B855

This article is about the current B855 at Dunnet.
For the former B855 (now A890) in Wester Ross, see B855 (Loch Carron).

The Ca', Brough

The B855 is the northernmost B-road on the British mainland, being the only road to Dunnet Head, the northernmost point. The route was originally unclassified but gained its number in c1945, as it is first shown on the 1946 OS 10 Mile map.

Route

The route leaves the A836 in the small village of Dunnet, and initially heads west across the small Burn of Dunnet. A long straight road continues ahead to West Dunnet, but the B855 makes a sharp right to head north past St John's Loch along a series of straights. Gently sloping fields lie between the road and the loch, with houses on the roadside enjoying the views across the water. The road then turns eastwards and reaches a TOTSO crossroads in Brough, the road ahead eventually making its way back to the A836. Turning left, another short straight through the village brings the road along the clifftops above the sea stacks of Little Clett, before the road sweeps inland once more (and all too often into the cloud). It climbs across the moorland in a series of short straights, with good visibility before a sweeping bend curves around the base of Blurifa Hill and up to Long Loch. Beyond the loch another horseshoe bend leads to the car park at the end of the road, just a short stroll from the lighthouse at the northernmost point of the British mainland and the viewpoint on the knoll above.

The B855 is almost entirely single track with passing places, albeit a wide single track and with several places where two cars can squeeze past each other. The route doesn't appear to have been changed at all since it was first classified, and is now a popular diversion for tourists travelling along the North Coast, and NC500, to reach the northernmost point of the mainland.