Speyside Way: Day 1 - Tomintoul spur

We alighted from the sleeper train at Aviemore in the rain and met Mum and Dad, who whisked us off to Tomintoul for a wander around the museum and a hearty breakfast. We were tempted to stay for the night just to see the ACDC tribute band and the bikers who were about to descend (though really it's "ascend" since Tomintoul's the highest village in Scotland) on the area. However, a trail needed to be tramped, so we said our goodbyes, with Mum and Dad taking the wedding bag with the dress, suit and shoes. We'll see those in a week's time.

The start of the walk was magical, through lush, green grass, with giant dragonflies, one of which almost landed on Fred. We walked along corridors between fields of livestock until we reach a forest. The view behind us showed hills dappled with sun and shadows. Ahead, the forest was dark, with bright red toadstools peeking through the leaf litter here and there. My rucksack began to be uncomfortable at this stage - it would be an ongoing issue each day after a few hours walking, until I met the cuddly cetacean on Day 4. I was very gung-ho about it all as long as I could de-rucksack for 15 minutes every hour. I can't remember it being this annoying when walking the Routeburn Track in New Zealand.

Not too long after leaving the forest, we reached the highest point on the Speyside Way, the summit of Cairn Daimh at 569 m (1,866 ft). It had great views. It's name means "the hill of the stags", but we saw no deer here. We saw grouse, though, flying off in a panic.

We wound our way down the valley through glorious colours of grasses and heather, with Ben Rinnes in view before us. The last stretch to Glenlivet was awkward, walking along the grassy top of a drystone wall. We rested for a moment at the original site of Glenlivet, where there's a handy bench. However, that moment of rest cost us a meal at the Glenlivet distillery cafe, which was closing as we stepped through the distillery doors. We were given a free dram of 12 year old, so all was not lost, and there was time to see Mr Smith's pistols with which he saw smugglers off from the original Glenlivet.

Knowing we were at the end of our day's journey, we skipped to the campsite, only to find it shut. We would have wild camped, but we had no water left and no means of refilling our bottles. There was nothing for it but to stand on one leg on a big boulder and try and coax a signal on the phone to summon Google. Fred managed to find a B&B, which was pricey, but it was our pre-moon, so hey. The Speyside Way has an agreement with accommodation in that walkers can be given free lifts to and from the way - bonus. Toby picked us up in his pristine 4x4 and zoomed us to Glendalloch House, the former hunting lodge of the Grants (who used to own Glenlivet). Our room had an amazing view over the River Avon. Our hosts, Toby and Dierdre, were fantastic. Dierdre rustled up a three-course dinner using veg from the garden and it was delicious. Whilst lounging by the open fire in the lounge, we were a little surprised to see their daughter in Country Life magazine - she was announcing her engagement and advertising her business.

More photos from the day here.