Aberfeldy

Aberfeldy is an important small town on the south bank of the River Tay in the heart of rural Perthshire. Whilst there is an element of planning to the town centre area, it is not one of the 19th Century planned towns found elsewhere, and has a much longer history as a market centre. The Tay was crossed by General Wade in 1733 as part of the military road network, giving the town a boost, and in the Victorian era the tourist trade started to grow, thanks in part to the Rabbie Burns poem about the Birks of Aberfeldy. Tourism remains important today, the surrounding scenery and River Tay drawing a large number of visitors every year. There is also a distillery and other industries based in the town.

The town lies at an important crossroads, as well as the crossing point of the Tay. The line of the military road to the south now serves a housing estate, before giving up in a field, whilst the more recent A826 takes a different route out of the town, with slightly easier gradients. To the north, however, the B846 much more closely follows the military road across Wade's Aberfeldy Bridge and then turning west under the hills before climbing over to Strath Tummel to the north.

It is the A827, however, which is the main road through the town these days, passing east to west through Strath Tay. It starts on the A9 at Ballinluig Junction and heads upstream, following the Tay through Grandtully and into Aberfeldy. In the town, the A827 threads its way through the square and then meets the A826 and B846 at a signalised crossroads near the west end of the town, from where it quickly leaves the town behind, heading ever westwards to Kenmore, Loch Tay and Killin.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A826	The Birks, Crieff (A822)	Perthshire Tourist Route
A827	Kenmore, Loch Tay, Killin
A827	Pitlochry (A9)	Perthshire Tourist Route
B846	Weem, Tummel Bridge, Kinloch Rannoch	Crosses Aberfeldy Bridge