One of my Shorter Regular Routes

For the first three weeks of walking after we moved into town, I didn’t repeat a single route. It is fab, walking through Altyre Estate from my door every day, I love it. This is one of the six mile routes that I do.

I set off down the back lane before crossing the Grantown Road and walking through woodland, passed the quarry and then crossing a minor road and onto the estate.

Setting off on the quiet back lane

It briefly opens out on one side to farmland

Views over to Mundole

The avenue of trees leading to the Grantown Road

Looking north along the road to Forres

This little track looks like nothing

I wander along woodland tracks, around Loch of Blairs and then onto estate roads, passing Altyre church and the Big House. There are some incredible buildings which have been disused and falling into disrepair for quite some time, but it’s good to see there’s a project now to rebuild them and bring them back into use. After passing them, I walk by The Lake and along another estate road behind Garden’s Cottages before joining one of the main estate roads that leaves the estate and heads for Rafford. It passes the osprey nest site, the remains of the old church and the Cross Slab (Ogham).

Fairyhills Wood quarry

 

Pleasant track alongside the quarry

Borlete

From little acorns…

Chanterelle

The minor road

Baby mushroom in front of a decaying stump

Woodland track

 

 

View across the fields to the Big House

Loch of Blairs

 

Lovely woodland

 

 

Across the loch

 

 

 

 

Pretty mushroom

 

Another stump

 

 

Oyster mushrooms

 

 

Light through the leaves

 

 

 

Decomposing fungi

 

 

Leaving the woodland tracks to gain the main estate road

 

Through the trees to Altyre House and Altyre Church

Heather

Soon to be magnificent again

Altyre House

 

 

I often take this track to go behind the house, but not today

Across The Lake

Field of golden crops

Bridge on The Lake

 

Twisted tree

Another avenue of trees

The estate is full of amazing trees, this one is huge

This bridge looks okay, but I’ve seen the foundations…

At the junction, I take a track that was once a main road out of the estate, but now is almost unused and is quite overgrown and moss covered. Before the East Lodge, the track heads over the bank and drops me neatly onto the Rafford road, just by the Dallas Dhu Distillery. I pick up a Core Path here that takes the quiet country lane just passed Manachie Farm and I head back to the quiet back lane I headed out on.

Old main estate road

Golden grasses

This tree has a story to tell

No one at home today

Cross Slab (Ogham)

 

Once more onto woodland tracks

Wood stack

A less used track

Another dodgy bridge

Becoming mossy and overgrown

Beechnut

Over the bank…

…down to the road…

…just by the distillery

Looking towards Califer Hill

Picking up the Core Path

 

Another quiet lane

Back to the first quiet lane

The last of the green leaves

Approximately 6 miles and 390 ft total ascent.