Dava Way
Twenty-four miles along a closed Highland railway line, from Grantown-on-Spey over Dava Moor to Forres
Indicative — sampled from open terrain data along the simplified route.
The Dava Way runs 38 kilometres, about 24 miles, between Grantown-on-Spey and Forres, following the trackbed of a railway that closed in the 1960s. It is one of Scotland’s Great Trails, and because it keeps to an old railway grade the gradients are gentle throughout. Most walkers take two days, though it can be done in one long one, and it is equally suited to cycling. The line climbs steadily from near sea level at Forres, on the Moray coast, up onto Dava Moor and the Dava summit at around 1,050 feet before dropping into Strathspey.
The middle of the route is the exposed part. Dava Moor is open heather and bog, with wide views south to the Cairngorms, and there is little shelter and nothing in the way of facilities between the two ends, so it wants planning in poor weather. Either side of the moor the path runs through forestry and farmland.
The railway was part of the original Highland main line between Perth and Inverness, opened in the 1860s and carrying traffic through Forres until it was closed in 1965. The trackbed lay unused until the Dava Way Association, a volunteer group, built and waymarked it as a footpath, opening the route in 2005; the association still maintains it.
Forres has a station on the Inverness–Aberdeen line, which makes the northern end easy to reach; Grantown-on-Spey has no railway, but is served by bus. At Grantown the Dava Way meets the Speyside Way, and at Forres it links to the Moray Coast Trail, so the three can be joined into a longer walk across the region.
