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.

Letham Glen and Kennoway Den

Monday 30th August 2021

On the day before this walk I finished the Fife Coastal Path after seven days on the trail, but I still had another day in the Kingdom of Fife. When I had planned my accommodation in Silverburn Park, near Leven, I had intended on starting the Fife Coastal Path on the Tuesday and with hindsight that would have been better, but instead I actually started the trail on the day before while travelling from Edinburgh to Leven. I should have spent more time in Dalkeith Country Park and Edinburgh before heading to Silverburn Park so I could arrive there on time and not tried to walk along the trail while carrying a heavy rucksack. I had been thinking I could use this spare day to do some walking elsewhere in Fife, perhaps over the Lomond Hills, which are the highest hills in the county. In the end, since the Fife Coastal Path had completely worn me out, I didn’t want to do much walking on this day, so I decided to do something around Leven. From Silverburn Park, I headed past the golf courses to the outskirts of Leven where I turned right along a footpath beside Scoonie Burn that took me into Letham Glen Park.

Initially this was your typical ornamental park with many flower displays, but the path soon passed into dense woodland with surroundings that were more wild and so more appealing to me. I had an enjoyable walk through the woodland of this narrow valley until I reached the end whereupon I turned around and headed back through the glen. It was lovely to be walking through natural, wild scenery, which is something I have increasingly appreciated over the previous eighteen months. It has been vital for my mental health to get out into wild landscape during this time as it provides such a calming and relaxing effect on me at a time when I was forced to spend so much time at home. When I reached the end of the woodland walk I climbed out of the park onto Sillerhole Road. While wandering along this road that becomes Linnwood Drive, I checked on the internet for other walks in the area and found a reference to Kennoway Den, but since I had not planned anything for this day, I didn’t have a map of the area so I was reliant on Google Maps to guide me.

At the end of Linnwod Drive I crossed a road onto a path that passes a large number of warehouses that reminded me of those I have seen at distilleries and Google Maps confirmed my suspicions as the warehouses are labelled Diageo Global Supply. This was a very relaxing walk on a tarmac path between the warehouses and farmland with the sun that had been hiding behind clouds now starting to break through. After swinging away from the warehouses, the path heads to Kennoway and passes alongside the community until it reaches a point where I could come off the path and onto a road near a sign that marks the start of the Kennoway Den walk. Initially this walk was not very promising as the path followed a small burn with a farmer’s field on the other side, but soon the valley deepened with wooded sides that developed into a pleasant walk that simply got better and better. Rock faces appeared with short caves as the valley turned left and right through the gorgeous woodland landscape. I had a really enjoyable walk through the delightful natural surroundings of Kennoway Den as the burn slowly climbs with an excellent footpath that always provided me with easy access through the dramatic scenery.

Eventually the path began to climb above the stream that now plunged into a deep, dark ravine until the path reached a road near Auchtermairnie. Realising that the path goes no further, I turned around and headed back down the valley, much to my delight, enjoying the walk once again despite the earlier sunshine having now gone leaving gloomier skies. Veering to the east of the stream I came out onto a grassy area near some houses and keeping beside the stream I walked along the edge of the grass and returned to the main road where I had started the walk through Kennoway Den. These had both been very enjoyable and relaxing walks through wonderfully wild wooded glens, but it was now only twelve o’clock and I had no idea how to fill the rest of the day. Returning to the path that I had been on earlier, which at this point is an old railway line, I turned right heading down this path under a road and near to an area identified by Google Maps as Cameron Wood where there used to another old railway line, but I don’t recall seeing any sign of it. Instead I crossed over the River Leven and walked along the top of a pipeline that parallels the river until eventually the pipeline crosses the river and I was left to find my own way through the overgrowth and past a recent housing development.

With a faint path to follow I ploughed on until stopped by a tall fence surrounding a water treatment works that forced me to turn right and climb up to the road opposite a bus depot. I was now able to make my way back into Leven where I had my lunch, but I was preoccupied with some blisters that I had recently acquired on my toes. As I headed off again I was in quite a bit of pain so I returned to Silverburn Park where I tended to my injuries while sat beside my tent. Since I refuse to waste an afternoon, I got out my walking pole and hobbling like an old man I made my way back onto the beach using the pole for support and gradually it became easier for me to walk as I crossed the sands up to the sea. Despite the overcast skies, it was great to be back on the beach and I was reminded of the walks I had done during the previous week on the Fife Coastal Path, so as a memorial to that trail I headed along the beach until I ran out of sands and crossed the rocks to the mouth of Kiel Burn below Lower Largo. Unable to keep going along the coast, I climbed up into the village and continued to climb up to the main road where I turned left and followed it all the way back to Silverburn Park. This walk ended a fabulous week in the Kingdom of Fife where I enjoyed some fabulous walking with great weather every day and I appreciated the chance to relax on this day to recover from my exertions of the previous week.