B1346
B1346 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Dunbar Road (NT558849) | |||
To: | Dirleton Avenue (NT546853) | |||
Via: | North Berwick town centre | |||
Distance: | 1 miles (1.6 km) | |||
Meets: | A198, B1347, A198 | |||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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The B1346 passes through the centre of the East Lothian seaside town of North Berwick, making a loop off the A198.
On its way into North Berwick from the east, the A198 has a TOTSO to the left at the end of Dunbar Road, while the B1346 continues ahead on what is now East Road. After passing a few houses, the route crosses a large, tree-lined park with playing fields on the right. These permit a spectacular view, of Craigleith Island in the Firth of Forth with Fife on its far side. The route loses height round some sweeping bends and is soon passing a row of Victorian villas on the right, with a car park opposite. At the end of East Road, the B1347 is met at a mini-roundabout where the route TOTSOs north onto Quality Street, which is lined with shops and businesses, some housed in lovely old vernacular buildings. This leads to the harbour, but through traffic on the B1346 has to TOTSO left in a few yards on to High Street. This and the succeeding Westgate are the main shopping streets, but are narrow so are one-way westbound (these roads are the original 1922 route of the B1346). Eastbound traffic takes the parallel one-way roads to the north, successively Beach Road and Forth Street, the latter ending at a TOTSO further along Quality Street from the High Street junction.
High Street and Westgate are about half a mile long in total, over half of which is lined with shops and businesses, making it a slow crawl for traffic. Although barely wide enough for single file traffic at its narrowest points, there are long wider stretches with parking bays on one or both sides. The shops come to a quite sudden end, the houses beyond set back in gardens for the last section of Westgate. The route then comes to the junction with Beach Road where two-way traffic is resumed on the gentle climb of Station Hill. At the top are traffic lights, where the B1346 ends back on the A198 which has taken a more southerly and distinctly higher journey through the town.
The eastbound route passes to the north of the main town centre area. Beach Road, as its name suggests, runs along the southern side of a putting green with views out across the Forth. The houses to the right are those that face onto Westgate, but with big windows and balconies looking out to sea. Just before it reaches the beach itself, the route junks right onto Forth Street, which is much narrower as it runs between buildings, including blocks of flats on the right which try to capture a sea view between and over the older buildings opposite. The lanes and alleys to the left give tantalising glimpses of the harbour, and then suddenly there are three lanes for turning traffic at the junction with the two-way Quality Street. Here, the eastbound B1346 turns right and soon rejoins westbound traffic.