MORAY OF LIGHT

The soil was sandy but firm with a most agreeable top dressing of old pine needles

Tucked away on a northeasterly coast of Scotland between Inverness and Aberdeen, and just outside of the welltrodden North Coast 500 tourism trail, Moray is perhaps less heralded among the thousands who head to the northern regions of the country each year. For many, however, that’s exactly the reason to come, to avoid the staycation crowd and explore the unique terrain of this underrated Scottish gem. And specifically, the gravelly delights of the Moray Coast Trail, which we’d come here to explore.

To get there, we travelled, along with what seemed like half the planet, up the A9, peeling off northeast towards Elgin when we got to Aviemore, with the majority carrying on northwest to Inverness. The silence that hit us not long after gave the impression we’d taken a wrong turn, though as we travelled through the famed Speyside whisky region, we realised