The Speyside Way ( Doric: '; gd, Slighe Shrath Spe) is a long-distance path in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland ...

. The route begins in

Buckie Buckie ( gd, Bucaidh) is a burgh town (defined as such in 1888) on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland. Historically in Banffshire, Buckie was the largest town in the county until the administrative area was abolished in 1975. The town is the th ...

and ends at

Newtonmore Newtonmore ( gd, Baile Ùr an t-Sléibh ) is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland. The village is only a few miles from a location that is claimed to be the exact geographical centre of Scotland. Activities *Shinty - The town is ...

, away. There is an optional spur leading off the main route to Tomintoul, adding and of ascent. The route primarily follows the

River Spey The River Spey (Scottish Gaelic: Uisge Spè) is a river in the northeast of Scotland. At it is the eighth longest river in the United Kingdom, as well as the second longest and fastest-flowing river in Scotland. It is important for salmon fishi ...

through the scenery of

Banffshire Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Mora ...

Morayshire Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It ...

and

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in populat ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, passing some of the distilleries that produce Speyside single malts. The first section from

to Spey Bay follows the coastline, while the final section from

Aviemore Aviemore (; gd, An Aghaidh Mhòr ) is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is pop ...

follows most of the route of the former Strathspey Railway. It is listed as one of Scotland's Great Trails by

NatureScot NatureScot ( gd, NàdarAlba), which was formerly known as Scottish Natural Heritage, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for the country's natural heritage, especially its natural, genetic and ...

, and links directly to two further Great Trails: the Dava Way and the

Moray Coast Trail The Moray Coastal Trail is a long distance path in north-east Scotland that runs along the coastline of the Moray council area. The route, which is 72 km long, runs between Forres and Cullen. It is designated as one of Scotland's Great Tr ...

. About 52,750 people use the path every year, of whom about 2,750 complete the entire route. As with the other Great Trails, the Way is waymarked with a symbol showing a

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...

in a

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A ''regular hexagon'' h ...

. The Way was opened in 1981, from Spey Bay to

Ballindalloch Ballindalloch ( gd, Baile na Dalach) is a small village on the River Spey in Scotland. It is known for its whisky distilleries and for Ballindalloch Castle. In Ballindalloch itself, there are two distilleries, Cragganmore distillery and Ballind ...

, and was extended over the years to reach Aviemore by 2000. In 2020 the final extension to

was completed. In 2021 the route's official website was modernised and its former bootprint logo replaced by a green-blue circle enclosing a stylised distillery and salmon. Since 1994, the Speyside Way

Ultramarathon An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...

has been run from Cragganmore distillery in

, a distance of .

References

External links

Official Speyside Way website

Scotland's Great Trails

walkhighlands

Long Distance Walkers Association
{{authority control Footpaths in Highland (council area) Footpaths in Moray Rail trails in Scotland River Spey Scotland's Great Trails

See also

References

External links