A great day’s cycle, mainly off road on the Dava Way, an old railway line, north to the Moray Firth coast.
Those stats; 50 miles at 9.7mph, faster than usual due to less climbing and a good surface.
2,426ft of ascent – over 3,000ft of descent. Max speed 33.7mph. Hills walked up; just a couple of tricky slopes.
Usually I’d post a pic of breakfast but I was so busy getting ready I forgot. I set off into a grey gloom. Forecast was cloud all day but a strong tail wind. Neither turned out to be correct.
It’s great leaving our cottage and starting this trip off road. The Moray Way combines the Dava Way – Grantown on Spey to Forres with the Moray Coastal Trail – Findhorn to Spey Bay – and then the Speyside Way back home – about 110 miles, almost all off road.
There are stunning views which change with the seasons from our cottage, which I never tire of. Such as:
And here is the route I took:
Recently:
After 6 or so miles I cycled across a railway bridge over the Spey:
Then on to the B9102 to Grantown, a roller coaster tiny road that tracks the Spey:
Into Grantown after 20 miles and an excellent coffee at Base Camp Bikes. The Dava Way starts just outside. The Inverness and Perth Junction Railway, it’s snappy title, ran from Forres south for 100 miles to Dunkeld.
It took just 2 years to build, which seems incredibly fast, with the viaducts, bridges, cuttings , stations and so on. It opened in 1863.
First I cycled through a rock cutting.
And then the embankment took me to:
But there was no Lady Catherine. This listed gatehouse was the price extracted for allowing the railway across the land of Lord whoever. But the trains did halt here for the great and good to disembark for one of those rambling Scottish baronial piles.
Talking of barons, at a viaduct there was a list of the directors – almost all land owning Scots nobility which no doubt ensured no objection from them.
The surface of the track is mainly very good. It rises very gradually for some 6 or so miles. to:
And then a gradual descent. I saw one other person – a walker – in the first 15 miles. This is a great route – easy, with lots to see (especially if you like Victorian engineering).
It is easy to imagine the steam trains coming down this track and difficult for some I’m sure not to make train noises.
For lunch I had venison pâté rolls and chocolate eclairs:
This moor gets a lot of snow; so much that in 1865 a train was marooned for a week up here. That led to the railway company building the world’s first snowplough that attached to a loco.
The snow was also bad in 1963 when the snowplough loco managed to run off the rails:
The railway cut the droving time for sheep from 4 weeks to 1 day! The Forres – Aviemore section closed in 1965. There are 8 viaducts; this is the one at Divie:
Here on the top of it:
There are also 126 bridges over rivers such as this one
Over the Bogeney Burn. The grass path is to allow the sheep to roam without crossing the line.
More track views:
There are also 119 road bridges:
Apparently the railway owners wanted to combine function with good design; so this in its design is similar to Lady Catherine’s Halt.
Lots of sheep and cows:
And the sun came out briefly – great autumn colours:
The last of the rail track:
And then to Sueno’s Stone; the largest surviving Pictish stone in the UK:
Then a quick 5 mile cycle to Findhorn and it’s bay:
We were last here in September; there were dozens of moored boats. Now all ashore I guess for the winter.
On for a deserved pint at the Kimberley Arms:
Findhorn is very English; ages went by before I heard a Scottish accent. I went back to this pub for supper – the best fish stew I’ve had in ages.
A great first day. Weather doesn’t look too good for tomorrow but here’s hoping…
jlinwoodblog 