Lochailort

The tiny village of Lochailort is little more than a roadside inn, church, station and a handful of houses. It lies at the head of Loch Ailort, and is where the A861 meets the A830 for the second time, as it takes the (very) long way round. Considering that the junction was only created 50 years ago, it has already been changed, although it is difficult to find evidence of the former layout on the ground. Prior to the opening of this section of the A861 in c1967, there was a junction a little further east, which still exists as a track dropping steeply away from the A830. This connects to the road through Inverailort, now accessed from the A861, and which previously ended near Inverailort House, with only paths and tracks continuing south around the coast.

The junction today is a wide T junction, with good visibility despite the cutting on the A830 immediately to the west. The A830, as might be expected, maintains priority, although when built the A861 was a new 2 lane road, and the A830 still the old single track road. Whilst the A830 was improved a little, and widened where possible, it still followed a tortuous, meandering route west, and it was the 1990s before this was rectified. The new line starts more or less at the junction, but curves to the north, through the cutting, which has moved the junction ever so slightly to the north as well. The old line of the A830 to the west is now buried in gorse and bracken in the south west corner of the junction, but with subtle changes in levels, and the depth of the vegetation it is almost impossible to reach, let alone find any surviving evidence.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A830	An Gearasdan/Fort William, Glenfinnan	13'6" / 4.1m Height limit
A830	Malaig	13'6" / 4.1m Height limit
A861	Glean Uige / Glenuig, Ceann Loch Muideart / Kinlochmoidart, Ath Tharracall / Acharacle An Sailean / Salen, Sron an t-Sithein / Strontian, Loch Allainn / Lochaline (A884)