Climbing out of Garvard on the former A869 (now B8085)
The A869 was a road at the southern end of the Isle of Colonsay. Whilst the road may appear at first glance to go from nowhere to nowhere, passing nothing along the way, it does have a 'hidden' importance. You see, the southern end of the ex-A869 was at Garvard, from where the road continues (tide-allowing) across The Strand to Oronsay, an island to the south which is only separated at high tides. Indeed, older maps suggest that the tidal causeway was actually part of the A869.
Unclassified in 1922 the A869 came into being in the mid-1920s when classified roads were introduced to Colonsay. It was still in existence in 1988 but by 1993 it, along with all the roads on the island, had been downgraded to Class II status. The road is now numbered B8085.