20th – 21st April 2024 : Weekend Meet – Wild Camping Speyside Way

Wild Camping Weekend from Tomintoul to Speyside Way and the return from Glenlivet to Tomintoul.

OS Landranger maps 36 & 37.
Total distance approx. 35kms with 5 kms optional diversion to the Corbett Carn Mor.

Outline of planned walk
Walkers will rendezvous at 1000hrs in the car park in the centre of Tomintoul village (NJ168186), (there may be a charge) distance from Stonehaven 70 miles, drive time approx 1hr 50 min. Toilet facilities are available and the nearby cafè and shops should be open. Walkers will transfer their overnight kit and food to Van 1 which will then be parked near Allanreid (NJ237248). Van 2 will be parked at Eskemulloch (NJ244204) to hold the overnight kit when the camping stage of the walk is completed.
Walkers need to give some thought to their food and clothing requirements for the various stages of the walk as both their ‘day-pack’ and ‘overnight pack’ will have to be carried in the section between Van 1 and Van 2.

Starting at the car park walkers will head north-west along Tomintoul High Street to the start of the Tomintoul Spur of the Speyside Way (NJ163194) where they will leave the A939 and head north-east to the viewpoint at the summit of Cairn Daimh (NJ181250) then down into the village of Tomnavoulin and on south and east to Allanreid where camping gear will be retrieved from Van 1.
Walk will continue on the path along the north side of the River Livet to cross to the south bank at the ford NJ249239. From the ford we follow the road on the south side of the River Livet till it meets the path at NJ266234, then follow the path south towards the Burn of Coirebreac until a suitable campsite is found.
In the morning the walk will continue south to Ladderfoot then west to the carpark at Eskemulloch where the camping gear will be deposited in Van 2.

The walk will then continue south to the College of Scalan*.
From Scalan there is the option of bagging the Corbett Carn Mor (804m) or to return directly to Tomintoul via the path south-west past the ruins of the Clash of Scalan and up the valley for about 1km to the path junction at NJ231179 before heading west cross-country to the viewpoint at NJ207187 and down to the B9008 at Milton, from there follow the road south west back to the vehicles.
On completion of the walk vans will be retrieved and walkers reunited with their camping gear before heading home.

*College of Scalan
Established in 1716, for most of the 18th century the College of Scalan was the only seminary in Scotland where priests were trained for the persecuted Catholic Church. Before it closed in 1799, despite many attacks the college had trained about 100 priests which ensured the survival of the Catholic Church in Scotland. Its location in this remote spot in the Ladder Hills meant that it was largely invisible to searching Hanovarian troops until they were virtually upon it.
It is now a museum operated by the Scalan Association.

The above should be treated only as an outline of the walk which will be fine tuned and finalised after a recce nearer to the time of the walk with details circulated on Spond.

Organiser – Willie Morris.