B8007 - The road to everywhere

The B8007 is the sinuous single track road linking the villages of Salen and Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. This 19 mile, often tortuous, tarmac strip does a lot to protect the remoteness and largely unspoiled environment of the peninsula. Particularly at the eastern end, the combination of the encroaching oakwoods and numerous switchback corners discourages undue haste.

By day the scenery along the B8007 changes from the slightly claustrophobic mossy, verdant oakwoods clinging to the shore of Loch Sunart via windswept open moorland around Ben Hiant to panoramic, yacht-studded seascapes towards Mull or Eigg and Rum.

Or vice versa if you’re driving from west to east.

At night you drive down a narrow monochrome cone of light with the reflections from road-edge marker posts and passing places stretching off into the gloom. If you’re lucky you’ll see large stags down off the hill serenely melting away into the shadows as you pass.

If you’re unlucky you might hit one.

The A861 aperitif

Even before reaching Salen, visitors approaching from the Corran ferry will have already completed about 8 miles of single track A861 from Strontian. This starts almost immediately you get to the cattle grid at the eastern boundary of Strontian, and is a marked contrast to the long, fast straights of the two-lane A861 stretching across Ardgour.

These 8 miles generally have pretty good sightlines, ample passing places - more on these later - and are a reasonably gentle introduction to the main course. This is the loch-hugging stretch between Salen and Ardslingnish.

Salen to Ardslingnish

This part of the B8007 has some poor surfaces (though there are worse bits above Loch Mudle ¹), the tightest bends, the narrowest corners and often non-existent sightlines.

Going east to west there’s trees, rocks and hills on your right and - in places - a low wall and water on you left. Here and there are gaps in the wall. Some of these are disconcertingly car-sized. The road stays close to the loch, sometimes at sea level and other times rising above it as it negotiates the contours.

After passing the Natural History centre at Glenmore the road rises to Ardslingnish and the views open out. There is a good place to park above Camas nan Gaell with great views across to Ben Hiant and Mull. This is a dependable place to spot eagles from, both golden and sea, either on the hill in front or the western ridges of Beinn Bhuidhe (“Behind you” as they say in panto).

After Ardslingnish the road remains single track, but it’s less tortuous and - with very few trees - you can see what’s coming and prepare accordingly.

Single track with passing places

As the title of this post states, the B8007 is the road to everywhere. It’s the only road.

Therefore the ~300 residents of Ardnamurchan, the estate workers, farmers, foresters and others lucky enough to live on the peninsula are, year round, the primary users. Then there are the delivery drivers, the builders, the telecoms engineers and dozens of others who are regular visitors. Finally, there is the influx of holidaymakers, the slow adventurers, the solitude-seekers and the sightseers.

At times the road can get quite busy. Fortunately the road has hundreds of passing places and it’s relatively rare for vehicles to have to reverse.

As long as you are travelling at an appropriate speed for the road - which might mean 15mph on a couple of corners - there’s usually time to see an approaching vehicle and for one or the other to pull in.

Etiquette and priorities

Which brings me to the thorny question of who has priority? Who should pull over?

Is it the vehicle closest to the passing place? Is it the car travelling less fast? Perhaps the visitor should let the local through unimpeded? Is it the gleaming Bentley or the mud-spattered Toyota Hilux?

Tricky.

Having driven the road many times it’s clear there is a hierarchy amongst the majority of the users.

For two vehicles travelling in opposite directions size appears to be the primary consideration. A car gives way to a lorry which gives way to a tractor and trailer.

However, there are some nuances to these interactions and it involves all sorts of near-instantaneous judgements being made. Locals tend to be driving faster and so often get priority even if they’re driving a Smart car (like the Sanna Spice deliveries).

Everyone - at least everyone with any sense - gives way to the mud-spattered Toyota Hilux travelling at 50mph as the driver simultaneously talks to his dog in the passenger seat, tunes the radio and phones ahead to say he’s late … 😉

Rear view mirror

Who has priority when two vehicles are travelling in the same direction?

Is it the visitor enjoying the scenery? The local returning from the Co-op in Mallaig? The Shiel bus on the way to the ferry?

By rights it’s the vehicle travelling fastest, irrespective of whether it’s a local or a visitor. This applies whatever the sizes of the vehicles.

This of course means that the mud-spattered Toyota Hilux, local driver plus dog takes priority over almost everything travelling in the same direction.

The only thing that trumps the Hilux is an ageing motorhome with three bikes obscuring the rear window, a canoe on the roof and a bumper sticker bearing the words Adventure before dementia.

Drivers of vehicles like these seem to spend their entire journey (understandably) gawping at the scenery, they never use their mirrors, have little spatial awareness and are seemingly totally deaf.

Don’t ask me how I know but my dog will back me up 😉

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Notes

The title of this post is a bastardisation of “The Road to Nowhere”, a track on the 1985 Talking Heads album Little Creatures. David Byrne wrote the song and directed the video that accompanied its release.

The Road to Nowhere is also the name given to a number of incomplete highways in the US. These include Lakeview Drive on the north shore of Fontana Lake in North Carolina and the $25M Gravina Island Highway to the non-existent Gravina Island Bridge in Alaska.