B9016

The B9016 is a cross-country B-road in northeast Scotland. It forms the most direct link from the Buckie area to the A96 towards Aberdeen.

Route

Ryeriggs Croft

The route starts on the A96 to the west of Keith and heads north, soon crossing a dismantled railway on a bridge which has been filled in but not levelled, and then through the small village of Aultmore, clustered around a distillery. From here to the summit it runs adjacent to the old railway line, which is obvious in some places and quite invisible in others. The line crossed the B9016 again a mile or so to the north of the village but due to a road realignment it is now not possible to see where this took place. The road continues north through woodland and across fields, passing a scattering of houses as it climbs up to a summit of around 210m. The summit itself is on a broad plateau area, but from the edge there are fine views back across Strathisla and Keith. On the northern side, the sea comes into view ahead and the road soon starts to descend towards it. The old railway track now swings further east.

The descent is steeper than the climb, and longer. The road snakes across the hillside at first, but slowly gets closer to the Burn of Tynet, which sits in the bottom of the slight valley that the road is following. As it gets closer to the burn, the road becomes twistier, winding through the trees at times, then bursting out into fields again. Eventually, the burn is crossed on a small stone bridge in a sweeping S bend. As the road levels out, it continues northwards as it crosses the fields to end at the staggered Enzie Crossroads on the A98 at Broadley. Ahead is the A990, which continues north to reach the coast at Portgordon.

History

When this route was first classified in 1922, it continued north across the A98 from Enzie Crossroads, which at the time was not staggered, and ran on to the coast at Portgordon. It then turned east and followed the coast to Buckie, ending on the A942. However, this section was renumbered as the A990 before 1932.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Keith - Portgordon - Buckie