The Moray Way: some thoughts & pictures

First camp, on Dava Moor on the Dava Way.

The Moray Way is a 100 mile/160km walk linking the Dava Way, the Moray Coast Trail, and the Speyside Way. Forres on the coast is usually the starting point for the walk. However, as I live just a few kilometres from the Dava Way at Grantown-on-Spey it seemed logical to start there. Indeed, for the first time ever I set out on a long walk from my front door. Living so close by I really should have done this many years ago.

Crags at Huntly's Cave near the start of the Dava Way

The walk took a week. I camped on five nights, stayed in a hotel on one (in Forres). The weather ranged from cloudy and windy at the start to hot and windy at the finish. There were only a few light showers of rain. 

The Dava Way follows the old railway line from Grantown-on-Spey to Forres. This is the high point at 1052 feet/321 metres. All downhill from here!

With only a few days between finishing the walk and heading down to Liverpool for the annual Outdoor Trade Show I've barely had time to download my photos and videos, let alone process and edit them. Here are a few that show the different landscapes long the route. After my return from Liverpool I'll write longer pieces and post more pictures from each section of the route plus post a video or two.

The vast open space of Dava Moor covered in a white swathe of cotton grass.

The Divie Viaduct takes the railway line from Dava Moor into gentler, greener, fields and forestry.

Spring colours in a cutting on the Dava Way. The bright yellow of gorse was the colour of the walk.

One of the first views of Findhorn Bay on the Moray Coast Trail. The walk from the finish of the Dava Way in Forres to Findhorn on roads and roadside footpaths is not recommended!

A pine tree on the edge of sand cliffs above Burghead Bay, Moray Coast Trail. The forests of Scots Pine and Corsican Pine are to stabilise the sand and slow coastal erosion.

Second camp deep in the forest sheltered from the wind. Moray Coast Trail.

Beach, gulls, and Burghead. Moray Coast Trail.

The East Beach, Hopeman, Moray Coast Trail.

Heron on the rocks. I saw more birds on the Moray Coast Trail than on the other two sections.

Gorse corridor, Moray Coast Trail. You can't always see the sea.

Magnificent cliffs between Hopeman and Lossiemouth, my favourite section of the whole walk. Overall the Moray Coast Trail is one I would happily do again.

Some of many sea stacks and caves, Moray Coast Trail.

View from a cave to Covesea Skerries Lighthouse.

Camp with tank traps! These second world war defences would have been on the beach but are now stranded a little way inland. I was in the trees to keep out of the wind again.

The line of tank traps stretches out of the trees and along open ground behind some big shingle banks built by the sea. The tank traps line runs unbroken for 5 miles/8 kilometres.

The collapsed viaduct at Garmouth. The Moray Coast Path crossed this to link up with the Speyside Way. Now you have to road walk to Fochabers to reach the next bridge.

Fourth camp with a view of the river Spey and the now distant sea. Speyside Way.

The magnificent Thomas Telford Bridge at Craigellachie. Speyside Way/

Knockando Distillery. There are many whisky distilleries along the Speyside Way and the smell of malt is often in the air.

Fifth and last camp. Right by the river. The Speyside Way isn't often this close.

A green corridor as the Speyside Way follows the line of an old railway.

Endless gates, endless barbed wire imprisoning corridors. I hated this section of the Speyside Way.

Cromdale Station, the last of many old stations on the Moray Way.

Almost home! The bridge over the river Spey at Cromdale. 

Twenty years ago today I began the GR20 in Corsica

 

The terrain gets tough

Midday on June 26, 2005 and I set off on the GR20 long-distance path in Corsica with Cameron McNeish. It was a mistake. Not hiking the GR20 or being with Cameron. The noon start. Straight from the Scottish Highlands we felt the heat instantly. The sun was blazing down from an unreal blue sky. From the little town of Calenzana the trail climbed through sun burnt fields towards distant mountains. There was little shade. We'd soon drunk all our water. The first spring was incredibly welcome.

The trail starts.

We did acclimatise, eventually. But a predawn or evening start would have been sensible. So would starting at the southern end of the trail. By starting in the north we had the steepest, toughest sections first. I'd never been on a waymarked trail with so much exposure and scrambling. Overall it was a wonderful trip though.

Welcome shade! There wasn't enough.

These pictures were all taken on that first day. I used a 6 megapixel Canon EOS 300D DSLR with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens, my first digital camera setup.

Looking back to Calenzana.

Water, delicious water!

Goats, trees, mountains. 

First camp.

Twenty-five years ago I was on the Arizona Trail

In the White Canyon Wilderness

Journal entry. 6.00 a.m. March 29, 2000.

“A calm, starry night. Woke to a myriad bird calls. A thick crescent moon hangs over a red sandstone rock peak. To the north-west a slanting wall of coloured rock ends in a sharp cliff. The wall is split by just one steep gully. The rock is red-brown in various shades with cream bands. A similar wall lies to the east, this one double-tiered with a sloping band of desert plants between the two. Cacti are everywhere & the ‘trees’ visible high on ledges & ridges are mostly saguaro, occasionally cholla. This is a beautiful & spectacular place – the finest camp of the walk so far”.

The camp was in the White Canyon Wilderness and the walk was the Arizona Trail. This was day 21 of my 800-mile (round figure, could be less, probably more) 53-day walk from the Mexican border to Utah.

The Grand Canyon

Several years earlier I’d spent a few weeks walking in the Grand Canyon. From the North Rim I’d looked south over a sea of trees to distant mountains, the San Francisco Peaks, and wondered what a walk to them would be like.

The San Francisco Peaks

Some time later I discovered a trail was being developed that ran south-north through the centre of Arizona that included the San Francisco Peaks and the Grand Canyon. I couldn’t resist and began making plans. I really wanted to spend a couple of months in the desert.

First camp!

At least I thought it would all be in the desert. It wasn’t. The first night I found myself camped on snow on a mountaintop. Then there were forests, rivers, more mountains - a far more varied landscape than I’d expected. Of course there was a great deal of desert but even this was much more diverse than I’d assumed.

A typical camp

The walking was a delight, even if I was hot and thirsty at times, but even better were the many nights I spent sleeping out under the stars. I just loved waking to watch the world coming to life as the sun rose. When it was windy or, just once, rainy I pitched a tarp that still gave me extensive views but more often I just threw my mat and sleeping bag down and called that camp for the night.

A tarp to keep off the breeze in an aspen grove in the San Francisco Peaks

Twenty-five years later I can still close my eyes and be back on the Arizona Trail. The heat of the rocks, the sharpness of the air, the blue of the sky, the clarity of the light, the grandeur of the landscape, the gloriousness of it all. It all returns. It was a wonderful experience.

Back on snow in the San Francisco Peaks

Back home I wrote a book about it, called Crossing Arizona. It’s published by Countryman Press and is still in print

Photo note: these images were taken on the Arizona Trail on a Ricoh RDC-5000 2.3 megapixel compact camera with a 38-86 35mm equivalent zoom lens. This was the first time I’d used a digital camera on a long walk. However my main camera was a Canon EOS 300 35mm SLR film camera with a 28-70mm zoom lens with which I took fifty rolls of 36-shot slide film. The film images are far higher quality than the digital ones, unsurprisingly, but I haven’t scanned any of them yet. I must get round to it! I also had a Ricoh GR1s film compact as backup to the Canon. I took half a dozen rolls of print film with this and again the results are better than the digital ones. I should digitise some of those too.

The Southern Upland Way Is Forty

The Southern Upland Way, Scotland’s only official coast to coast long distance path, is 40 this year. Running for 214 miles from Portpatrick to Cockburnspath the route goes through the Galloway, Borders and Lammermuir hills, starting and finishing with some impressive coastal scenery.

I’ve walked the Southern Upland Way twice, in August 2003, and in February/March 2011. Unexpectedly the weather wasn’t very different each time. In August it was cold and wet, in February warm and wet. There were sunny days on both trips, though not many. And on both the Galloway hills were hidden in clouds. It was warmer in August of course and I did the whole walk in sandals. In February I wore trail shoes. Due to the time of year I carried an ultralight ice axe and microspikes. They never left the pack. It was only frosty on four nights out of thirteen and there was never even a spot of snow either on the ground or falling from the sky. The vegetation was the main sign it was a different season.

I enjoyed both walks and I think it’s a better route than many people seem to think. Yes, there are rather too many conifer plantations and a growing number of windfarms but there is also some excellent hillwalking and very pleasant forest and lakeside walking too. Although some parts are quite wild it’s not overall a walk with a feeling of the remoteness that can be found in the Scottish Highlands. It’s as much a historical and cultural walk as a nature one. Along the way there are chambered cairns, standing stones, modern artworks, secret kists with hidden treasure, ruined castles, old lead mines, a radar station, reservoirs, peel towers, stately homes, and ruined abbeys plus plenty of interesting villages.

It's possible to stay in accommodation every night. That does mean some long days though there are providers who can collect and drop you off from road crossings and transfer your baggage so you only need carry a daypack. Unsurprisingly I used none of these but backpacked the route each time, camping out or staying in bothies – there are several along the way.

All the information you need and can be found here.

The photos were all taken on the 2011 walk. In 2003 I was only dipping my toe in digital waters and mostly shot film, none of which have I yet scanned. I did have a 2.3mp digital compact with a small sensor with which I took a few shots that are almost passable. I’ll include some in a separate post on the photographic changes between 2003, 2011 and now.

The Cape Wrath Trail

 

Pack packed, gear sorted, train tickets bought. In a few days I'll be setting off on the Cape Wrath Trail, making my way from Fort William to Cape Wrath through the NW Highlands.

I've thought about walking this route for many years. I had planned it for last autumn but various things got in the way and I ended up with five stormy days in the Eastern Cairngorms instead. So I'm trying again. 

The Cape Wrath Trail isn't really a trail, at least not in the sense of a continous footpath or even a set route. There's nothing official about it either so no signposts or waymarks. The guidebook and maps do suggest a route, along with alternatives in places, but there's no need to stick to any of these. Walk from Fort William to Cape Wrath through the hills by any route you choose and that's your Cape Wrath Trail. I'm not even certain which route I'll take in places. I may climb some hills along the way. Then again I may not. It all depends on the weather and how I'm feeling.

There are a few sections described in the guidebook I will do as they will be new to me. Much of the route I've already done in small sections as part of other walks and I've been up all the Munros and Corbetts along the way. Maybe I'll go up some of them again. What I want to see is how it unfolds as a continuous walk, how it feels as a whole, how much does it make sense.

It feels good to be setting off on a long walk again, as always. There'll be pictures and stories of course. During the walk at times, probably, afterwards, definitely.

 

Dealing With The Challenges Of Long-Distance Walking

 

With lockdown ending and warmer weather and longer days arriving many people are thinking about long-distance walks – I certainly am. I’ve had a few queries about this recently so I thought I’d post an expanded version of this piece I wrote for the BMC several years ago.

Good luck to everyone setting off on a long walk this year.

The whole point of long-distance walking is enjoyment. Overcoming the challenges involved is part of that enjoyment, or at least it should be. This said, during a walk of many weeks or months there will be times when the mental or physical challenge can seem overwhelming and you feel like giving up. For newcomers to long-distance walking here are some suggestions for dealing with this and its various causes.  

• Don’t let feeling tired the first few days get you down. You will get fitter as the walk progresses. It’s best to plan for a lower daily distance at the start than you hope to average throughout. By the end of the walk you’ll be doing more than that average without any appreciable extra effort. I reckon on a week to ten days to really get going so I plan a lower mileage for that time.

•  Familiarise yourself with your gear before the walk. After you’ve set out is not the time to discover your tent is awkward to pitch or your pack uncomfortable. A shakedown trip or two is a good way to check this and to see what daily mileage feels comfortable.

• When selecting gear think of the weight. Extra bells and whistles may seem attractive but are they worth extra weight? 

On a 500 mile walk in the Colorado Rockies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Sleeping well is very important for morale and your physical condition. If you’re not sleeping well because your mat is too hard or your sleeping bag too cold or too hot make changes when you can, even if it means buying new gear. Don’t suffer unnecessarily.

• Take care of your feet. Blisters and sore feet are probably the main cause of unhappiness and distress for long-distance walkers and the main reason people give up. Having good, properly fitting footwear at the start is of course important. However, days and weeks of constant use can change footwear internally. If you start getting blisters or your feet start to ache badly think of changing your footwear. I like to have two pairs – trail shoes and sandals – with me and sometimes swap them over during the day. If you don’t want to carry a second pair you can have one sent ahead in supply boxes. If blisters and hot spots do occur treat them straight away. Ignoring them only makes them worse and longer lasting.

• The length of a walk can seem daunting if you view it as a whole. A finish that is hundreds or thousands of miles away can seem an impossible goal, especially when just reaching the next camp site feels like a challenge. To overcome this feeling break the walk into sections and just think about the next stage. All long walks have resupply points. These can be used as the start and end points so that the walk becomes a series of shorter walks.

Wet misty weather at the start of the Scottish Watershed

• At times during any long walk various factors – the weather (there’s nothing like day after day of stormy weather to discourage you), sore feet, a headache, tedious terrain, a stretch of road walking – can make you feel like giving up. This is when you need to be psychologically strong and tell yourself that this will pass and the best way to get through it is to keep walking.

•  Physical exhaustion can be a problem if you insist on doing high mileages every day. Unless you’re out to break a record, in which case you need superb mental strength, plan to have some easier days and some rest days when you don’t walk at all. At times you may feel as though you’re running down, with less energy each day. This usually happens to me after 10-14 days. Then it’s definitely time to take a break.

• Listen to your body and your mind. If you feel lazy in the morning (my usual state!) don’t feel you have to rush breakfast and dash off down the trail. Have another brew, relax and set off when you feel like it. Similarly, if you feel like stopping early do so. There’ll be other days when you’ll feel like walking into the night. If your legs ache have an easy day.
  

On a 500-mile walk in the High Sierra, California

• Develop a schedule that suits you. Some people like to walk the same miles each day, some like to have a short break every hour, some like to walk a few hours before breakfast, some to have dinner on the trail and then walk on for a few hours before camping. I do none of these. My daily mileage varies depending on my mood, the terrain, the weather (and good weather doesn’t mean I go further – it can mean I stop to enjoy the view more often) and the landscape. If I have, say, 100 miles between supply points and I allow six days for this I may walk 10 miles one day, 25 another. As long as I complete the section before I run out of food the daily mileage doesn’t matter. As for breaks, I take them when I feel like it, sometimes walking for hours without a break, sometimes stopping frequently. And meals are almost always eaten in camp. This works for me. To get the most from a long walk you need to find what works for you.

 

• Treat yourself at resupply points, especially with food. Chances are you’re burning more calories than you’re taking in. Eating plenty in restaurants helps restore your body for the next stage. And remember the long-distance hiker’s rule – never pass by a café or restaurant! 
  

At the finish of the Pacific Northwest Trail

 

•   Finally, remember, you’re doing this to enjoy yourself!