The Abernethy Forest

Wednesday 29th May 2024

My goal for coming to the Cairngorm Mountains had been to climb Ben Macdui and visit Loch Etchachan, which I did the day before this walk, so despite the weather being poor I was not really bothered as I had nothing planned. Instead it gave me a chance to explore the lower levels of this delightful area and there is one path near the youth hostel at Glenmore that I always take when in the area but first I had to find it. Starting beside the Reindeer Centre, I set off along uninspiring forestry tracks through a conifer plantation and once I’d started walking the fact it was raining failed to put me off and it soon stopped to be replaced with general murkiness. The dull track eventually came to an end, with views over the trees into the misty surroundings, beside a sign that proclaimed that the path ahead was no longer maintained and may be rough underfoot. I was rather disappointed by this as I love that path and would hate for it to become impassable at some point, and the fact that it is rough is part of its appeal for me. Another part is the wild flowers that often grow amongst the deciduous trees in this part of the Glenmore Forest Park, though on this occasion many of the flowers had already gone to seed. The most abundant was the slender blue flowers of bugle and the path itself was very enjoyable, weaving around the trees, up and down through the landscape. Wide flat paths are no fun in comparison.

Eventually I descended steeply to the main track through the Pass of Ryvoan near to An Lochain Uaine whose green waters are iconic. The path continued to climb away from the loch and split with the right hand branch turning south to the River Nethy heading over the Lairig an Laoigh and the other turning to the north climbing up to the Ryvoan Bothy. The Lairig an Laoigh is a fine pass through the mountains that I previously took in 2009 from Braemar, but I have not been any further along the other path than the Ryvoan Bothy where a path diverts up to the top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille, which I took in 2021. Now I stayed on the path beyond the bothy passing through moorland sparsely decorated with young trees and into the Abernethy Forest following the clear track past the conifers of scots pine. Junctions presented a challenge in navigation, though the route to Nethy Bridge was usually the clearest and often signposts pointed the way. Showers came and went throughout the course of the morning while I slowly made my way along the track with no sign of another soul amongst the trees. Despite walking through conifers, this always felt much more alive than when in a man-made conifer plantation because there was more space between the trees which allows more light to get to the woodland floor and so there was plenty of vegetation growing underneath the trees. All this is in sharp contrast to the dark, lifeless floors of conifer plantations.

Eventually I began to see signs of civilisation, first at Forest Lodge and then later, after tarmac appeared underfoot, I entered the outskirts of Nethy Bridge. In the centre of town I saw a sign for a riverside walk and since I had plenty of time before the next bus was due I took advantage of it and the sunshine that had just appeared. There were many wild flowers to admire, but the star attraction was the River Nethy itself, which was looking stunning under the blue skies that had astonishingly appeared, so when I reached the end of the trail I turned around and walked back along it. I was enamoured of Nethy Bridge and wanted to spend more time exploring but I didn’t want to miss my bus so I waited around for it to appear and by the time it eventually did the rain had also returned. The Speyside Way passes through Nethy Bridge so if at some time in the future I decide to do this long distance trail then maybe I will have an excuse to return to this village and spend more time there as I enjoyed my brief time spent in Nethy Bridge waiting for the bus in the sunshine. I was brought to Aviemore where I could either catch another bus to take me back to the youth hostel or I could walk there, which I have done on many occasions. Considering the time, I decided to take the quickest route along a cycle path known as the Old Logging Way, which I had taken in 2021 when I was last in the area. The rain held off even though it looked like it wouldn’t and provided me with another relaxing walk except when dodging bicycles.

This was a very different walk to the one the day before and I definitely prefer being at the top of a mountain but that holds less appeal when the clouds are low, though the weather was actually not as bad as had been forecast. It had given me the opportunity to explore the Abernethy Forest which I had not previously visited so the forecast did have that advantage and it was enjoyable and relaxing even though walking through woodland can be rather monotonous.