B8019

The B8019 is a rather odd road. As explained below, it was proposed to re-route the B846 along this road in the early 1930s, but in the event the change wasn't made.

Route

Garry Bridge

The road starts at the northern end of the Pitlochry bypass, taking over from the A924 on the former A9 route, and heads north. The road follows the railway and new A9 route as the westernmost of these three transport corridors, short-cutting two large meanders of the Rivers Tummel and Garry, to reach the junction with the B8079. This junction is a TOTSO, where the B8019 turns west and crosses the railway line and the River Garry on the Garry Bridge, a rather spectacular structure built in 1968. After the bridge a small car park provides access to the riverside walks, partially using the old road alignment to the north. This road crossed the Garry where the modern footbridge stands, climbing up to meet the B8079 nearly half a mile further north.

After a little exploration, the route sets off properly heading west, but don't be in a hurry. The road is nominally S2, but is only very occasionally provided with a centre line, and there are a few too many bends where the carriageway width seems to be lacking. It twists and turns, rises and falls, with drivers wishing the needle could reach 40, but always having to press the brakes before it's achieved. Just as the road is never the same for long, nor is the landscape, with woodland and forestry plantations interspersed with small fields, and all dotted with houses and farms. After a couple of tortuous miles a sharp, near hairpin bend is found at the entrance to Glen Fincastle. A minor road continues up the glen, while the B8019 turns sharply round to the south. The road then passes through more mixed woodland as it crosses to the shores of Loch Tummel and slowly improves.

The road never quite reaches the loch shores, instead winding through the trees on the hillside above, the water glimpsed here and there, especially in the winter months. The first major tourist attraction reached on this road is the 'Queen's View', allegedly one of Queen Victoria's favourite views. This connection makes the Forestry Commission think they can get away with a pay and display car park for a ten minute experience. A little further down the road a free car park provides forest walks, surely catching similar glimpses of the loch below. The road itself is now much straighter and progress becomes more rapid. At length a village named Strath Tummel on the signs, but apparently called Tressait on some maps, is passed through, the houses scattered across the hillside above and below the road. Then the road drops back down to the loch shore for a mile or two before reaching Tummel Bridge at the head of the loch. Here a large power station is passed at the entrance to the village, followed by a number of caravan parks.

The road finally comes to an end on the B846 adjacent to the Tummel Bridge itself. It is an interesting and enjoyable road, with plenty of stunning scenery to be seen, providing you are happy to leave the car and take a wander on the plentiful forest paths available.

History

Originally the section from Pitlochry to the old Bridge of Garry was the A9 whilst the rest of the road was unclassified; this gained Class II status by 1928 when it is shown on the Michelin Map, and judging by its number probably in 1926. Assuming that the numbers continued to be allocated in a similar pattern to the original allocations in 1922, the B8019 sits uncomfortably between Hebridean Routes (up to the B8018) and the B8020 in West Lothian. It seems unlikely that it was the only number allocated that year, so was it an afterthought in the first batch, or was the B8020 out of place? We may never find the answer.

The draft proposals for the 1935 renumberings would have seen the B8019 wiped out, with the B846 re-routed along it to the A9, the existing route of the B846 into Aberfeldy would then have been renumbered as an extended B847. While this sensible suggestion is marked as 'Agreed', it was never carried through. Looking at a map, it really should be part of the B846, with that roads southern arm to Aberfeldy numbered as part of the B847, but that is not the case, so instead the B8019 still exists.