A97

The A98's junction with the A97, heading out of Banff.

Route

The A97 is the twisty, scenic route from Royal Deeside to Deveronvale through the Gordon countryside and the valley of the River Bogie. If any or all of these names seem unfamiliar, then it raises the question as to why a road from Dinnet to Banffgets to sport such an important number. There is no obvious answer to this question. The combined population of all the settlements along the A97 is only about ten thousand, and while the Banff area still boasts fishing and shipbuilding, it might be asked why traffic from there would need a main route inland to the sparsely populated Grampians? The A947, though shorter, would seem a more suitable road to have been given this number. There is perhaps some salvation in the fact that the townscape of Banff comprises many townhouses built by Scottish nobility and gentry for whom the location served as something of a coastal resort during the 19th century, while the route of the A97 passes through an area characterised by whisky distilleries, castles, and landed estates. The road also connects Banff to Huntly which, although small, is the most important market town for many miles around. One distinction held by the A97 is that whereas every other A9x road has been a primary route at some point in its existence (and many of them still are), the A97 is alone in that it has never held such status.

Dinnet - Huntly

Anyway, a route there is and to cover it one starts (or ends) in the village of Dinnet, east of Ballater. The road starts with some good straight sections across fairly level land, but after the Ordie crossroads it becomes more winding, giving the first hints that it's going to be something of a challenge to drive with tight bends and narrow stretches. To be fair, these are well signposted (the A97 does have a poor safety record) and you would do well to heed each and every one; a warning sign definitely means a gear drop to make the turn safely, chevron boards probably two. Emerging from pine forest, Logie Coldstone, decked out in unmistakable Aberdeenshire granite, is the first settlement encountered at roughly the five-mile mark, sitting on the Logie Burn at one of the sharper bends on the route. A substantial church and a garage, with its forecourt sometimes overflowing, are the main features of this small village. The incessant curvature, both horizontal and vertical, continues well into the burns and lochs above the village as the road climbs higher away from the Dee valley. After a couple of miles of farmland the sightlines are further reduced by the wooded landscape. Despite the fact that this is the toughest part of the route geographically, the aid of the warning signs is removed at around this point forcing the driver to fend for themselves.

Bridge of Buchaam, by Deskry, is the most impressive crossing on the route.

Near its 370m summit - the highest point on the whole route - the road passes two small lochs screened by trees; the second of these is the source of the Deskry Water which the road follows down to the River Don. On its way down, at an awkward crossroads at Boultenstone, the A97 performs curiously, becoming its own long-way-around-route, adding almost four miles compared to the direct (unclassified) road via Towie. A mile after Boultenstone it bends almost back on itself to stay with the Deskry Water, before descending further to a TOTSO with the A944 as it reaches the Don. From a solely motoring perspective this is strange, but take the short cut and you will miss out on some fine scenery as well as the handsome Bridge of Buchaam over the Don in the shadow of Ben Newe. From Ordie to the Don the road used to be somewhat less than S2 (although always more than properly single track); in recent years it has had some strip widening enabling a centre white line throughout.

As it starts to follow the Don the standard of the road improves, and for the next 10 miles the A97 is the dominant partner in a multiplex with the A944. Road and river wind their way through a narrow valley until at Glenkindie the other end of the short-cut via Towie is reached, and the road turns northwards, climbing away from the river and using an old glacial meltwater channel to continue its route. Crossing a saddle at about 280m, the road descends the wooded Den of Kildrummy, with one particularly sharp bend at Greenstyle Farm requiring acute attention. Soon after the Den, the ruined Kildrummy Castle (maintained by Historic Environment Scotland) can be visited. After Kildrummy it becomes easier, and even has a rare thing for this road - a couple of ox-bow laybys formed by short realignments - as it passes through more open fields and onwards to Mossat. The landscape, however, is still hilly; as we are still very much in the upland part of Aberdeenshire.

We pass the once-famous Mossat Shop, celebrated by comedy trio Scotland the What? in their parody of the Muppet Show theme song, just before reaching a T-junction where the A97 TOTSOs once again (left this time) and the duplexing A944 leaves for Aberdeen by turning right, soon meeting up again with its friend the River Don.

In relative terms, the villages get bigger from here on in, and Lumsden is just a short and straightforward drive further north. Approaching the village there is another straightened section, with a sculpture walk just off to the left, where contemporary sculptures from a local workshop can be seen. Lumsden itself has a broad and straight main street, with a tree-lined square in the village centre, but after the village the road twists almost continuously to Rhynie. In this section the road almost imperceptibly crosses the watershed between Donside and Strathbogie. The narrow B9002 turns off to the left for the Cabrach district, and the hill Tap o' Noth (563m), with its huge Pictish fort on the summit, which has been visible ahead from the more open sections for some time, is now prominent. (It can be climbed by a steep path from the A941 west of Rhynie.) Rhynie, like Lumsden, has a broad main street and a square; here one can turn off for the A941 due west to the Cabrach and eventually Dufftown, Elgin and Lossiemouth. There are nine more miles between Rhynie and the A97's biggest intermediate destination Huntly. Strathbogie is agricultural and broader than the landscapes hitherto, but the road is still mostly winding, despite a few local realignments. Near Gartly (which lies just off the road) the other part of B9002 (or indeed the other B9002, as they are really two separate roads) joins from Insch. From here it is relatively flat to Huntly, and there is even a useful straight section before the roundabout with the A96 Huntly bypass is reached. From Gartly the Aberdeen - Inverness railway also runs through Strathbogie, parallel to the A97 but on the other side of the river and much better engineered than the road.

Huntly - Aberchirder

All of a sudden, here's Huntly and we're about to cross the thoroughly modern A96 bypass at a roundabout, ending rural life with a thump. The A97 will now add to its litany of curiousness by refusing to multiplex with the A96 and instead run on its own into town from the south and back out to the east, stealing some of the pre-bypass A96, via an abrupt right turn at the central square and onto the narrow (and therefore one-way) Duke Street; traffic heading the other way is left to fend for itself. It's a weird situation, doubly so because the classification of the route is barely supported by signage in town; arguably it serves only to let the A920 butt-end on to another A-road but both could just as easily be curtailed to the A96. Just like on Donside, there is a bridge (over the River Bogie) that the lengthier route graces, but this one is nowhere near as grand. So, after some sharp bends just after the railway bridge the A97 runs back to the A96 at the east of town and now decides it needs that road's help to get on its way. However, it separates a second time after about 500 yards!

After that, it's a relief to see the A97 making its own way north again. The run from here up to Aberchirder is a much easier drive, the curve radii are much larger and it becomes feasible to maintain the National Speed Limit. There are still troublesome parts, such as the Bridge of Marnoch over the River Deveron which is probably not wide enough for two 4x4s to pass (perform this experiment at your peril). The Deveron will be the new companion all the way to the end, having swallowed up the Bogie, and more pleasant rolling hills must have enticed the creation of Aberchirder in this area, an attractive planned settlement albeit of the 18th century variety. The grid street layout is more suggestive of the States than of Deveronvale, although this has been done elsewhere in this country (for a bigger example, see Helensburgh). Given the intentional nature of the town's design it is only built up to the north of the road; the A97 is even called South Street here. I suppose it's the closest the A97 will ever come to a bypass of its own.

Aberchirder - Banff

Although the signage submits the decreasing distance to our final destination of Banff regularly, the hills continue to roll and the coast never seems to come into view. Even at the gateway into town when the limit drops to 30 the road continues uphill into some very typical new-build suburban areas. Banff's twin claims to fame are its history of sculpture – designers' offices and the Sculpture Park line the A97 – and fishing with boats sailing from its still well-used harbour; however the A97 now ends a few streets back from the mouth of the Deveron and the Moray coast on the High Street at a T-junction with the A98.

History

The bridge over Monandavan Burn is one of the plentiful pretty but narrow bridges on the route. This one, near Ordie, fell under the guise of B9119 for most of its life.

Although the A97 follows almost precisely the route it did in 1923 – save for the rejigging in Huntly due to the A96 bypass – there is a historical tale to tell.

A97 historic route from 1922/3 numbering

Shortly after classification, the southern end of the A97 was transferred westwards to take over the previously unclassified road between Cambus o’ May and Milton of Logie, with the road running to the north of Loch Davan and the west of Loch Kinord, via what is now the B9119. The B9119 remains the faster route when heading from Braemar/Ballater to the north, so it seemed fitting that the A97 would be diverted to the more direct route. However, the two roads were swapped over at some point during the 1980s; the 1990 OS 1:250k map still shows the A97 and B9119 as connecting to the A93 near Cambus o'May and Dinnet respectively, so it was later that the A97 reverted to its original alignment by starting once more at Dinnet.

North Castle Street, Banff

At the other end in Banff, the A97 continued north, after a short multiplex with the A98 along Banff High Street until a review by Aberdeenshire Council in 2017. As the A98 TOTSOs westward towards Portsoy, the A97 re-emerged and carried on straight-ahead up North Castle Street and into the harbour. No sign suggested that the route was carried forward and mapping evidence offered a split opinion at best. At the harbour, it met the almost invisible A953 which ran for another 300 yards down the quayside. The change of number seemed confusing; the allocation of another number for an incredibly short route is strange today but a legacy of the importance of the harbour, even if the A97 did not continue beyond its junction with that road.