B875
| B875 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| From: | St Colmac (NS055672) | |||
| To: | Ettrick Bay (NS032665) | |||
| Distance: | 1.9 miles (3.1 km) | |||
| Meets: | A844, unclassified | |||
| Former Number(s): | B877, A844 | |||
| Highway Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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For the former B875 at John o Groats, see B875 (John o Groats).
For the erroneously signed B875 in Renton, Alexandria, see B857.
The B875 is a short B-road on the Isle of Bute.
The route starts a mile west of Port Bannatyne at the point where the westbound A844 TOTSOs left. Quite why a dead end should have priority over the island's south-western ring road at this junction is something of a mystery (although, see History below), but it does, and the wide S2 B875 sets off from here on its almost direct course across the low neck of Bute towards Ettrick Bay. Almost immediately, the gaunt outline of a roofless church appears on the right, a church which rather remarkably was still in use in 1980. In 40 years, the roof has fallen in and a tree taken root inside. The few houses of St Colmac village are quickly passed and the sea opens out ahead, 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 B875, meanwhile, continues along the shore for a further 300 metres to reach Drumachloy Bridge, where the ancient, tumbledown stone arch across the burn has been replaced by a modern concrete structure immediately south of it. You can if you wish continue from here for another three miles to Glecknabae, but the classified road ends here, next to this quaint bridge on the shore of a beautiful bay with stunning views. The minor road ahead, incidentally, leads towards but doesn't quite reach the ancient ferrying place between Bute and the mainland at Kilmichael.
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; it retained this number until the 1970s when the spur was downgraded, giving rise to the B875.
