Castle Roy and Abernethy Old Kirk from Nethy Bridge

The walk starts at the small car park beside Abernethy Old Kirk and Castle Roy on the B970, about 1.5 km north of Nethy Bridge, and goes round in a loop. It passes Castle Roy, a ruined castle that the Castle Roy Charitable Trust opened to the public in 2022 as a free, all-abilities visitor centre, and goes east along a quiet road and permissive footpaths through the fields to the foot of Craigmore Wood. A gravel track climbs to its highest point 1.7 km out, and the way comes back along the track and the B970 to the car park.

It is 3.1 km (1.9 miles) with 66 m (217 ft) of ascent; allow about 1 hour. The grade is Easy. The Cairngorms National Park Authority gives its Castle Roy Loop as 2.5 km, moderate, allow 1 hour, on mostly narrow grassy and earthy paths with gentle gradients and kissing gates, taking in Castle Roy and Abernethy Old Kirk; this line covers the same ground on the mapped footways, which meet only at their east ends, so it is longer.

OpenStreetMap marks the road and footpaths east of the castle as permissive, not rights of way, so keep to them and close the kissing gates. The Park Authority's Nethy Bridge leaflet asks walkers in Abernethy Forest to keep dogs on a lead from March to August, during the breeding season. A Cairngorms National Park byelaw bans fires and barbecues from 1 April to 30 September.

The castle website asks for donations toward the castle and its paths, and gives no opening times: it is on the B970, 'about a mile' from the village.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.