Castle Roy

and the Old church of Abernethy (Map)

A lovely walk through the outskirts of the village on quiet roads and paths.
Time & Distance: About ¾ hour (1¼ miles) round trip
from the Old Smithy (which is now a self catering cottage).

Push chairs: Passable all the way (except a stretch of a few metres when muddy).
Seats: One at the Church.
Parking: If you want to be met halfway there is a car park at the Church

Castle Roy, meaning the Red Castle, and the old Church of Abernethy stand together outside the village by the road from Nethy Bridge - Grantown (B970). The castle is believed to date back to the 13th century, making it one of the oldest buildings of its kind in Scotland. There is an information board about it at the car park the Church. The church is on an ancient site of worship and is still in use for summer services, funerals and occasional weddings. The building was last reconstructed in 1874, when it was enlarged

From the Old Smithy: With your back to the Spar go left to the crossroads at the Causer and carry straight on along the road to the School. Pass the School and a field and take the track on the right. Walk along this track passing Croftallan on your left. Turn right at the tarmac road and follow it to the entrance to Abernethy Trust Nethybridge. Immediately after this leave the public road (which bends round to the right) and carry straight on along the drive to Aultmore House. Just before the stone bridge on the driveway take the footpath down to the left and cross a wooden footbridge across the Allt Mhòr (meaning the 'large burn'). Immediately after the bridge is a stretch of a few metres that can be very muddy - you may need to carry a pushchair over this.

This path was the traditional route to the Church from Dorback, and leads downstream to the one time meal mill at Milton ('Mill Town'). The mill lade can still be seen uphill from the path, and as you come into Milton the path crosses the lade before it runs to the mill building. Go through the gate at Milton (please remember to shut it), onto the tarmac drive and past the mill. The road then leads straight to the B970 and the Castle and Church, passing the dry ski slopes of the Outdoor Centre to the left.

To return turn left and follow the road (B97O) past the Church back towards Nethy Bridge. Pass the drive to Balliemore farm and cross the bridge over the Allt Mhòr. Take the first road on the left (signed Lurg, Dorback and Tomintoul.) with the golf course on both sides. This road leads back to the School and the crossroads at the Causer. Go straight on at the crossroads to return to the starting point. Please do not approach the Castle which is not safe.

This walk passes fields with livestock - please keep your dog on a lead

The Lurg road(Map)

A very scenic walk out of the village along an extremely quiet road through hill farmland. Panoramic views of the Cairngorms. Return the same way. Good for wildflowers and birdwatching.
Time & Distance:
About 3 hours (6 miles) round trip from the Spar to the end of the
tarmac road.
Pushchairs: Suitable all the way.
Seats: None.
Parking: If you want to do the route one way only and arrange to be met in a car, there is space to turn and park off the road where the tarmac road ends at the turn off to Bynackbeg (a modernised house well back from the road on the left). Please make sure you do not block the vehicle access here.

Starting at the Old Smithy with your back to the building turn right, walk past Lynstock Crescent and carry straight on out of the village. After about ¾ hour (1½ miles) you pass Lettoch Farm on the left and cross the Dorback burn. The original bridge at Lettoch was built by German prisoners who were camped at Lynstock during the 1st World War. They also built a tramline to transport timber from Sliemore Wood (on the hill above Lettoch) to the village. Horses piled the timber carts along the tram line.

Further on the road crosses a cattle grid and goes up a steep hill and through Laggan of Clachaig farm. The road is unfenced here and there is often loose livestock so please keep your dog on a lead. After Clachaig there is another steep hill, followed by a cattle grid. At the top a marvelous view of the Cairngorms opens out and the tarmac ends shortly after that. This is a good place to watch for birds of prey. The distance one way to here is about 3 miles. The road ends at Lurg Farm amongst the trees.

This walk is beside fields with livestock and breeding birds - please keep your dog on a lead.

Culvardie and Duackside - The Tulloch Road(Map)

A charming short walk through the village on quiet roads and a woodland path.
Time & Distance: About ½ hour (1 mile) round trip from the Spar Store & Post Office.
Push chairs: Passable all the way.
Seats: None except at the very start on Dell Road.

Leaving the Spar Store & Post Office turn right up Dell Road and take the first road on the right, signed Culvardie and Duack side.The name Culvardie comes from the Gaelic and means a meadowy corner.

Turning off Dell Road, the house on your right, at the corner of the roads was one of two bakeries in the village, closing in the 1950's. Carry on until the road divides at the Duackside sign. Follow the right hand fork here, cross the bridge over the Duack burn and on to where the road ends at 'Heather Cottage' and a woodland path begins.

Follow the path through Scots Pine woodland. This path leads out of the forest at the junction where the Tulloch Road joins the road from Nethy Bridge to Boat of Garten (B970). Turn right and the road takes you back to the Spar Store & Post Office crossing over the Duack burn again.

Causer Crossroads - Craigmore (Map)

A pleasant walk through the village outskirts Oil quiet roads.
Time & Distance: About I hour (2 miles) round trip from the Spar.
Push chairs: Suitable all the way.
Seats: None.
Parking: If you want to be met part way there is ample room to park at the road junction at Craigmore.

Starting at the Old Smithy: with your back to the building go left to the crossroad at the Causer and carry straight on to the school along the road. (Alternatively you can turn left into Balnagowan Wood and walk through the woods to the school. See Balnagowan Woods walk).

Pass the school and a field, and take the track on the right. Walk along this track, passing Croftallan on the left, and then turn right along the tarmac road. Carry on, passing the drive to Abernethy Trust Nethybridge on the left, and later the house Torniscar on your left. Turn first right, at the junction by the houses at Craigmore, and follow the road back to the Causer crossroad. This walk passes fields with livestock - please ensure your dog is on a lead.

The King's Road(Map)

A varied walk on tracks and quiet roads through Dell Wood National Nature Reserve.
Time & Distance: About 1« hours (2« miles) round trip from the Spar Store & Post Office.
Push chairs: Passable all the way except for a stretch of under 'A mile through the Seats: One on the Tulloch road.
Parking: If you want to be met part way there is space to park beside the Tulloch road at a cutting where the pylons cross the road.

Leaving the Spar Store & Post Office turn right up Dell Road, past the Village hall, and take the first road on the right, signed Culvardie' and Duackside'. Follow this road until it forks at the Duackside' sign. Take the left fork and carry straight on. Pass the house 'Redwood' where the tarmac ends and a broad track begins. This leads through a short stretch of woodland, past the Dell Wood National Nature Reserve' sign, and out onto open moorland where young Scots Pine trees are naturally regenerating
from the mature trees around them. Dell wood is a native Caledonian woodland, one of the few remnants of natural Scots Pine Woodland that was once widespread in the Highland. It is a National Nature Reserve and is managed for Nature conversation and amenity by Scottish
Natural Heritage.

A leaflet "Dell Wood A Scots Pine Woodland" gives further information and is available from the Spar Store & Post Office. The track you are on was built in the 13th century in response to a decree to improve communications. Known as the King's Road, it used to be the main route between Tulloch and Nethy Bridge. Follow this track for about ¼ mile until you are fairly close to the pylons. There is a much smaller path on the right, that leaves the main track shortly before you reach two lone tall pine trees, with the pylons beyond them. Take this narrow path on the right, which goes across a small wooden footbridge, beneath the pylons, across another wooden footbridge, over the Duack burn, and then through woodland to the road. This path is difficult - impassable with a push chair.

When you reach the Tulloch road turn right. Either walk on this very quiet road, or alternatively take the rough woodland path just inside the woods that runs parallel to the road and in sight of it. This path ends at a gate onto the road. There is a seat between the path and the road before you reach the village. Turn right when you join the Nethy Bridge - Boat of Garten road (B970) and this brings you back to the Spar Store & Post Office.

Everyone likes your dog - on a lead.

Dell Wood(Map)

Several beautiful walks through Dell Wood National Nature Reserve on woodland paths and quiet roads.
Time & Distance: From about ½ - 1 hour (1 to 2 miles) round trip from the PostOffice, depending on which route you take.
Push chairs: The larger forest tracks are passable for push chairs (but rough inplaces), the smaller ones are not.
Seats: One near the bottom of Dell Road and one near the top (opposite the Heatherbrae Hotel).
Parking: If you want to be met part way there is room to park on most of Dell Road. Dell Wood is a native Caledonian woodland in the heart of the village with many lovely walks through it. it is one of the few remnants of natural Scots Pine woodland that was once widespread in the Highlands. It is a National Nature Reserve and is managed for nature conservation and amenity by Scottish Natural Heritage.

A leaflet "Dell Woods A Scots Pine Woodland" giving further information is available from the Spar Store & Post Office. Look out for Red Squirrels and the remains of chewed Scots Pine cones on which they have been feeding. Other pinewood specialists here are Crested Tits and Crossbills. There are 3 paths entering Dell Wood from the village, and many paths through the woods. If you follow the smaller ones you can get lost!
Starting at the Post Office:

With your back to the Spar Store & Post Office turn right up Dell Road and take the first road on the right, signed Culvardie and Duackside. Follow this road and keep left where it forks at the Duackside' sign. Shortly before the tarmac road ends (at the house 'Redwood') take the broad vehicle track on the left leading into the woods. Follow this track which leads to a 'crossroads' in the wood. At the crossroads to the left is a field and to the right is a broad path which ends at the pylons (this is an attractive walk to the pylons and back again the same way; it is not shown in red on the map). Carry straight on here along a narrower footpath, which leads through the woods towards the backs of the houses on Dell Road.

After less than ¼ mile this path comes to the edge of the wood. Here one path goes to the left onto Dell Road, and another carries on to the right through the woods. To return follow the path to the left out of the woods and onto Dell Road beside the house 'Morlich'. Turn left at Dell Road to return to the Spar Store & Post Office. About ½ hour (1 mile) round trip. To continue through the woods follow the path to the right, which now becomes narrower and veers away from the houses. Keep to the most right hand path here. Not suitable for a pushchair.

After several hundred metres the path goes up a short, steep rise and ahead is a large white house 'Forest House'. To return turn left and follow the path through a gate, and onto a track beside houses that joins Dell Road. Turn left at Dell Road to return to the Spar Store & Post Office.

About 45 minutes (1½ miles) round trip.

The River Walk(Map)

Two delightful walks on footpaths beside the River Nethy and quiet roads. Good for wildflowers by the river.
Time & Distance: Both walks are about 1 hour (1¾ miles) round trip from the Post
Office.
Pushchairs: Passable all the way.
Seats: There we 3 seats spaced along the path by the river, and I at the Black Bridge, and 2 on Dell Road (1 at the top opposite the Heathebrae Hotel, and I near the bottom) and picnic tables at the kick pitch.

Starting at the Spar Store & Post Office: With your back to the Spar Store & Post Office turn right up Dell Road and join the River Walk where it is signed on the left opposite the village hall. Follow this footpath past a small shingle beach (where there is a seat and a natural pool for swimming), there are a number of seats. The path ends at a small tarmac loop road at Lower Dell. Turn left onto the road and walk to the Black Bridge, a footbridge over the River Nethy with a seat by it. Here decide whether to continue along Lower Dell and return via Dell Road; or whether to cross the river and return via the Old smithy and Balnagowan Brae.

To continue via Lower Dell pass the Black Bridge on the left. Today this is a quiet area but during the 18th and 19th centuries an iron furnace for making bar iron, a water powered sawmill and a boring mill all worked at Lower Dell. The mill lade is still partly visible on both sides of the road past 'Ellonbreck'. Follow the road until you join Dell Road (between 'Nursery Cottage' and 'Sandmartin'). Behind the beech hedge on the other side of the road is the estates former Tree Nursery. The Nursery was started in 1855 to rear Scots Pine seedlings, from seed gathered locally, for forestry planting. The Nursery closed in 1984.

The kiln from this Nursery that was used for extracting the seeds from the pine cones, is now on display at the Landmark Centre in Carrbridge. Turn right at Dell Road and simply keep straight on to return to the Spar Store & Post Office. You will pass the junction back down to Lower Dell on the right opposite the Heatherbrae Hotel where there is a seat.

To continue via the Old Smithy cross over the Black Bridge and turn left. Follow this footpath by the river past the kick pitch on the right, where there are picnic tables, and up the hill to the road. Turn left at the road and walk to the Old Smithy. Take the footpath on the left beside the 'Old Smithy'. The Smithy was shoeing horse here until the 1960's. Follow this path and turn left when it joins the road. Follow the road down Balnagowan Brae to the junction beside the Nethy Bridge Hotel. Turn left here and cross over the bridge to return to the Spar Store & Post Office.

CoulnaKyle - Serendipity (Map)

A delightful walk through farmland on quiet roads and a farm track.
Time & Distance: About ¾ hour (1½ miles) round trip from the Post Office.
Pushchairs: Passable all the way except if track is too muddy.
Seats: One beside Nethy Bridge-Grantown road (B970)
near drive to the Mountview Hotel

Starting at the Spar Store & Post Office cross the bridge over the River Nethy and turn left. Pass the Butcher and the old railway station. Opened in 1863 this line ran along the valley of the Spey to Aberlour and beyond, serving the forestry and whisky industries as well as passengers. Leave the village and carry on for about ½ mile until you reach Coulnakyle Farm on the right. Coulnakyle is a very historic house, first mentioned in 1226. Chiefs of Clan Grant have lived here, and several armies camped at Coulnakyle, including Jacobite forces who spent a night here in 1690, prior to their defeat at the Battle of Cromdale fought a few miles away.

Coulnakyle was also a centre for timber operations in the past. Here timber was sorted, to be processed at the sawmill at Coulnakyle, or floated down the River Spey for the shipbuilding industry at the river mouth. Turn right up the track to the farm and into the farmyard. Please ensure your dog is on a lead here due to both livestock and wildlife. The large white house Coulnakyle' is on your right. In the farmyard bear slightly to the right, and go through the gate that is to the right of the small white cottage.

This leads onto a farm track. Please leave the gate as you find it. In spring and summer ground nesting birds such as Oystercatchers, Lapwing, Curlew and Snipe are in abundance in the fields on both sides of the track. Also look out for Brown Hares. Carry on along the track which crosses the old railway line and then meets the Nethy Bridge - Grantown road (B 970) at the house 'Serendipity' opposite the golf course. Turn right at the road to return to the Spar Store & Post Office.

This walk passes fields with livestock and nesting birds - please keep your dog on a lead.

Broomhill Bridge and River Spey(Map)

A very scenic walk on a quiet road through farmland, and by the River Spey.
Good for birdwatching.

Distance: About ~ 1½ hours (3 miles) round trip from the Spar Store & Post Office.
Pushchairs: Suitable except for the stretch on the fishing path by the river.
Seats: One beside the River Spey.
Parking: if you want to be met part way there is room to park beside the road on the far side of Broomhill Bridge. This is a small pull in where the access track for anglers leaves the tarmac road to go to the river. Take care not to block the track for farm vehicles or anglers.
Built in 1894, the wooden road bridge over the Spey at Broomhill is the second to be built here. The original was built when the railway opened in 1863 to transport timber from local forests to the railway at Broomhill Station. Leaving the Spar Store & Post Office cross the bridge over the River Nethy and turn left. Pass the Butcher and the old railway station. Once you are well out of the village you will pass Coulnakyle farm on the right. (Some historical information on the railway and Coulnakyle is given in the Coulnakyle-Serendipity walk). The road carries straight on to the River Spey and Broomhill Bridge.

The low lying fields form the river's flood plain. In spring and summer they are alive with nesting birds such as lapwing, Snipe, Curlew and Oystercatcher and their young. In winter wild geese come here to feed. The bridge is also a good place to watch birds. Look out for Sand Martins nesting in sand bank holes; Goosander, Dipper, Kingfisher, Goldeneye and the occasional fishing Osprey. In addition Salmon, Mink and even Otter might be seen. From the bridge is a lovely view in both directions of the broad valley of the Spey. Nearly 100 miles long from its source in the Monaliath mountains to its mouth at Spey bay, it is one of Scotland's longest rivers. From the 17th-19th centuries Scots Pine timber was floated down the Spey for the shipbuilding industry' at the river mouth. Cross the bridge and turn immediately right down a vehicle track. This track leads over a cattle grid and under the bridge to the river bank.

The parking area by the river here is for anglers only. There is a small bench beside the river. There may be livestock in the fields by the river so please ensure your dog is on a lead here. From the river bank follow the fishing path to the right upstream (unsuitable for pushchairs). Cross the fence at the stile and carry on along the edge of the field on the flood bank. On the opposite bank you can see where the River Nethy joins the Spey. Go over the next stile to the fishing hut where there is wheelchair access for anglers.

To return to Broomhill Bridge follow the tarmac path and go through the gate into the field. Follow the track across the field beside the railway line, and through the gate onto the road. At the road go downhill, passing Broomhill Station which has been renovated for use by .the Strathspey Steam Railway. Returning from Broomhill Bridge to the village gives a marvelous view of the Cairngorms.

This walk passes fields with livestock and nesting birds - please ensure your dog is on a lead.

Balnagown Wood(Map)

A lovely Scots Pine woodland in the centre of the village. Only the larger paths are shown on the map. A circular route, from either the Old Smithy or the Spar Store & Post Office, is given here.

Time & Distance. About ¾ hour (1¼ miles) round trip from the Old Smithy. About 1 hour (2 miles) round trip from the Spar Store & Post Office.
Pushchairs: The larger paths are mostly passable with a pushchair, but with
awkward patches. The smaller paths are too narrow.
Seats: I part way up Balnagowan Brae, and 1 at the turn off from the Grantown road (B970). None in the woods.
Paths enter the wood at 4 places. These are near the Causer crossroad, off Balnagowan Brae, off the road between the Mountview Hotel and the road to the golf club and opposite the school.

Starting at the Old Smithy: With your back to the Old Smithy turn left and go across the crossroads at the Causer. Pass the bus shelter and the speed limit signs and turn left through the gate into Balnagowan Woods. Follow the large path on the right. This leads downhill to the centre of the wood. Here 5 broad paths meet. The path to the right goes to the school. The path to the left goes to the road behind the Mountview Hotel.

The path on the extreme left goes back through the woods. The path approximately straight on goes towards the golf course. Turn left (not extreme left) and follow this path up a gentle hill to the edge of the wood, overlooking a field. The garden fence of the large white house Fasga na Coille is on your right. Turn left along the path at the edge of the wood, with the field on your right. Follow this path past the backs of the houses on the Causer and back to the gate into the woods by which you came in. Turn right at the road to return to the Spar. Starting at the Spar Store & Post Office: Go over the bridge and turn first right up Balnagowan Brae. Climb the hill (there is a seat part way up) to the first house on the right. called 'Ardavon' (from the Gaelic 'Ard' (high) and Abhainn (river)). Opposite 'Ardavon' turn left through the pedestrian gate into a field with trees. Follow the path through the next gateway and across another wooded field (there may he livestock - please keep your dog on a lead). Go through another gate, across a short stretch of wood and through the gateway into Balnagowan Woods. Turn left and follow this path until you are at the edge of the woods, with a field on the left, a large white house (Fasga na Coille) close by, and a broad path on the right with the garden fence of the house running beside it.

Turn right here and follow this path downhill to the centre of the wood where 5 broad paths meet. Here the path straight ahead leads to the school. The path on the left goes towards the golf course. The first path on the right goes obliquely back through the woods. The second path on the right goes towards the crossroads at the Causer. Follow this second path on the right. It leads to a gate out of the wood onto the road (near the bus stop at the Causer crossroad). Before the gate are two paths on the right. Take the first path, on the extreme right. This leads downhill and back to the gateway into the wooded fields by which you came into the woods. Retrace your steps through the gates and wooded fields. Turn right at the road at 'Ardavon' to return to the Post Office.