Ospreys and the Old Forest – Loch Garten, Castle Roy, Anagach
A day by car, from Aviemore and back.
The route
North-east of Aviemore, across the Spey, stands one of the largest pieces left of Scotland's old Caledonian pine forest.
Abernethy is a place of huge, gnarled Scots pines over blaeberry, juniper and heather, home to red squirrels and crested tits, and it was here, beside Loch Garten in 1954, that ospreys came back to nest. They are birds of spring and summer, gone to West Africa by autumn; the forest is there all year. This day starts in Boat of Garten, the Osprey Village, then crosses the river to the RSPB's Nature Centre and a walk under the reserve's biggest pines to Loch Garten itself. Lunch is at Nethy House in Nethy Bridge, the Forest Village, beside its Telford bridge. The afternoon brings the high walls of Castle Roy and an hour on the paths of Anagach Woods at Grantown-on-Spey, before the A95 leads home to Aviemore.
Before you go
Book a bed near Aviemore
The day starts and ends in Aviemore, and beds round the town and at Boat of Garten go early in the school holidays and the ski season: book once your dates are set.
The nearest of ours is Park Cottage in Kincraig, 5 miles away. Sleeps 6; next free Fri 23 Oct to Sun 25 Oct.
The day
Abernethy
A day among the old pines of Abernethy, out from Aviemore and back. The morning belongs to the forest itself, at the loch where the ospreys returned and on a path beneath its biggest trees. After lunch in the Forest Village come a castle ruin and a last walk through the community's own pinewood at Grantown.
1 hr 14 min at the wheelAbout 36 miles
Boat of Garten
It's 17 minutes' drive north-east from Aviemore by the A9 and the A95 to Boat of Garten, named for the old ferry over the Spey. It's known as the Osprey Village: ospreys came back to nest at Loch Garten, across the river, in 1954. Start in Station Square, where the community garden and the village's sculptures sit beside the station; on the Strathspey Railway's running days, trains from Aviemore call here. A hide on the northern edge of the village looks over Milton Loch and its water birds.
7 min by car
RSPB Loch Garten Nature Centre
An attraction
Drive 7 minutes over the Spey into Abernethy Forest to the RSPB's car park. A 250-metre track leads to the Nature Centre, which looks out on the forest, the feeders and the osprey nest, not on the water. Ospreys have nested here since 1954, bar a short break, in spring and summer only. For Loch Garten itself, walk the Big Pines Trail and cross the road at its far end to the Two Lochs Trail, a 2.7 km loop of 50 minutes whose first viewpoint looks over the loch.
8 min by car
Nethy House Café
A café
It's 8 minutes' drive on along the forest road to Nethy Bridge, which calls itself the Forest Village, and to Nethy House, the café in the middle of it. Breakfast is served until 11.30am, light lunches until 4pm and home baking all day, with coffee from the Glen Lyon roastery in Aberfeldy. There's parking behind, a deck outside, and well-behaved dogs are welcome. It's open from 9am to 5pm six days a week, and shut on Wednesdays.
About 1 min on foot
Nethy Bridge
An attraction
The bridge that gives the village its name is a minute's walk from the café: three arches over the River Nethy, designed by Thomas Telford. The Explore Abernethy Visitor Centre, in the community centre on Dell Road, has displays on the forest, maps of the village's colour-coded paths and a board for wildlife sightings. It's often unstaffed, so walk straight in. The Riverside Trail, the village's all-abilities path, runs up the River Nethy from the middle of the village, and the Speyside Way passes through too.
1 min on foot back to the car, then 2 min by car
Castle Roy
Castle Roy stands on its small glacial mound 2 minutes' drive north on the B970, the road to Grantown. A 13th-century castle, by tradition the Comyns', in country that passed to Clan Grant in 1420, it's a plain four-sided stronghold whose walls still stand 25 feet high, with a tower at one corner and an arched gateway. The trust that has cared for it since 1994 opened it fully in 2022, and it's free to walk into.
9 min by car
Anagach Woods
It's 9 minutes' drive on to Grantown-on-Spey. Park at the Burnfield car park, behind the library and beside the museum just off the Square, as the wood's own is small. Anagach Woods is a few minutes' walk away: nearly a thousand acres of wild pinewood, owned by the community. The blue trail is a 3.2 km circuit, about an hour. Capercaillie, the great grouse of the pinewoods, live here: never go looking for them, and keep to the paths. It's 30 minutes' drive home to Aviemore by the A95, past Dulnain Bridge.
If it rains
The Nature Centre is the day's roof: under cover, with fixed binoculars and telescopes at the windows and live pictures of the feeders and the forest's wildlife on screens, so give it longer on a wet morning. The Big Pines Trail is short enough for a shower; leave the Two Lochs Trail for a dry spell. Nethy House is the place to sit one out, and the Explore Abernethy Visitor Centre is indoors too. Castle Roy is open to the sky: a quick look is enough. Never go into Anagach Woods in a storm or just after one, when trees can come down. Instead, Grantown Museum, beside the Burnfield car park, opens Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturday 11am to 3pm, from 1 April to 31 October.
Worth a detour
- Grantown Museum
The town's museum is on Burnfield Avenue, behind the Town House on the Square and beside the Burnfield car park, where the day parks for the woods. Its galleries, all on one level, tell the story of Grantown from its founding by Sir James Grant in the 18th century to its years as a Victorian retreat, and it doubles as the town's visitor information point. It opens from 1 April to 31 October, Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturday 11am to 3pm, and is shut on Sundays and through the winter.
Photographs by Michal Tomasek, Mike Lord, Martin Bisland and Daniel Muccio via Google