A82

From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki

A82
View pictures (4)
From:	Glasgow
To:	Inverness
Via:	Fort William
Length:	175 miles (281.6 km)
Meets:	M8, A898, A83, A85, A87, A9
Former Number(s):	A828
Grid References
Start NS582666 End NH668453
Highways Authorities
Transport Scotland, West Dunbartonshire, Glasgow
Counties
Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire, Argyll, Inverness-shire
Route outline (key)
A82 Glasgow - Erskine Bridge A82 Erskine Bridge - Inverness
Related Pages
Ballachulish Bridge Wades Military Roads

Route

The A82 runs from Glasgow to Fort William and Inverness.

Section 1: Glasgow - Loch Lomond

The A82 begins at junction 17 of the M8 and West Graham Street in Glasgow. It starts by running over the motorway and immediately becomes Great Western Road. It passes the northern side of Glasgow University before running between Dowanhill and Kelvinside. After crossing Byres Road and Queen Margaret Drive, the road passes the Botanic Gardens.

The Glasgow area in 1924, showing A82 via Clydebank.

After passing Gartnavel General Hospital, we reach the junction with A739 at Anniesland Cross. This junction is, and always has, in my memory (back to 1973), been very congested with very slow traffic lights. Going north, the A739 heads north to Milngavie as Bearsden Road, and the Crow Road heads south to the Clyde Tunnel. The Anniesland Road heads southwest to Scotstoun and the Dumbarton Road. After Anniesland Cross, the road becomes a dual-carriageway with a grassy median. Passing through Knightswood, the road runs towards Drumchapel. After passing under the Yoker-Drumchapel road, there is a huge retail park on the north side of the road. This section of the road, whilst still officially Great Western Road, is known locally as 'The Boulevard'.

The next significant junction is the grade-separated interchange with the A898 to the Erskine Bridge, after which the A82 becomes a primary route. Passing Old Kilpatrick and Bowling, the hills are already beginning to climb steeply on the north side of the road, while just after the Bowling roundabout, there is a last glimpse of the Clyde. The road now becomes Dumbarton Road and it begins to turn north as it approaches Dumbarton.On entering Dumbarton, it becomes Stirling Road, and after passing through the Townend roundabout and a grade- separated junction with the A812, it becomes the Alexandria bypass. At Balloch, the A811 turns off towards Stirling, and within half a mile, the now single carriageway road is running along the west bank of Loch Lomond.

Original Author(s): mistral

Section 2: Loch Lomond - Crianlarich

This beautiful and famous inland loch, known as the 'Queen of Scottish Lakes' and noted for its fishing, is the largest in Great Britain. It is 24 miles long and 5 miles broad at its widest point, though a long stretch in the north is less than a mile in width. The writings of Sir Walter Scott have done much to make the loch so well known, but both Dr. Johnson and Wordsworth were less enthusiastic. In the southern part of the loch are a number of wooded islands, notably Inchmurrin Island, to the north of Balloch, on which are situated the ruins of Lennox Castle. Further north, Ben Lomond (3,192 ft.) rises to the east of the loch, opposite Tarbet.

The section between Balloch and Luss is a pretty good road, and just before Arden, it crosses the 'Highland Fault', the geological boundary between the Highlands and Lowlands. Three miles further up the road, we pass the Loch Lomond Golf Club, the home of the Scottish Open. North of Luss, the road starts to run along the side of the loch, before reaching Tarbet, the junction with the A83 to Kintyre. At the totso with the A83, the road turns right to snake along the bank, hemmed in on one side by the loch and on the other by the West Highland railway line and the slopes of Ben Vorlich. The most notable features on the section between Tarbet and Ardlui, apart from the atrocious quality of the road, are the Inveruglas power station, four miles north of Tarbet, and the fine views of Ben Lomond.

After Ardlui, at the head of the loch, the road quality becomes markedly better and two miles later, at Inverarnan, we leave the Loch Lomond National Park to enter the Breadalbane area of West Perthshire. Inverarnan possesses one of Scotland's best pubs, 'The Drovers Inn' and after passing through the village, the road enters Glen Falloch, notable for its waterfall. Five miles after Inverarnan, the A82 enters the place that has been signposted since Glasgow, the small village of Crianlarich, the junction with the A85 east to Perth.

Original Author(s): mistral

Section 3: Crianlarich - Fort William

Crianlarich, at the foot of Ben More, marks a significant point in the journey north, as it is here that the A82 crosses from Glen Falloch, which feeds Loch Lomond and ultimately the Clyde on the west coast, into Strath Fillan, whose river flows eastward and ultimately feeds the River Tay on the east coast. Strath Fillan, then is an important part of the east-west route across central Scotland, as well as the north-south route followed by the A82. The Old Military Road that we have followed from Loch Lomond comes this way, as does the West Highland Way long- distance walking trail. One of the best sources of more information about transport links in this area, including the A82, is the HMSO Guidebook to the West Highland Way.

There are also and two railway lines, one up each side of the valley. On the south side is the Callender & Oban line, built by the Caledonian Railway in the 1860s. On the north side is the West Highland Line, built in 1897, which shadows the A82 from Glasgow to Fort William. Why do they run parallel for five miles? Two reasons, one topographical, and one political. Strath Fillan marks the highest point of the Callender & Oban, which after Tyndrum descends into Glen Orchy towards Oban on the west coast. However, the West Highland still has most of its serious climbing to come, and after crossing over the C&O at Crianlarich is 100 feet higher than the C&O at Tyndrum. The other reason is that the West Highland line was built by the North British Railway, the Caley’s deadly rival, and the idea of line-sharing would have been anathema to both of them! They remained in separate ownership until nationalisation in 1948. The C&O was closed east of Crianlarich after a landslide in the 1960s, and Oban trains now reach Glasgow by way of the West Highland line, using the previously little-used connecting line at Crianlarich.

The two trunk roads through Strath Fillan have no problem multiplexing, howver, and so the A85 and A82 continue up to Tyndrum, where they part company again. From here, there are three separate transport routes – the mid18th Century Military Road, the late 19th century railway, and the early 20th century A82. The Military Road is part of a network throughout Scotland started by General Wade to keep the rebellious Jacobite movement under control. This part is now followed by the West Highland Way. From here to Glencoe it was replaced as the main road by a new one, built during the Great Depression of the early 1930s, which was condemned by local interests at the time as a "million pound racetrack". After crossing the Military Road at right angles in the hamlet of Clifton, the A82 sweeps away from the A85, passing a reminder of the conditions ahead in the form of a gate which is closed if the road ahead is impassable. The road then climbs to County March, where it crosses the main east/west watershed into Glen Orchy, descending to Bridge of Orchy. The railway can be seen to the east, descending more gradually along the valley side, and negotiating a giant horseshoe curve under the huge scree-covered flanks of Beinn Dorainn. The B8074 runs from here down Glen Orchy to rejoin the A85 near Dalmally, at the end of Loch Awe.

The Bridge of Orchy marks the beginning of the large desolate expanse of Rannoch Moor. The railway skirts the eastern edge of the moor, and we will not see it again until Fort William. The Military Road skirts the western edge of the moor, the first part being a public road until recently rejoicing in the number A8005, despite being a single track five-mile cul de sac serving precisely three buildings! The modern A82 goes straight through the middle!

Geographers will tell you that Rannoch Moor is drained both into the Atlantic, by way of Glen Orchy and Loch Etive, and into the North Sea, by way of Loch Rannoch and the River Tay. This is not quite true – as someone who has walked across it several times, I can assure you most of it isn’t drained at all! It is a maze of lakes and bogs. The A82 skirts the largest lakes, Loch Tulla, Lochan na h’Achlaise, and Loch Ba, as it crosses the lowest part of the moor on its way to Kingshouse, at the top of Glen Etive, and in the shadow of Buchaille Etive Mor – the Great Shepherd of Etive – which from this angle looks like a huge arrowhead rising sheer above the valley.

Our way lies not down Glen Etive, nor over the "Devils Staircase" zigzag section of the Military Road over the ridge to Kinlochleven, but ahead to Glencoe, a name steeped in infamy following the army’s massacre in 1692 of the MacDonald clan, on whom they had been billetted, for loyalty to the deposed King James VII, and consequent failure to swear an oath of allegiance to King William III. At the end of Glencoe, the A82 reaches the shores of Loch Leven, a long sea-loch running west to east. From here the A82 used to run along the south shore to Kinlochleven, and then back along the north shore to Ballaculish. This route is now the B863. Kinlochleven is of an ancient origin, but much enlarged in the early 20th Century for the aluminium smelting works. Alumimium was extracted from its ore by electrolysis, and the enormous hydro-electric project, including the Blackwater Reservoir – one of the last projects to be built by "navvies", are clear evidence of this project.

There was a ferry at Ballachulish, but delays at peak times made the 15-mile detour via Kinlochleven worthwhile. However, now that the Ballachulish Bridge has been built such detours are no longer necessary. The A82 turns off to the left, and climbs over the A828 (which heads for Oban via the Connel Bridge) to cross the Ballachulish Bridge at the Loch’s narrowest point. On the north shore,it continues round the headland to the shore of Loch Linnhe, at the narrowest point of which there is a ferry across to the Ardgour region and the A861 to Loch Sunart and Ardnamurchan, the most westerly point on the British mainland. The A82 now runs along the eastern shore of Loch Linnhe into Fort William, with a short stretch of dual carraigeway,the first since Balloch, at the south end of Loch Lomond. The A82 meets the Military Road coming down Lundavra Road at the start of the Dual Carriageway, and the railway at the end of it, although most of this 'bypass' is built on the old line of the railway, which originally reached the little Red Pier building of the Crannog Restaurant.

Original Author(s): Tim

Section 4: Fort William - Inverness

After passing through the bustling service town at the foot of Ben Nevus, the UK's highest summit, and leaving the A830 "Road to the Isles" to the left, the A82 starts a crossing from east coast to west, right across the Highlands, which it achieves whilst never climbing above 400 feet. This is the Great Glen, the huge fault line which bisects Scotland.

It starts by following the railway north eastwards to Spean Bridge – confusingly this is towards Glasgow on the railway. At Spean Bridge, the highest point between Fort William and Inverness, it leaves the railway, which has the A86 for a companion up Glen Spean, and heads north to the east shore of Loch Lochy, which the A82 then follows. At Laggan it crosses the valley floor, (and incidentally the east/west watershed for the fifth and final time) to follow the west shore of Loch Oich, part way along which is met the A87 to Kyle of Lochalsh and, since the opening of the Skye Bridge, the Isle of Skye itself.

Between Loch Oich and Fort Augustus the A82 crosses the valley floor again, before reaching the midway point in the Great Glen at the foot of Loch Ness. As the road drops into the village of Fort Augustus, the B862,(formerly the A862) turns off to the right, passing up the eastern shore of Scotland's most famous loch, while the A82 crosses the Caledonian Canal and River Oich before following the western shore of Loch Ness. The A887, which links with the A87, turns off at Invermorriston, and the A831 and so the A833 at Drumnadrochit, near Urquhart Castle, scene of many alleged sightings of the Monster – I wonder if Loch Ness Monsters look out for people?

The A82 finally arrives in Inverness, with a dual carriageway section including junctions with both the A862(the old A9 to Beauly and Dingwall) and B862 (back along the east shore of Loch Ness), before ending at a junction with the A9 just south of the Kessock Bridge. There are now plans afoot to cross the Canal and River Ness, so linking the A82 with the new eastern ring road around Inverness. This route could become a realigned A82.

Original Author(s): Tim

Links

CBRD

• Three Generations of the A82

roadsUK

• Route Guide