That’s day 4 of 5 in the books for this crew and so far this was our most favourite stage of the Way! A longer one at 21km but with the varied terrain, great conversation and decent weather, so far as all day rain goes, we loved it

Today was animal sitting day, crazy how much we saw – must have been how far away from villages or towns we were most of the time.

• We stood and watched 4 beautiful Roe Deer check us out, confirm we were not aliens here to harm them and then slowly make their way across our path and walk up into the forest hills. We saw another that stayed just ahead of us on our route for quite some time too.
• We quickly stopped walking to watch a ‘richness’ of Pine Martens (about 6 of them maybe more) see us, check us out, move on into the grass, stop check us out again, repeat. These guys are officially my favourite – they are like little Meerkats the way they stand up to look over the grass.
• We actually, believe or not, saw the Red Squirrel. This little guy is going extinct here in Scotland and there is loads of initiatives underway to try and keep them around. We were chatting with an older Scottish women the other day at breakfast and she has never even seen one. We feel so lucky and reported the sighting to the save the squirrels website thing.
• We also saw quite a few pheasants. One male and quite a few ladies, they were pretty quick to run and hide but we were able to catch a few pics. This was the only sighting where we actually got a decent pic.
• We of course also saw Sheep (used some of their fields as our path), Cows which we mostly skirted around their fields, and one massive bull that we gave a very very wide berth too. We also saw many a bunny and while cute the holes and tunnels they make in the ground can make for sketchy walking so boo them.
• Not sighted, but hopes are still high, the hedgehog or the unicorn.

We saw as much of a mix in terrain today as we did the animal kingdom! The day started on a fairy magic path (the overgrown track bed where the railway line used to be) – so green and quiet!

From there we had to make our way up and out of the magical forest through farmland to a path that was so full of bracken and thistle we were well drenched and poked by the time we made it through. The cold rain makes the nettle sting hurt less so that was a bonus!?

We were then back to farmland which was ugh pretty slow going under foot for some time here. The local farmers have set up these corridors (corridors of hell now so named) where they leave about 5 feet between the barbed wire (or electric) fences of one field to the next and that little area is designated the path. Sounds lovely actually … if there was not a chain gate every 100m or less (which are fun the first few times but less so the 20th) and they were not filled with large boulders overgrown with grass on a rainy day.

Slippery, ankle-breaker paths make for slow work! We celebrated and picked up to our normal pace when the boulders were to the side, then slowed and happily grumbled when they were underfoot again.

After the corridors of hell it was time for our first break of the day, we found a sheltered spot under a nice tree to stand and eat a half sandwich, some chips for salt and a few Skittles for my dessert. Too wet and no where to sit for a proper break where you take off the boots, feet up, switch the socks. We will regret the lack of proper break later of course as all hikers do, but we are still smiling so nae bother!

From there we headed up and up through farmland, across a fantastic bridge, past Mr Muscle the Bull and back into our favorite place to be – the woods!

After the woods we headed back down (steep) through some farmland then into some more woodland which we stayed in for quite some time and then finally some more farmland to start making our way past the first civilization we actually saw today.

A little village called Cromdale – where the old train station has been reverted to someone’s house. We have seen most of the old train stations done up this way. So neat!

We were still not done. Channelling our inner Dori … just keep walking just keep walking! We had a fantastic (but felt long being the end of a big day) walk through the Anagach Woods that connects Cromdale with Grantown-on-Spey our home for the night.

Speaking of home for the night. We are at the Brooklyn Guest House and it is amazing! The lady who runs it is so sweet, the rooms are fantastic (carpet in the bathroom is weird but kind of oddly nice at the same time) and we both slept so well. Important stuff when we have 23km to cover on our last day!

• Trail: Speyside Way, Scotland
• Day: 4/5
• To/From: Ballindalloch/Grantown-on-Spey
• Start/Finish time: 9:48am/5:24pm
• Distance: 21.1 trail (24.3km Hiiker App)
• Steps: 29,020
• Terrain: up then down then up then across slippery stones then a boardwalk then up then down
• Weather: 12C rain all day
• Breaky: Full Scottish Breakfast sans Haggis and Black Pudding
• Lunch n Snacks: 1/2 Mature Cheddar Sammie w Prawn Crisps, Skittles
• Dinner: bangers and mash
• Pints: 2
• Tonight’s home: Brooklynn Guest House
• Mood: smiling
• Body: feeling sore today, the knee is not impressed with today’s activities
• Highlights: all the local animal sightings: sheep and cow of course but also pine martin, the elusive red squirrel, bunnies, row deer, osprey, pheasants
• Lowlights: no sunny breaks
• People of interest: the Old Man of Glasgow hiking the trail and wild camping that was just so chatty and kind (and maybe got lost once but found the trail and is again)
• Funny bone: realizing that you maybe do like singing but no one should ever know
• Spontaneous dancing: too soggy
• Deep thoughts: why not do the good stuff first, just go, just do!

See you when we report in on Day 5 of 5! Today we have about as much chance of sunshine as we do seeing that unicorn 😉

Brande