Walking the Isla Way

Throughout Scotland there are walking trails that will take you almost anywhere. The Scotish Parliament passed a responsible right of access that allows people to wander about across hills and mountains and alongside rivers and lochs. The Speyside Way is the largest of these paths near where I am staying in Dufftown. The River Spey comes out of the Cairngorm Mountains and flows north to the sea. It can take up to a week to walk the length of the Speyside Way with many paths running from it. The Isla Way connects Dufftown and other local villages to it, but just to walk along the Isla Way one can go over 12 miles in one direction. I walked part of it from Dufftown to Lock Park, about 8 miles round trip. I started off right outside my cottage and walked through the grounds of 3 distilleries, crossed the River Fiddich on an old metal suspension bridge and then crossed over a hill through fields and forests before descending the other side to the Loch.