It’s great when things you think are familiar surprise you, and this run from Aberlour following the western, far bank of the Spey is one of them.
Since Dave, my fellow RunSpeyside founder, introduced me to the great network of tracks on the “other” side of the river, I’ve taken many people round them and they are never disappointed.
Starting from the Alice Littler Park car park, we crossed over the Penny Bridge, so named because the fee for crossing when it first opened in 1902 was a penny, and turned left to follow the track behind the old Ferryman’s house up the brae.
Bearing left to pass a modern house, the track loses height again and we continued down to rejoin the river bank.
The track here is good running and, with Aberlour now behind us, our only company were the fishermen stationed hopefully alongside the river.
At a junction next to a fishing hut we carried straight on – this is an extra detour, but extends the pleasant running along the riverside track taking a short riverside path to complete a small loop before rejoining the track to take us back to the fishing hut.
The waters of the Spey flowed dark beside us as clouds threatening snow showers passed overhead.
Next to the hut, we now turned left to climb a steep hill and I won’t deny that this is one to test the lungs and legs.
Dave is a bit of a hill specialist and was soon ahead of me, but the short, sharp gradient meant I felt no shame in slowing to a brief power walk for the tough section.
At the top of the rise, we turned left to continue upwards, making sure to stop and look southwards down the curve of the Spey, the waters now invitingly silver under a clear patch of sky.
After pausing to enjoy the view (and regain some breath) we turned right to continue climbing northwards and, after one last effort as the pine trees either side finished, we were treated to another grand vista across Aberlour towards Ben Rinnes and the Convals.
With the uphill over it was time to enjoy the gentle descent back down towards the village.
The track joined a metalled road, and here we turned left.
Turning right here takes you directly down to the Ferryman’s cottage if you want to shorten the route.
The road heads along the hillside, and we took the first right turn to start descending, soon taking another right as the driveway for Lower Easter Elchies took a sharp turn towards the house.
This track brought us down to the Penny Bridge, and once over, we then turned right to run along the riverbank, crossing a footbridge over the Lour Burn.
Following the rough paths along the river bank we reached a steep bank with an informal rope handrail.
Carefully climbing up this and ducking under a fence, we were now on the old railway line of the Speyside way and turned left for a jog among the trees back to the car park.
RunSpeyside offers guided running tours all over Speyside and Moray, with an emphasis on discovering and enjoying the outdoors.
It has routes from 5k to all day, and the tours are available throughout the year.
Alongside the standard tours, it is also providing special itineraries for the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival and the Moray Walking and Outdoors Festival.
For more details visit www.runspeyside.co.uk or on Facebook – @runspeyside