The Laich o' Moray Challenge is a 50 mile circular walk with a time restriction of 24 hours.

Start Date and time it will be next held : October 2025 (Final date will be published in 2024)

Start/Finish Location: Forres Grant Park Cricket Pavilion, IV36 1DB (Grid Ref: NJ041590)

The Route: From Forres the challenge walk takes a scenic route around the town boundaries to the south and east, through local community woods, parklands and peripheral countryside. The route leaves the town at Sueno's Stone, a Picto-Scottish Class III standing stone and heads to Findhorn along a blacktop path where it then follows the coastline to Lossiemouth on the beach and coastal paths. From Lossiemouth, the route takes the disused railway line and minor roads to Elgin, then along the River Lossie to the outskirts of the city and west through the Quarrel Woods. Across the A96 and through some more woodland to gain a minor road heading south to Miltonduff Village Hall. Forestry track walking to gain the Heldon hill ridge, then staying high all the way to the Califer viewpoint at the west end of the ridge. From Califer the route goes SW to Rafford and back to Forres along the Dava Way path. Please note that the date and time of this event have been carefully choosen regarding tide times, to enable participants to walk along the beach sections in daylight without fear of getting their feet wet.

Participants: This LDWA challenge event is for experienced long distance walkers only and participants should have recently completed walks of over 25 miles. 

Booking a place: Booking by SiEntries  only. The SiEntries booking system will be made live for this event in the spring prior to the event. The event will be restricted to 200 places, so please book early to guarantee a place. 

Entrance Fee (2023): £35 for LDWA Members, £50 for non-members (Free for Marshal's walk the month before)

Participant Information Pack : Will be sent out to participants

Maps: O/S Explorer map 423 covers the whole route. Here is a downloadable map and elevation profile 

GPS: A 2023 GPX file of the route is available to download here.

Route Description: 2023 description available to download here.

Event Contact: TBA for 2025

We have compiled a Forres information pack to download for those that are not familiar to the area

This is a qualifiying event for the Annual 100 mile challenge 

Here is a hyperlink to a fabulous Strava based map video of the Laich o' Moray route.

Photos from the route: