B8018

The B8018, like its neighbour the B8017, is a strange road which winds around the northern end of the Rhinns of Islay without really going anywhere or serving any villages. The road was originally unclassified so quite why it was deemed necessary to give it B-road status by 1932 is a bit of a mystery!

The road starts at a simple T-junction on the shoreside A847 about half way between the B8017 junction and Bruichladdich and heads north, climbing steadily over the hill past Foreland House, where it swings westwards. After a couple of miles or so, the route takes a sharp right turn, resuming its northerly course, with a road continuing ahead to Kilchoman, home to Islay's newest distillery and a popular beach. When approaching from the north, this junction is signed with what is possibly Islay's last remaining Pre-Worboys sign, which labels the Kilchoman road as the C15.

As the road heads north then northwest, it loses a little height, dropping towards Loch Gorm, although it never gets particularly close. The next right turn is the B8017, which heads back to the A847. A track opposite appears to be one of the many abandoned roads on Islay. It is signed at both ends as a no through road, but has the vestiges of a surface, and mapping and Google Earth show it running through, along the banks of Loch Gorm, to the Kilchoman road unhindered.

Bridge on the road to Sanaigmore, Islay

A mile to the north of the B8017 junction is a left turn leading back to Kilchoman, this time past the beach of Saligo, another popular destination. The B8018, however, continues northwards, wiggling across the River Leòig before climbing a little past Braigo and then descending towards journey's end at Sanaigmore. The road stops high up above the dunes at the farm, which has been partly redeveloped and now provides holiday accommodation. There is no pier, and no obvious vehicle route down to the small sandy bay. It seems an odd place for a classified road to come, even in the Highlands and Islands, but it is unchanged since it was originally classified and so it has to be assumed that there was once a reason for this to be the terminus.

An amended OpenStreetMap trace for this route awaits uploading to the SABRE Wiki.