Saturday 28th December 2024
A walk from Carron to Blacksboat (9.6 miles).
Anne and I walked another section of the Speyside Way, from Carron to Blacksboat. We had reached Carron back in July. As usual we did the journey both ways as we have to park and return to our car, so the actual distance further along the Speyside Way was just 4.8 miles! We actually parked at the disused station at Blacksboat and walked to Carron and then back from Carron. The photos recorded are on the outward treck.
We left home well before 9.00 and drove through to Forres where we fortified ourselves for our walk with on of Mackenzie & Cruickshanks amazing scones. You have to try one. Put it on your bucket list. We then came out by Dallas and Knockando to Blacksboat Railway Station just before Marypark. We started walking at 11.20.
This is the car parked at Blacksboat Station. It was drizzling when we arrived and continued to do so for maybe 10 to 15 minutes after we started walking.
It is a really lovely old station, now a cafe but closed for the winter.
This was our first sight of the Spey.
Halfway to Carron we came to the Tamdhu distillery. This is the first of three distilleries we would come on today. No wonder the area up the Spey is known as the “Whisky Trail” though none of the distilleries we passed today are on the “trail”. These are newly built bonded warehouses. Scotch Whisky must be matured in oak casks for a minimum of three years, and is often matured much longer.
It is not a bonny distillery.
This is Tamdhu Station.
One of the distillery houses.
New colourful and informative posts have been placed along the Speyside Way. On this section all the bridges have been replaced. The walking was excellent.
A little further on we came to Knockando Distillery. A little bonnier than Tamdhu.
Getting near to Carron.
We passed this apple tree. Have you ever seen a tree with such a crop of apples on it?
These are called “Imperial Cottages”. These were former distillery cottages. The distillery in Carron was the Imperial Distillery, built by Thomas Mackenzie in 1897. In 1925, Imperial joined The Distillers Company. In 1989, Imperial Distillery was sold to Allied Distillers. The distillery was demolished in 2013 and a new distillery, Dalmunach, established on the site in 2015.
We reached the Dalmunach Distillery in Carron.
We stopped at 1.05 at the picnic bench that we ate at in July. We ate here again. It was actually very mild for December and there was no wind. The seats were wet but I sat on my rucksack and Anne sat on that plastic bag she is holding. We were glad to get moving after eating even though we were stiff. We had cooled a bit. Prior to this the day was so mild I had not been wearing gloves, but I wore them after this. My hat is on because it started to drizzle as we reached Carron though the shower soon went off.
It was just a matter of retracing our steps to Blacksboat arriving back at the car at just after 3.00. Another lovely walk on the Speyside Way. How far will we get along it in 2025?I ‘borrowed’ the map from Maximum Adventure’s website.
So now we have done
| 1. Buckie to Portgordon | Sunday 17th April 2022 |
| 2. Portgordon to Speybay | Wednesday 20th April 2022 |
| 3. Speybay to Fochabers | Saturday 16th April 2022 |
| 4. Fochabers to Boat o’ Brig | Monday 25th March 2024 |
| 5. Boat o’ Brig to Craigellachie | Friday 29th March 2024 |
| 6. Craigellachie to Carron | Tuesday 16th July 2024 |
| 7. Carron to Blacksboat | today |
Sections 1 & 2 were done as part of the ‘Moray Coastal Trail’. The two walks overlap.