Speyside Way - Day 1 - part 1

April 22, Friday. Walked from Aviemore to Newtonmore. 20 miles by the estimate. Closer to 22 on my iPhone. 

Okay this is truly Wierd. Hoping for an early start but not wanting to set an alarm in my shared hostel dorm, I decided to wake naturally. And I did. My watch said 6am. Later than I had hoped. As quietly as I could I packed, brushed my teeth, get my socks on, rolled my luggage to the transfer area, found a banana for breakfast in the kitchen, was about to leave, glanced at my watch and it said 12:30. So….what to do now? Decided to write a very short blog then go back to bed in my clothes!

Too tired to blog last night. Got up early and walked to bus station in Innisfree and bussed to Aviemore. Then walked to hostel to drop off my luggage. A little drama for me here - I had been told Reception opened at 7 but the inner door was locked. I banged and banged. No answer. I walked all around the hostel and found no sign of people. There was a sign that said the hostel was closed - in use by a private party. Finally I just left my luggage outside the inner door, left a phone message, and began my walk. 

It was a lovely day, the walk well-marked and mostly flat. This was a segment of the Speyside Way that wasn’t included in my itinerary. It just opened in 2020 and I’m not sure my tour planner even realized it existed. But when I realized there was a whole 20 mile segment south of Aviemore (my itinerary had me walking north on the other 65 miles for five days), I decided to see how much of it I could walk on my travel day. 

I had checked on bus and train routes back from the end point, Newtonmore, and also Kingussie along the way (about 3 miles sooner as it turned out. I had guessed it as 4-6 but couldn’t find the mileage on line). Trains from the endpoint were only available at 4pm (too soon) and 10pm (too late). So I figured I would either take a train back from Kingussie (there were several afternoon and early evening trains back) or do an out and back walk to Kincraig (just 6.5 mikes from Aviemore). Now if you are thoroughly confused that’s good because you have a sense of how challenging the planning was for my no longer nimble brain. I was very pleased and proud I figured it all out, and doubly so when I was surprised to discover I could walk the full way to Newtonmore in time for the 4pm train!

The walk was relaxed and relatively easy - mostly flat with easy footing and lively country side. I decided you needed to know more about gates and how well I do figuring out how to open and close them. I also kept thinking about my brief time as a doctoral student and beginner researcher in microbiology. I study a single cell bacteria and aspects of how it managed the molecular “gates” in its membrane to allow certain molecules in, changing the regulation as the environment changed. I don’t recall the specifics but I do know that in the management of these portals between self and other that tiny microbe was dealing with all the issues we humans deal with in much more complex ways both within our own bodies and with the outer world. That Tony being had to regulate its own supply of fuel and its metabolism, stay in some kind of balance with the environment in terms of fluids, electrolytes, etc, and navigate it’s movement. I recall learning about one microbe whose sole means of navigation were to check how much good stuff and bad stuff were at its gates. If the good stuff were getting more concentrated (and the bad stuff less) it kept going in a constant direction. Otherwise it simple changed direction randomly until it found one that worked. I thought it was brilliant for a single cell organism. And that is all I have to say about gates. That and these pictures. 

I confess the collection is incomplete. As soon as I realized I might be able to catch the 4pm train I stopped taking all but the most irresistible photos. 

So ends part 1 of Speyside Walk - Day 1.  To be continued in part 2