Until the 18th and 19th centuries the river was either forded or crossed by ferry at various points along its length. Then the great bridge builders took over. Craigellachie Bridge over the Spey, the oldest surviving bridge in Scotland, was designed by Thomas Telford and built between 1812 and 1814. The longest bridge over the river is the large Garmouth viaduct built in 1886 – the force and changing course of the Spey being the reasons for its great width. Timber-floating began on the river in the middle of the 16th century, but during the 18th and 19th centuries there was massive log-floating activity from Strathspey to service the extensive shipbuilding industry at Kingston, with Speymouth becoming one of the major exporters of timber in Britain. Today most craft on the river are recreational canoes.
The Spey is one of the most important rivers for Atlantic salmon and sea trout in Western Europe. On average over 7500 salmon and 3500 sea trout are rod-caught each year, generating over £8 million per annum for the local economy. The Spey Fishery Board was established in the 1860s under Salmon Fisheries legislation and is still today responsible for the management, protection, enhancement and conservation of salmon and sea trout stocks in the river. A team of bailiffs patrols the river and coastline, as poaching is a serious problem, and the bailiffs are also responsible for the Board's hatchery, where up to a million River Spey salmon are hatched and distributed to rebuild stocks in depleted areas. The Spey Research Trust is another responsibility of the Board; it both monitors stocks and promotes awareness of the Board's work to locals and tourists. Sea lamprey, freshwater pearl and otter, which are endangered or rare, also survive in the clean waters of the Spey. This has resulted in the river being designated both as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
Fishing
Fly-fishing, the premier sport on the Spey, has been practised for thousands of years. One of the earliest descriptions of fly-fishing appeared over 2000 years ago in De Animalium Natura, where Claudius Aelianus reported that ‘fishermen wind red wool around their hooks and fasten to the wool two feathers that grow under a cock's wattles’. The first British book on fly-fishing was written by Dame Juliana Berners in 1496: Treatise of Fishing with an Angle.
The young salmon spend a few years in the river in which they were born before swimming out to the salt-water feeding ground of the Atlantic. Only a tiny percentage of those hatched survive to return up-stream to the waters of their birth to breed, but it is these that provide the sport for fly-fishing. Keen fishermen and women will spend many hours in waders, standing in the deep waters of the Spey and hoping that the salmon will rise to take the fly at the end of their rod and line. The season on the Spey opens on 11th February and closes on 30th September. The cost of fishing on the Spey varies from moderately reasonable to extremely expensive, depending on the time in the season and the location of the beat.
Whisky production
Speyside has been inextricably linked with whisky production, both illicit and legal, for several hundred years. The first written reference to its production in Scotland appears in the 1494 Exchequer Rolls, which record the granting ‘To Friar John Cor, by order of the King to make aqua vitae, VIII bols of malt’. Friar John was based at Lindores Abbey in north-west Fife; as eight bols is equivalent to over 94 stone in weight, it would suggest that the abbey was involved in large-scale distilling. Aqua vitae in Latin translates as ‘water of life’, which became uisge beatha in the Gaelic, which was eventually anglicised to ‘whisky’. The raw spirit produced from early stills was probably very rough, and so would have been flavoured with berries and herbs. The earliest records show that malt has always been a key ingredient in Scottish whisky.
In 1644 the first duty on whisky was introduced by an act of the Scottish Parliament, and this drove ‘underground’ much whisky production which, at that time, was predominantly a cottage industry. In 1823 the licensing of distilleries was introduced, which ensured both the quality and safety of the whisky produced; much of the illegally produced spirit may well have been poisonous! George Smith, founder of the Glenlivet Distillery, was the first to take out a licence under the 1823 act of Parliament, and so started the legal production of whisky on Speyside, where today nearly half of the distilleries in Scotland are located. The export of whisky is an important source of revenue for the Scottish economy, contributing over £2.5 billion per annum and providing over 40,000 jobs.
Many whisky distilleries are passed on, or are within walking distance of, the Speyside Way and the other trails (see Appendix D). The principal ones from south to north are: Tormore*, Cragganmore, Tamdhu*, Knockando*, Cardhu (off-route), Dailuaine*, Aberlour, Glenallachie* (off-route), Craigellachie, Macallan (off-route), Speyside cooperage (off-route – not a distillery), Glen Grant (off-route in Rothes, but visible from the Speyside Way), Glenfiddich (Dufftown Loop), The Glenlivet (Tomintoul Spur), Dallas Dhu (Dava Way) and Benromach (MCT). Those marked with an asterisk* are closed to the public, but all the others offer tours to visitors, most only between Easter and October.
Several of the Speyside distilleries offer tours to visitors in which the production process (see Appendix D) is explained in detail, and there are also many books available on the subject.
The old railways
The disused railway lines of the region provide routes for considerable sections of the Speyside Way (for example from Ballindalloch to Craigellachie) and most of the Dava Way. Steam-rail enthusiasts flock to travel on the Strathspey Steam Railway from Aviemore to Broomhill, on the longest heritage railway in Scotland, and tourists can also enjoy weekend trips on the Keith and Dufftown Heritage Railway (see ‘Dufftown Loop’). However, the economic importance of the railways in Speyside and Moray predates the current tourism industry by over 150 years.
During the Highland railway-building boom of the mid-1800s several small railway companies were involved in building sections of railway to link Perth to Inverness. The original line followed a long route around the Moray coast, as the shorter cross-country route was deemed too difficult to construct economically. However, such a route was eventually opened up by the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway. The first turf was cut in 1861 for the 103-mile section from Dunkeld to Forres, and after less than two years the 36 miles from Forres to Aviemore opened. It had required 8 viaducts, 126 bridges and 119 road bridges!
Ticket office at the former cromdale station (Speyside Way)
The railway allowed local farmers much easier access to their markets. Cattle and sheep that had taken six weeks to reach the south could make the journey now in one or two days. Dunphail Sidings (now on the Dava Way) reputedly had the longest platform in the country, so that sheep could be loaded speedily into awaiting railway trucks. The whisky industry on the River Spey benefited both from large quantities of coal being delivered by rail and by its finished product being moved to distributors by the railways. Cragganmore on Speyside was the first distillery to be built to take advantage of the adjacent railway. The railways brought tourists into the Speyside and Moray regions in ever greater numbers. Large Victorian hotels in towns such as Aviemore bear witness to the facilities that were developed to service these new visitors.
When to Walk
The three trails can be walked at any time of the year, as they are predominantly in low-lying country, with the exception of the Tomintoul Spur. However, the region is one of the coldest in Britain, and severe, cold weather is not unusual in winter-time, making a walk along the trails at best very unpleasant, but a dangerous venture for the ill-prepared. If it is planned to walk the routes during the winter months then the best option is to do them as a series of day walks, preferably in good weather, and walking only short sections at a time in order to reduce the risk of becoming benighted on the trail. This option, of course, is really feasible only for those living in or close to the area. Others would need to organise accommodation in B&Bs or hotels, but bear in mind that many of these are not open during
