B9025

The B9025 is a cross-country B-road, forming two distinct parts, mostly in Banffshire.

Route

Broadley Bridge - Blacklaw

The route starts at a sharp fork on the A98 near Broadley Bridge in the valley of the Burn of Boyne. A wind farm is visible to the north but the B9025 heads south, wiggling around a meander of the burn and cutting through the remains of an embankment of a dismantled railway line. The road then becomes dead-straight for some distance as it passes Lodgehill Plantation, before reaching the A95 at Bankfoot Crossroads. This used to be a sharply skewed junction, but both arms of the B9025 have been turned to form a staggered crossroads. As a short cut between the A98 and A95, this first section of the route can be a little busier than the next at times, but it is still generally quiet.

The long straight continued beyond the A95, slowly climbing through the scattered settlement of Blairmaud, before a steeper climb past Oldtown of Ord, where there is a slight wiggle to ease the gradient a little. The route continues to head slightly east of south, with only a handful of bends, none of which are particularly sharp. In all this makes a more-or-less straight road of four miles between proper bends. Eventually it curves sharply to the left to reach a T-junction on the A97 at Blacklaw. As at Bankfoot, the road has been realigned to improve the junction, although in this case both routes have been adjusted. There then follows a multiplex south for about 2 miles along the much more winding A97 to the eastern edge of Aberchirder, where the B9025 regains its number.

Aberchirder - Turriff

The nature of the second section of B9025 is quite different from the first. There are no more long, straight sections across flat land and gentle gradients, instead the road is now very winding with hilly terrain to match. It starts at a simple T junction on the A97, from where it winds down to cross a wee burn before climbing again. The route continues to wind eastwards across the fields, trying to remain as flat as possible by curving with the contours. After crossing the summit, the road winds down above the small Cunning Burn, crossing it at a sweeping S-bend. The B9121 comes in from the left soon after at a fork junction. After winding around the Hill of Scotston a mile long straight is unexpectedly found, at the end of which the route turns south and dips quite sharply down into the valley of the River Deveron. Slowly curving to the east, to soften the gradient, it makes the final descent into the valley.

The B9025 towards Turriff

Road and river run adjacent for a few hundred yards until the river is crossed at Deveron Bridge and the road enters Turriff on Deveron Road. This winds into town past rows and rows of mostly detached bungalows, interspersed with a few bigger buildings, before turning into Deveron Street. The route is now coming into the older part of the town as it follows Gladstone Terrace with its Red Sandstone houses stood just behind the pavement and on into Church Street, before reaching a crossroads. Here it TOTSOs right onto Market Street and ends one block further south on the A947 in The Square.

History

As first classified in 1922, the B9025 only ran between Aberchirder and Turriff, with the continuation north added between 1932 and 1936. However, as this change is not listed in the (possibly incomplete) list of changes for 1934 or 1935, it seems likely that it was earlier, and may even predate 1932, having been missed from the map.

The route has not changed a great deal in the intervening years. The main junctions have all seen improvements, as noted above, and there are a couple of places where hedge lines sit well back from the road, either showing a slight realignment or perhaps just an improvement to the visibility splay around a bend.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Aberchirder - Turriff