The Old Logging Way to Loch Morlich

Tuesday 31st August 2021

When making my plans for my holidays in 2020, my Scotland holiday was going to be in the Cairngorm Mountains, but I was never sure what else to do while I was in Scotland. The main goal of the holiday was the heart of the Cairngorms including Cairn Gorm itself and Ben MacDui, the highest point in the Cairngorm Mountains. The reason for this was that it had been many years since I was last there and I felt like I had unfinished business. I first visited the area in 2005 and came back in 2009, but when I returned in 2013 there was so much snow on the mountains, despite it being the end of May, I was unable to visit the highest peaks. When I came back to the Cairngorm Mountains in 2016, I went around Cairn Gorm and its neighbouring mountains, and I had not been back since. That is why the main goal for my holiday in 2020 was to return to the central mountains of the Cairngorms, but then the world was hit by Covid-19 and the holiday was cancelled. This year, with my 2020 plans resurrected, I still had the problem of what else to do besides the Cairngorm Mountains and eventually I decided on the Fife Coastal Path, so after a week in the Kingdom of Fife I set off towards the Cairngorm Mountains.

Finally leaving Leven and Silverburn Park where I had been camping for over a week, I caught a bus to Markinch where I caught a train to Aviemore. I considered catching a bus from Aviemore to the Glenmore Campsite, but with the good weather that I had enjoyed in Fife continuing, I decided to walk even though I was carrying a heavy rucksack and had proved to be a big problem for me on the first day of the Fife Coastal Path. Soon after leaving the railway station in Aviemore, I saw signs for the Old Logging Way, which is a cycle and walkway that parallels the road all the way to Glenmore, which is the most direct route to take. On previous occasions, in 2009 and in 2013 in the other direction, I took a route through the Rothiemurchus Forest via Loch an Eilein. This is a great and picturesque route, but it is not the quickest way to go, so since more than half the day was already spent, and I was carrying a very heavy rucksack, I thought I’d give the Old Logging Way a try. When I first came to the Cairngorm Mountains in 2005, the Old Logging Way had not yet been built, so I had walked beside the road all the way to Glenmore which was really tiring, especially as I was carrying two shopping bags.

The Old Logging Way was a delight taking me out of Aviemore over the River Spey and initially just kept to the pavement beside the road, but then after leaving behind the last of the buildings in Inverdruie, the path moves slightly away from the road to pass through Caledonian pine forest. The landscape was dominated by purple-blooming heather though there was also some in-seed broom and many bright red mushrooms were dotted around on the ground. Slowly, I made my way towards Glenmore passing through more established conifer plantations and moved well away from the road on clearly marked tracks where my biggest difficulty was keeping out of the way of cyclists. After joining a wide track, I came near to the road again beside the shore of Loch Morlich for the final stretch of the Old Logging Way that took me to the Glenmore Campsite. It had taken me about two hours to get there, which was much quicker than I had been expecting as the Old Logging Way is six and a half miles long and I’d heard reports of it being seven miles, so at the slow speed I had been walking it should have taken me much longer, however this was very important information for me as I would need to return along the Old Logging Way at the end of my holiday to catch my train home.

After putting up my tent, having a shower and eating my dinner, I decided to do a walk around Loch Morlich to get my bearings. On the far side of the campsite I found a sandy beach that looked fabulous with the backdrop of the Cairngorm Mountains in the distance. Walking between the road and the shore, I enjoyed the views over the loch as I made my way over the tree roots until I reached a car park where a path emerged marked with red-topped posts. These mark Forestry and Land Scotland’s Loch Morlich Trail and were a reliable guide around the loch when otherwise I might have got lost. They directed me onto a track over the River Luineag and seemed to take me further and further away from Loch Morlich, but it was a lovely walk as I kept going through the conifer plantation while the evening light faded. The red posts never let me down, even when I did as I was convinced that all I needed to do was keep turning left, so when I reached a junction where a new trail of white-topped posts marked left while the red-topped posts turned right, I decided to follow the white-topped posts.

I soon discovered that the white-topped posts had taken round in a circle back to the red-topped posts at a footbridge over the Abhainn Ruigh-eunachan and I could have saved myself some time by keeping beside the red-topped posts. Later, I spotted some caravans hidden amongst the trees, which seemed odd until I realised it was my campsite, so I passed them and returned to my tent. The weather on this day was largely overcast with some blue sky around, but not near the mountains, which was not a problem as I was not climbing mountains on this walk. This day was mainly about travelling from the Kingdom of Fife to the Cairngorm Mountains, but I was still able to get some good walking done. The Old Logging Way was a good route to do even with a heavy rucksack and the Loch Morlich Trail was a wonderfully relaxing walk to do in the evening. At the end of the week, I packed up my tent and set off once again along the Old Logging Way to return to Aviemore and I was once again able to enjoy this very convenient and quick route between Glenmore and Aviemore.