Walk The Speyside Way, Dava Way and Moray Coast Trail

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Updates
• Reviews
• Further Reading

This guidebook contains Ordnance Survey mapping of the entire Speyside Way, the Dava Way, the Moray Coast Trail and the other described trails, with the route of each clearly overlaid. Provided no serious navigational errors are made en route, or long detours from the Way are envisaged, then this is the only mapping that is required to walk the trails. However, many walkers will want to carry some general maps of the area in order to identify interesting landscape features along the way and to locate off-route places of interest. They will also be useful if you have to divert from the line of the trail to secure a night’s accommodation.

Speyside Way

For the Speyside Way the best strip map (showing at least a mile either side of the route) is the excellent one published by Footprint (see Appendix 2). The whole route of the Speyside Way, from Aviemore to Buckie, as well as the spur from Tomintoul, the Dufftown routes and the Badenoch Way, are all included on one sheet at a scale of 1:45,000. An alternative strip map is published by Harvey Maps at a scale of 1:40,000. This is a metric map is printed on a tough waterproof material and is GPS compatible (note that this map does not mark the Dufftown routes, or show the Badenoch Way).

If more area either side of the trail is required, then the relevant OS maps are the ones to acquire, either at 1:50,000 scale (the Landranger series) or at 1:25,000 scale (Explorer maps).

• Landranger (covers all the official Speyside Way route, including the Tomintoul Spur): sheets 36 (Grantown & Aviemore) and 28 (Elgin & Dufftown)
• Explorer (covers the whole route): sheets 403 (Cairn Gorm & Aviemore), 419 (Grantown-on-Spey & Hills of Cromdale) and 424 (Buckie & Keith). Note: the Tomintoul Spur is covered by Explorer sheet 419, with the exception of the first ½ mile on road from Tomintoul village.

For those who wish to follow an unofficial route from the source of the Spey to the official start of the Speyside Way at Aviemore, additional maps will be required, either Landranger 34 (Fort Augustus) and 35 (Kingussie & Monadhliath Mountains) (the latter map also covers the Badenoch Way), or Explorer maps 401 (Loch Laggan & Creag Meagaidh) and 402 (Badenoch & Upper Strathspey), and possibly, depending on exact route, Explorer sheet 400 (Loch Lochy & Glen Roy).

Dava Way

Landranger maps 36 (Grantown & Aviemore) and 27 (Nairn & Forres) are required to cover the entire length of the Dava Way, but all but the first mile of the route from Grantown-on-Spey is covered by sheet 27. The corresponding Explorer maps for the Dava Way are sheets 419 (Grantown-on-Spey & Hills of Cromdale) and 423 (Elgin, Forres & Lossiemouth). (An appreciable length of the Way is also shown on Explorer sheet 418 (Lochindorb, Grantown-on-Spey & Carrbridge), although there is no part of it that is not also covered by sheet 419.)

Moray Coast Trail

The Moray Coast Trail laps over three Landranger maps, 27 (Nairn & Forres), 28 (Elgin & Dufftown) and 29 (Banff & Huntly). Over three-quarters of the trail is covered by Sheet 28, which overlaps Sheet 29, such that the latter is only necessary for the last ½ mile into Cullen at the eastern end of the route. The Explorer alternatives are 423 (Elgin, Forres & Lossiemouth), 424 (Buckie & Keith) and 425 (Huntly & Cullen).

The Moray Way

The Moray Way requires either Landranger maps 36 (Grantown & Aviemore), 27 (Nairn & Forres) and 28 (Elgin & Dufftown) or Explorer maps 419 (Grantown-on-Spey & Hills of Cromdale), 423 (Elgin, Forres & Lossiemouth) and 424 (Buckie & Keith). At the time of the preparation of this guidebook there were plans by the Moray Way Association to produce a comprehensive map at 1:70,000 scale that will cover the entire Moray Way in significant detail. It was hoped to publish this map by the summer of 2010.