Moffat

Moffat is a Scottish town in Dumfries and Galloway, nestling high in the Southern Uplands on the banks of the River Annan. It is a fine town with a wide High Street and elegant buildings which serves a large rural hinterland. The surrounding hills are popular with hillwalkers, bringing many visitors through the town, but it is not swamped with tourists like some Scottish Towns can be. Moffat has never been on the main road south, but nevertheless prospers as a market town with good access to the motorway just a few miles to the south at Beattock.

Moffat is perhaps best known by members of Sabre for the two fantastic roads which head northeast from the town. The A708 follows the Moffat Water over the watershed into Etterick and the pleasant town of Selkirk, whilst the A701 runs north, passing the Devils Beef Tub to the head waters of the Tweed, on its way to Edinburgh. To get the best of the two routes, the unclassified connecting road at Cappercleuch makes a stunning circuit of enjoyable roads in amazing scenery. The A701 also continues south, on a somewhat less dramatic route to Dumfries.

The A74(M) motorway is the main road in the Moffat area, however, climbing up from Beattock to its highest point at Beattock Summit. The old route of the A74 is now mostly the B7076, except for the Beattock Bypass which is part of the A701. The motorway is certainly an improvement over the old road, but it lacks the magic, and many travellers with time on their hands seem to choose the B road in preference, despite it being a wide single carriageway instead of the narrow dual carriageway of the 60s and 70s. A couple of miles north of Moffat, the B719 at Greenhillstairs provides a link between the B7076 and A701, allowing travellers to visit Moffat without a significant detour.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A701	Edinburgh
A701	Dumfries, Carlisle, Glasgow (A74(M))
A708	Selkirk
A708	Dumfries, Carlisle (A74)	Now the A701
A752	Edinburgh, Glasgow (B719)	Now the A701
B713	Glasgow (A74), Peebles (B712)	Now the A701

Links

• Undiscovered Scotland