn which flows past the distillery to the River Spey.

Before we actually reach the River Spey, we reach the disused railway again which we walk along through an avenue of birch trees towards Ballindalloch with views towards Ben Rinnes. We soon pass Cragganmore Distillery, founded in 1869 by Big John Smith and Sir George Macpherson-Grant which produces a single malt. Just past the distillery we reach Ballindalloch and cross the River Avon or A’an, the longest tributary of the River Spey, whose source is in Ben Macdui. The waters are crystal clear and have healthy stocks of salmon and sea trout, as does the Spey. The Bridge of Avon, built between 1800 and 1801, is now a pedestrian bridge, but once carried the main Speyside Road. The little castle at the east side is the gate lodge of Ballindalloch Castle.

After we have crossed the Bridge of Avon, we turn left to pass through the gates beside the turreted gate lodge to head towards Ballindalloch Castle. Above the gate on the archway there is a carving of the Macpherson-Grant coat of arms along with the family motto, ‘Touch not the cat bot a glove’.

Walking up the drive between the River Avon and the River Spey we find Ballindalloch Castle. This was built in the first half of the 1500s and has remained since then in the hands of a single family, the Macpherson-Grants. It was originally built by the Grants of Ballindalloch as a Z-plan tower house. There is a story told that it was originally going to be built on a hill to the east as it was in a better defensive position. The castle was started there but each night the construction was undone and one night the then Laird of Ballindalloch heard a voice telling him to ‘build it in the coo-haugh’ or cow meadow, so, this is where the castle was built. Over the years there have been many additions, but a major renovation was completed after the ‘muckle spate’ in 1829, when some of the castle was flooded. It was decided at that point it was a good opportunity to transform the castle into a Victorian baronial mansion.

The formal gardens of the castle were mainly laid out in the mid-1800s around the time the Castle was restored after the ‘muckle spate’. There are three distinct areas of garden to see: the Rockery, the Courtyard Garden and the Walled Garden. The Rockery lies beyond the large lawn and leads down to the River Avon, the Courtyard Garden is enclosed on three sides by the Castle and north of the Castle a laburnum arch and tree lined avenue leads to the Walled Garden which was redesigned in 1996 to celebrate the Castle’s 450th anniversary.

Other claims to fame for Ballindalloch Castle is that some of the Biggles books were written here, as their author, Captain W.E. Johns, was a tenant in Pitlochry Lodge on the estate. From the 1860s, Sir George Macpherson-Grant also helped to develop the Aberdeen Angus breed of cattle here. One of the newer ventures of the Macpherson-Grants has been to create the Ballindalloch Distillery which was started in 2011.

Leaving Ballindalloch, we reach the A95 where we turn left, then left again at the signpost, for Inveravon Church and Pictish Stones. The church is at the end of a single-track road near to the River Spey which can be heard, but not seen due to trees. The churchyard is dominated by a stone mausoleum built in 1829 which commemorates the Macpherson-Grant family of Ballindalloch Castle. It is thought that there were earlier churches on this site, one of which was built in 1108 and dedicated to St Peter. The church which still stands though was built in 1806 and remodelled in 1876. When this church was built it was found that, when the previous church had been built, Pictish stones were found within the structure of the earlier building. Three of the carved Pictish stones, which are dated between the 6th and the 8th century, are now kept in the porch of the existing church.

At the rear of the churchyard are the remains of stone buildings which are all that remain of a community which once thrived here called Kirkton. There was a school and an inn, but Kirkton essentially disappeared when the new road was built in 1792 which bypassed the village on the route now used by the A95. The school was also relocated beside the new road.

Returning to the A95, we turn east and then turn left on the B9138 at Marypark to cross the River Spey and return to the Speyside Way. The Speyside Way again follows along the old railway track and first we will pass an old station at Blacksboat, before we walk through birch woods and fields to cross the Cally Burn. This is a part of the route where we will pass many distilleries. The first of these is the Tamdhu Distillery, where the whisky is matured in Oloroso sherry casks brought in from Spain, before we reach the old Tamdhu station which still has its old platform, waiting room and signal box. We then reach Knockando with its distillery and not far away we find the Knockando Woolmill.

The Knockando Woolmill has existed here for over 200 years and was first listed as the ‘Wauk Mill’ in parish records from 1784. Local farmers would bring their fleeces to be made into fabric or knitting wool, initially produced by hand before the Industrial Revolution brought new equipment which mechanised these labour-intensive processes. By the year 2000 it was recognised that something needed to be done to preserve the mill and so a Trust was set up and over a 12-year period the Victorian machinery was dismantled, repaired and rebuilt. Since 2012 the mill has been opened seasonally and visitors can see the working wool mill and learn about the history of the site.

Still continuing along the Speyside Way, we reach Dalmunach Distillery, a new distillery built where the Imperial Distillery used to be. We then reach the small settlement of Carron where we cross the River Spey on the Bridge of Carron. This was the last large scale cast-iron bridge built in Scotland, built in 1863 as part of the Strathspey Railway. We soon pass Dailuaine Halt and the Dailuaine Distillery, established in 1851, before walking through woodland and pastureland to reach Aberlour, or to give it its full name, Charleston of Aberlour. Before exploring Aberlour though we could detour up the Burn of Aberlour to see the Linn of Ruthrie (the Linn Falls).

Aberlour originated when a place of worship was created, not long after 900 AD, close to where the then Lour Burn flowed into the River Spey at St Drostan’s Spring. This later developed into St Drostan’s Church with a settlement called Skirdustan surrounding it. The name of the settlement changed to be named after the burn, so becoming Aberlour, and then the name of the burn changed to be known as the Burn of Aberlour! In 1812 the Laird, Chales Grant of Wester Elchies, planned a new town to the east of the existing village which he named Charlestown of Aberlour. The pretty village he established stretches along the A95 with the focal point being the square and the parish church. The name Charlestown of Aberlour is not, however, normally used and instead it is known simply as Aberlour.

At the start of Aberlour we pass the Aberlour Distillery before passing the Victorian suspension bridge built in 1902 which crosses the River Spey and replaced a ferry crossing. Walking along the old railway line beside the River Spey we pass the old station which now houses the Speyside Way Visitor Centre and teashop. Further along we find the other industry which Aberlour is famous for - Walkers Shortbread. Walkers Shortbread was established in 1898 and is the largest independent biscuit maker in the UK producing 60% of all the shortbread exported from Scotland.

Leaving Aberlour and continuing along the Speyside Way we reach Craigellachie. This is where 2 rivers meet, the Spey and the Fiddich, both of which are strongly associated with Scotch Whisky. Craigellachie means ‘Rock of Alarm’ and refers to the cliff on which most of the village is situated above the River Spey. The village dates back to at least 1750 and was where there was another ferry to catch across the Spey. There are 2 distilleries found here, the Craigellachie and the Macallan.

Outside Craigellachie is the Speyside Cooperage where 100,000 barrels a year are constructed or repaired for use by the distilleries in the area. A more accurate term is probably reconstructed, as Scotch is often matured in barrels which were previously used for another spirit, such as sherry, port, madeira or bourbon.

At this point we leave the Speyside Way and go to see the old Craigellachie Bridge across the River Spey, built by Thomas Telford in 1814. It is a cast iron bridge whose metalwork was cast in Wales before it was shipped to Scotland. At each end of the bridge there are 2 mock-medieval towers featuring arrow slits and battlements. The bridge was used until 1963 when it was closed for refurbishment. It was reopened in 1964 but then closed to vehicle traffic in 1972 after a replacement bridge was opened in 1970.

From Craigellachie we now follow the A941 north for 5 kilometres before reaching Rothes. Rothes was first established as a castle, built by Peter de Pollok in about 1200, to command traffic on this stretch of the Spey Valley. In the 1390s the castle and lands passed to the Leslie family who later became Earls of Rothes. The castle was abandoned and was eventually destroyed in 1662. In about 1700, the Earls of Rothes, sold their Moray estates to the Seafield family and moved to their estates in Fife, which later became the site of Glenrothes. In 1766 the Seafields planned out a crofting township, aligned north-south along the valley, and this now forms the basis of what we see in Rothes today. Rothes Kirk was built in 1781, its steeple added in 1870 to house Nairn’s old town clock which was gifted to Rothes.

Five distilleries were established in Rothes in the 19th century due to the quality of the water from the hills and the availability of barley. Glen Grant first started production in 1840, followed by Glen Rothes in 1878, Glen Spey in 1885, Speyburn in 1897 and Glen Grant no 2 in 1897. It is only the last, which was renamed Caperdonich, which is no longer producing whisky. The only distillery with a visitor centre in Rothes is the Glen Grant Distillery and, as well as visiting the distillery, there is the Glen Grant Garden which was established in 1886 by Major James Grant which is well worth a visit.

Leaving Rothes, we have a 16-kilometre walk to Elgin on the A941 passing 2 more distilleries, the Glen Elgin and the Benriach. This is where we pass near Birnie Church which we talk about later.

Elgin is situated north of the Cairngorms between the River Spey and the River Findhorn, so it was not always an easy place to get to. It is an old town, as it was made a royal burgh in the 12th century by David I. During David’s reign there was a castle established on Lady Hill to the west of the town. This was occupied by Edward I in 1296 and 1303 during the Wars of Independence but was destroyed by the Scots in 1308 and was never rebuilt. Not much is left of the castle, but on the hill, there is the 25-metre-tall Duke of Gordon’s Monument which was erected in 1839. This is built in honour of the 5th Duke of Gordon, George Gordon, who was the first Commander of the Gordon Highlanders Regiment.

As we walk through Elgin, we reach the Biblical Garden and the ruins of Elgin Cathedral. The Biblical Garden opened in 1996 and was developed as a people’s garden which features stories from the bible, for example, there is a floral representation of the rainbow seen by Noah after the flood. Beside the Biblical Garden are the ruins of Elgin Cathedral which was founded in 1224 and completed by 1300. It seems that before this the Bishops of Moray couldn’t decide where to build their cathedral, as the Bishop's residence and cathedral was first at Birnie, then Kinneddar, and then Spynie, before it was finally established in Elgin.

Birnie Church is about 8 kilometres south of Elgin, built in 1140, and was the first cathedral of the Bishop of Moray. It was the cathedral church until 1184 when Bishop Simon de Tosny died, and his successor moved the seat to the church of Kinneddar. In 1206, Pope Innocent III gave permission for the cathedral to be sited at Spynie. However, subsequent bishops didn’t like where it was situated, as it was too vulnerable to attack and was too far from any market. The cathedral was therefore moved to Elgin, where there was protection afforded by the castle; however, the Bishop’s Seat remained at Spynie. We will pass near Spynie later during our walk.

Elgin Cathedral, ‘the ‘lantern of the north’, was built in the early Gothic style and, until the Scottish Reformation, was one of the most important and impressive medieval buildings in Scotland. It had a chequered history though. It was burned down by the Earl of Buchan, the ‘Wolf of Badenoch’, in 1390 because the then Bishop excommunicated him. This, however, led to it being rebuilt with the addition of the very impressive 15th century chapter house. After the Scottish Reformation of 1560, the cathedral was left to disintegrate leading to the lead being stolen from the roof and the wood inside being removed for use as firewood. In 1711 the central tower collapsed, destroying the nave and most of the choir.

When visiting the cathedral there are certain things you must be see. These are the 13th century west front, the stone bishop in the nave which looks like a giant chess piece, the octagonal chapter house with its stone carvings, Scotland’s tallest gravestone at 5 metres tall, a Pictish cross slab, and the exhibition which includes 100 medieval carved stones.

After leaving the Cathedral, we visit Elgin Museum, which opened in 1843 and is the oldest independent museum in Scotland. The building was purpose built with the interior built to maximise the space and light for the objects on display. There are objects from all over the world but there is a special focus on Moray.

Other places you can visit in Elgin are the Moray Motor Museum with its vintage and classic cars and motorbikes, the Glen Moray Distillery, where whisky has been distilled since 1897 and Johnstons of Elgin. Alexander Johnston established the Elgin Mill on the River Lossie in 1797. They started producing Estate Tweeds which were popular with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and are still produced to this day. In the 1850s Johnstons started weaving with more exotic fibres such as cashmere and vicuna, the direct train link to London helped them to spread their finished products around the world. Johnstons has only been owned by 2 families, firstly the Johnstons and then from 1920, the Harrisons.

Leaving Elgin on the path which runs alongside the A941 we head north towards Lossiemouth. After just under 2 kilometres from the outskirts of Elgin there is a right turn which takes us to Spynie Palace. This is the largest surviving bishop’s house in Scotland and was home to the Bishops of Moray for over 500 years. It was built on the edge of Spynie Loch, which at that time was a sea loch. Until the mid-1400s the building at Spynie was a castle but was redeveloped into Spynie Palace by Bishop David Stewart, who served between 1462 and 1472. He built David’s Tower, one of the largest tower houses in Scotland, as well as a great hall and a chapel. When an Act of Parliament in 1689 ruled that the Church of Scotland should be a presbyterian church and, therefore there would be no bishops, all the bishops which existed at that time lost their jobs. This led to the decline of Spynie Palace. Since 1973 the ruins have been in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

After leaving Spynie Palace, we pass an area which used to be part of a great wetland, the Laich of Moray, which stretched from the Spynie Loch to the mouth of the River Lossie. In the mid-19th century, the Spynie Canal was constructed by Thomas Telford to drain the Laich of Moray to make it suitable for farmland.

At the junction of the A941 and the B9135 we take the path which runs alongside the B9135 to Lossiemouth. We soon see RAF Lossiemouth on our left where the Quick Reaction Alert Force is based with Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft ready to intercept threats. Just before we reach a roundabout there is a burial ground on our right. This is where Kinneddar Old Parish Church was situated. This was one of the seats of the Bishops of Moray from 1187 to 1203 but nothing of it remains.

We continue to head north before turning right along the Moray Coastal Trail, which runs along the west beach towards Lossiemouth Harbour. We pass the harbour and marina before reaching a park which we walk through on the bank of the River Lossie. We cross the bridge over the Spynie Canal to reach Seatown. The fisher cottages in Seatown face away from the sea to protect them from the storms, which were common here before the artificial dunes of the East Beach were constructed. The village was also called Dogwall, and the people known as Dog Wallers, due to the fact they used dog bellies as fishing floats on their nets and used the old Seatown wall to dry them on.

The artificial dunes of the East Beach were created using old railway carriages to trap sand, which then built up into high sand dunes. The Moray Coastal Trail should cross onto these dunes but, unfortunately, the East Beach Bridge is currently closed as it was deemed to be too dangerous. It is due to be replaced but, at the moment, we follow Inchbroom Road through Oakenhead Wood. We cross the Spynie Canal, then the River Lossie and finally the Innes Canal before reaching Lossie Forest. We keep to a track near the edge of the forest heading east alongside a disused airfield, RAF Milltown, which was used as a decoy to divert enemy bombers from Lossiemouth in World War 2. We continue along this path until we reach a cottage (Lochside cottage) where we turn left and head north until we reach the beach and return to the Moray Coastal Trail heading east.

All along this coast we will see defensive concrete tank traps, pillboxes, as well as gun emplacements, which were built as anti-invasion devices during World War 2. This part of the coast also has one of the largest shingle systems in Britain called the ‘Sea of Stones’ and is up to 800 metres wide in places. The changes in the coast, due to the movement of this shingle, are made obvious at the western end near Lossiemouth, where some of the defensive line of concrete traps is now well inland in the forest, and shingle has built up so high that there is now no view of the sea. In other places the defences have almost been buried by the shingle. It is amazing how much the coastline has changed in only 70 years. In Spring and Summer, the shingle is covered with flowering plants and is popular with butterflies.

Ahead, in the far distance, we see the Bin of Cullen, a conical shaped coastal hill. Soon we turn slightly inland and pass over an area known as the Lein. This area was where shingle was extracted to make concrete between 1935 and the 1970s. It is now an area which has been taken over by nature and there are birds such as skylarks and plovers, as well as butterflies.

We soon reach Kingston, or more properly Kingston-upon-Spey, (named after Kingston-upon-Hull) which is situated at the end of the road with nowhere else to go. Looking at it now, with just a few rows of houses and cottages lying behind the shingle mounds, you wouldn’t think that it used to be a centre of shipbuilding. In 1784, Dodsworth and Osborne, who were shipbuilders from Kingston-upon-Hull, signed a contract with the Duke of Gordon to buy timber from his forest of Glenmore at the foot of the Cairngorms. The River Spey was already used to float wood from these inland forests to Garmouth just down the river, so Dodsworth and Osborne decided that wood could also be transported down the River Spey to build ships. They therefore decided to establish shipyards at Kingston at the mouth of the River Spey where many wooden clipper ships were then built, some to be used in the tea trade from India.

The Muckle Spate, which had affected other parts of Moray in 1829, also severely affected Kingston, as many houses and other buildings were destroyed by the violent and damaging floods that swept down the River Spey. Soon after, shipbuilding came to an end at Kingston due to diminishing wood stocks and the increasing popularity of steel-hulled ships. Now there is little to show that there was ever shipbuilding done here.

We leave Kingston and after about 1.5 kilometres reach Garmouth. It is hard to believe that Garmouth was a significant port from the 1500s until the middle of the 1800s given that it is no longer near the sea. It was chartered as a burgh in 1587 and, since then, every year the Maggie Fair has been celebrated on the 19th of June; to commemorate the 400th Maggie Fair in 1987 a plaque was unveiled. There is also another plaque in the village which commemorates the landing of Charles II on 23rd June 1650 in defiance of Cromwell and his signing of the Solemn League and Covenant after coming ashore.

As well as being an active port for exporting goods such as whisky, logs were floated down the Spey to Garmouth where they were processed for export. However, by 1860 the supply of wood was beginning to slow, and because the Spey had changed its course, harbour operations at Garmouth became increasingly difficult. When the railway arrived, the village changed from being mostly industrial to residential.

Garmouth also had an unusual method of building houses called clay-bool. Large, rounded stones from the beach were formed into walls, using a mixture of clay mortar and straw to bind them together and each layer being allowed to dry before adding the next. When it was finished, it was coated with lime mortar, making it indistinguishable from stone houses.

Leaving Garmouth we reach another disused railway line, which we join and then cross over the River Spey on an old railway viaduct which is nearly 300 metres long. The reason why it was built as long as this was because of how close it is to the mouth of the River Spey, the changeable course of the main channel and the variable width of the river when it is in spate.

On the east side of the railway, the Speyside Way and the Moray Coastal Trail join up, and we head north towards Spey Bay. At Spey Bay we can visit the Scottish Dolphin Centre. From here we might be able to see bottlenose dolphins, ospreys, grey and common seals, otters and many coastal seabirds.

The Scottish Dolphin Centre is based in a salmon fishing station which was built at Tugnet at the mouth of the River Spey in 1768. As part of the station an ice house was built in 1830. The Tugnet Ice House is by far the largest ice house found in Britain with only a third of it showing above ground level. Ice was gathered in the winter and stored in the ice house, which was then used to keep the salmon fresh until it was shipped. The last salmon landed at Tugnet was in 1991 and, after this, the fishing station was converted into the Scottish Dolphin Centre which is part of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

Spey Bay also grew up as a golfing resort with the Spey Bay golf links opened in September 1907. At that time Spey Bay was the place to be seen by the rich and famous. From Spey Bay, the path takes us through woods bordering the golf course before we return to the dismantled railway which takes us towards Portgordon.