A decent enough sleep in the Hostel and I set off just after 9am, a little later than I'd planned but I was camping tonight so no real rush to get there. It was dry and quite warm when I set off, picking up lunch from the shop in the garage as I passed it and heading off along the main street of the village until I got near the end of it and a gravel path by the side of the road was taken, which skirted round the back of a housing estate and then through woodland before passing under the railway line.
This path weaved it's way through the woodland on a level path with a few up's and down's, a nice gentle start to the day's walk. About 3 miles from the start, the scenery changed and the trees disapeared, giving much nicer views around on a nice new path which was not showing on my map or GPS so it must have been a recent addition, I hoped the rest of the Speyside Way would be as easy to walk along. The path made it's way through some more woodland, with the railway line to the left and I could hear the unmistakable sound of a steam train coming my way, it's whistle echoing in the valley. I stopped to watch it pass by in a cloud of steam but it's whistle would be heard for ages and also when it made it's return journey later on.
I then went under the railway and the gravel track met a track that took me into the nice village of Boat Of Garten where I had a break at the local Post Office which was also a shop, selling hot and cold snacks, sharing the crumbs of my sausage rolls with a few local birds before setting off for the 5 miles or so to Nethy Bridge, first along a road and then a forest path most of the way with limited scenery before reaching Nethy Bridge and stopping by the riverside to have my lunch and watch the river flowing quickly past.
From here there was only about 5 or 6 miles to go to Grantown On Spey and nearly all of it would be on disused railway line, the grassy path would be a welcome relief on my feet after so much hard track. My legs were getting tired as I past a few farms before I reached a road and crossed it and followed another road until I reached a small car park just outside the village where you either head right and continue along the Speyside Way or you head straight on into the village, and that's what I did as I was staying in a campsite in the village.
There are a couple of Takeaways and shops in the village so I grabbed a few goodies and headed to the campsite. I was tempted to pitch my tent and then head back to get something from the takeaway but my feet and legs had other ideas, they didn't want to walk any more than was needed. I was happy though to get to the campsite to see a sign there saying a mobile snack van would be there that night, that was my tea sorted then. The campsite was quite nice, the tent area level and easy to get the tent pegs into the ground and there was only one more tent here but plenty of caravans and mobile homes were in the campsite as it was a Scottish schools holiday week.
Two days have now been walked and the path has been so smooth and wide that you could have easily cycled it from Kincraig to this point in Grantown On Spey. As I ate my chips and curry sauce in the small tent, I wondered what the remaining 3 days paths would be like, I hoped the walking would be as easy but that would not be the case...
Click here to go to Day 3 of the Speyside Way - Grantown On Spey to Craigellachie
