Tomintoul likes to call itself the highest village in the Highlands, and at around three hundred and fifty metres, it is certainly high enough that the winters bite. It sits on the edge of the Cromdale hills, between Speyside and the Cairngorms, in a wide, bare landscape of heather moor and rolling hills. The village was laid out in 1775 by the Duke of Gordon as a planned settlement, with a wide main street and a central square, and the plan can still be traced in its long, straight shape. It is neat, grey and rather windswept, and it has a certain stubborn charm.
The area around it is whisky country. The Glenlivet valley lies just to the south-west, where George Smith's distillery, licensed in 1824, was one of the first legal producers after a long period of illicit distilling, when smugglers hid stills in the hills and bribed or dodged the excisemen. The valley still has the feel of a quiet, secret place. Several distilleries in the district welcome visitors, and the Speyside Way, a long-distance footpath, has a spur that ends at Tomintoul. The area is also a designated Dark Sky Park, and on a clear, moonless night the stars are extraordinary.
The roads around Tomintoul are some of the best in Scotland. The A939 runs north to Grantown-on-Spey over moorland, and south over the Lecht toward Ballater and Deeside, with long, open bends, high views and surprisingly little traffic. The surface is usually good, though the weather can turn quickly. In winter, snow and ice make the road hazardous, and snow gates close it, so check before you ride from late autumn to spring. Summer brings the heather, and the evening light is soft and long. Watch for sheep, deer and the occasional tractor.
The countryside is a mix of high moor, small farms and pockets of birch and pine, with the River Avon, pronounced A'an, flowing through a deep glen close by. Wildlife includes red grouse, curlew, lapwing, red deer and, with luck, the odd golden eagle. The air is thin and clean, and smells of peat and heather.
Tomintoul has a few shops, cafés, small hotels and a small visitor centre, and a fuel pump has historically been available, though hours can be limited, so do not rely on it. Grantown-on-Spey, about sixteen kilometres north, is the safer place to fill up. A bowl of soup and a cup of tea at one of the village cafés is a good plan for a cold day, and a dram of local whisky, preferably after the ride, is almost obligatory.