Speyside Way and Cairngorms 8-Day Gentle Tour (Hillwalk Tours)

The Speyside Way is one of Scotland’s Great Trails and it runs for 116km from Buckie on the shore of the Moray Firth coast in a south-westwards direction to Aviemore and Kincraig on the edge of the Cairngorm Mountains.

For much of its route the trail follows the valley of the River Spey and passes through the heart of the Speyside Whisky region. This area has the largest concentration of whisky distilleries in Scotland and the whiskies produced in the more than 30 distilleries there include some of the most famous in the world, such as Glenfiddich, The Glenlivet and The Macallan.

The first section of the route, from Spey Bay to Ballindalloch, was opened in 1981. This has been extended over the years with a number of additional route options such as a loop walk to Dufftown, the home of Glenfiddich, and a spur from Ballindaloch to Tomintoul which passes by The Glenlivet distillery. The route is currently being extended past Aviemore and Kincraig to Ruthven Barracks near Kingussie.

The well marked trail offers, for the most part, easy and level walking, often on former railway tracks, a military road and on forest tracks. As well as the many distilleries along the route there is also plenty of nature and wildlife and the route passes through pine and birch woodland, over heather moor and along riverside tracks.