B875

This article is about the current B875 on the Isle of Bute.
For the former B875 at John o Groats, see B875 (John o Groats).
For the erroneously signed B875 in Renton, Alexandria, see B857.

Route

A TOTSO marks the start of the B875

The B875 is a short B-road on the Isle of Bute.

The road starts at a TOTSO with the A844 about a mile west of Port Bannatyne. Quite why the island's ring road should be forced to TOTSO with a dead-end is a mystery, but it does, and the wide S2 road continues across the low neck of Bute towards Ettrick Bay!

Almost immediately, the gaunt outline of a roofless church appears on the left, a church which rather remarkably was still in use in 1980. In 30 years, the roof has fallen in and a tree taken root inside. We pass the few houses of St Colmac village and the sea opens out in front of us, a rich blue with expansive views of Arran, Kintyre, and the southern tip of Cowal. It is a beautiful place, and as the road reaches the shore a small car park and café can be found, looking out across the wide beach of sand and shingle.

The road, meanwhile, continues along the shore for a little further, until it reaches Drumachloy Bridge, where a modern concrete bridge carries the road alongside the ancient tumbledown stone arch. The road continues for another three miles towards the historic ferry port at Kilmichael, but the B875 ends here next to this quaint bridge on the shore of a beautiful bay with stunning views.

History

Despite its short length the B875 has been renumbered several times. In 1922 the road was the western end of the B877, which then continued east into Rothesay (presumably explaining the present TOTSO at the B875's eastern end. By 1932, however, the entire road had been upgraded to become part of the A844. At that time this road consisted of the present-day ring plus the spur to Ettrick Bay; this retained this number until the 1970s when it was downgraded, giving rise to the B875.

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