The Speyside Way. Alan Castle
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Название: The Speyside Way
Автор: Alan Castle
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Книги о Путешествиях
isbn: 9781783624171
isbn:
a good pair of lightweight boots – heavier mountaineering boots are not necessary on the main trails in the summer months – and sufficient clothing to keep you warm, dry and safe
maps, guidebook, compass
a basic first-aid kit plus any personal medicines
a small washing kit (no towel needed if using B&B or hotel accommodation)
sufficient food and drink
a mobile phone, but be aware that you may not always get a signal in the areas covered by these trails.
Most other items will be superfluous. My luxuries consist only of a camera and a small exercise book to be used as a travel journal.
Backpackers will also need a good lightweight tent, sleeping bag (not a heavy five-season one if walking during the summer months), a lightweight insulating mat/air bed and a lightweight travel towel. If you intend to cook your own food then obviously a cooking stove, utensils and fuel will be required. As food shops, pubs, restaurants, and fish and chip shops are frequently encountered on the main trails, the backpacker should decide before setting out whether to make use of these and leave the stove at home. Only backpackers can sensibly consider the walks described in the Prologue through the remote mountain and moorland areas of the Grampians. If venturing into these regions then it is necessary to think more carefully about what is taken on the trek and what left behind – certainly take extra emergency food, a torch and an emergency blanket.
Remember that, with the exceptions of the treks outlined in the Prologue and the Tomintoul Spur of the Speyside Way, most sections of the trails described in this book offer easy-grade, relatively low-level walking on good paths and tracks, rarely far from most modern facilities. Therefore for these trips it is not necessary to spend large sums of money on the sort of high-tech mountain equipment that is more appropriate to remote and high mountain areas of the world. The mantra ‘think safe, think sensible, think warm and dry, think light, think economical’ is not a bad one.
Maps
This guidebook contains Ordnance Survey mapping of the entire Speyside Way, the Dava Way, the Moray Coast Trail and the other described trails, with the route of each clearly overlaid. Provided no serious navigational errors are made en route, or long detours from the Way are envisaged, then this is the only mapping that is required to walk the trails. However, many walkers will want to carry some general maps of the area in order to identify interesting landscape features along the way and to locate off-route places of interest. They will also be useful if you have to divert from the line of the trail to secure a night's accommodation.
Cyclist on Dava Way alongside Dallas Dhu Distillery (Beryl Castle)
Speyside Way
For the Speyside Way the best strip map (showing at least a mile either side of the route) is the excellent one published by Footprint (see Appendix C). The route of the Speyside Way from Aviemore to Buckie, as well as the spur from Tomintoul, the Dufftown routes and the Badenoch Way, are all included on one sheet at a scale of 1:45,000. An alternative strip map is published by Harvey Maps at a scale of 1:40,000. This is a metric map printed on tough waterproof material and is GPS compatible (but does not mark the Dufftown routes or the Badenoch Way). This map, updated in 2015, includes the recently opened extension from Kincraig to Aviemore.
If more area either side of the trail is required, then the relevant OS maps are the ones to acquire, either at 1:50,000 scale (the Landranger series) or at 1:25,000 scale (Explorer maps).
Landranger (covers all the official Speyside Way route, including the Tomintoul Spur): sheets 36 (Grantown & Aviemore) and 28 (Elgin & Dufftown)
Explorer (whole route): sheets 403 (Cairn Gorm & Aviemore), 419 (Grantown-on-Spey & Hills of Cromdale) and 424 (Buckie & Keith). Note: all but the first ½ mile from Tomintoul village of the Tomintoul Spur is covered by Explorer sheet 419.
For those who wish to follow an unofficial route from the source of the Spey to the official start of the Speyside Way at Aviemore, additional maps will be required, either Landranger 34 (Fort Augustus) and 35 (Kingussie & Monadhliath Mountains) (the latter map also covers the Badenoch Way), or Explorer maps 401 (Loch Laggan & Creag Meagaidh) and 402 (Badenoch & Upper Strathspey), and possibly, depending on exact route, Explorer sheet 400 (Loch Lochy & Glen Roy).
Dava Way
Landranger maps 36 (Grantown & Aviemore) and 27 (Nairn & Forres) are required to cover the entire length of the Dava Way, but all but the first mile of the route from Grantown-on-Spey is covered by sheet 27. The corresponding Explorer maps for the Dava Way are sheets 419 (Grantown-on-Spey & Hills of Cromdale) and 423 (Elgin, Forres & Lossiemouth). (An appreciable length of the Way is also shown on Explorer sheet 418 (Lochindorb, Grantown-on-Spey & Carrbridge), although there is no part of it that is not also covered by sheet 419.)
Moray Coast Trail
The Moray Coast Trail laps over three Landranger maps, 27 (Nairn & Forres), 28 (Elgin & Dufftown) and 29 (Banff & Huntly). Over three quarters of the trail is covered by Sheet 28, which overlaps Sheet 29, such that the latter is only necessary for the last ½ mile into Cullen at the eastern end of the route. The Explorer alternatives are 423 (Elgin, Forres & Lossiemouth), 424 (Buckie & Keith) and 425 (Huntly & Cullen).
The Moray Way
The Moray Way requires either Landranger maps 36 (Grantown & Aviemore), 27 (Nairn & Forres) and 28 (Elgin & Dufftown) or Explorer maps 419 (Grantown-on-Spey & Hills of Cromdale), 423 (Elgin, Forres & Lossiemouth) and 424 (Buckie & Keith). The Moray Way Association has produced a comprehensive map at 1:80,000 scale that covers the entire Moray Way in significant detail (see Appendix C).
Navigation and Waymarking
No special navigational skills are required to walk the official routes of the Speyside Way, Dava Way and MCT. The trails are generally well waymarked, and by following the routes and maps in this guidebook you should have few problems in finding your way along them. The landscape through which most of these routes pass is relatively low lying, and the walker is rarely very far from public roads, villages or towns where help could be sought in cases of emergency. So even if the walker or cyclist does mislay the route, he or she is unlikely to come to any serious grief. The one exception to this is on the Tomintoul Spur, which heads into the hills for several miles, to a height just a little below 2000ft (610m), and where getting lost could have more serious consequences, so a familiarity with map and compass work is strongly advisable. However, the route is well waymarked in this section too, and in normal weather conditions and good visibility most people would be able to negotiate the section safely. The walks described in the Prologue require a much higher level of navigational skill and experience (see below).
The Speyside Way is waymarked with a white Scottish thistle, identical to that used on all the other official Long Distance Routes in Scotland (West Highland Way, Great Glen Way and Southern Upland Way). These waymarks appear most often on wooden posts. The Tomintoul Spur is similarly waymarked, СКАЧАТЬ