B970
| B970 | ||||||||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||||||||
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| From: | Kingussie (NH756006) | |||||||||||||||
| To: | Speybridge (NJ036263) | |||||||||||||||
| Distance: | 30 miles (48.3 km) | |||||||||||||||
| Meets: | A86, B9152, A95, C1126 | |||||||||||||||
| Former Number(s): | A951 | |||||||||||||||
| Old route now: | A9, A939 | |||||||||||||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||||||||
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The B970 is a long and winding route through Strathspey from the A86 at Kingussie to the A95 at Speybridge, none of which is the original route classified in 1922. Much of the route is narrow S2 at best, but a short section near Aviemore is substantially higher quality.
Route
Kingussie - Coylumbridge
The B970 starts on the A86 (pre-bypass A9) in Kingussie at a rather inconspicuous little junction at the western end of the town. Indeed, it is not even signed as such, and the sign for Ruthven Barracks is only spotted at the last minute. It quickly crosses the railway at a level crossing, passes the town's High School and so leaves the town behind, dropping down to cross the River Spey on Ruthven Bridge and passing under the A9, before a sharp left-hand bend takes it past the dramatic ruins of Ruthven Barracks. These were built after the 1715 Jacobite Uprising, and later extended by General Wade, who also built the Military Road whose route the B970 briefly uses. The route continues east, but fails to maintain a level route as it winds along the contours of Strathspey, with the river occasionally visible meandering across its vast floodplain to the west. The road is tree-lined for much of its route, and features a great number of bends, although it is always just about wide enough for two cars to pass without too much difficulty.
The first of the sharp bends is at Tromie Bridge, just before Drumguish, and then a mile or so later it passes through the short 30 limit at Insh. The route then passes above Loch Insh, where a pair of pre-Worboys direction signs highlight the junction up the west side of Glen Feshie. Beyond the Loch a minor road turns left and crosses the river over Kincraig Bridge to the B9152 on the far side of the valley. Soon afterwards, the B970 turns south, fighting its way round a series of sharp bends, one a near-hairpin, as it crosses the mouth of Glen Feshie at Feshie Bridge. The river here flows over rapids and through a small gorge, and is definitely worth a look.
The B970 then continues north-eastwards through Strathspey for several miles, the road largely through forest with occasional houses, before eventually coming to a junction at Inverdruie, Rothiemurchus. The road gives way to the old A951 at a triangular junction (the east side is one-way southbound), but before that it was all part of the B970, and it has now reverted to that number. This is the highest-quality section of the B970, as it was built as a new route from Aviemore up into the mountains, providing access to the Cairngorm Ski Centre. The section between Inverdruie and Aviemore is effectively a short spur of our road, although compared to the rest of the route it is a main road. This spur heads west across the Spey at Spey Bridge to meet the B9152 just south of Aviemore, but to stay on the "main line" of the B970 we turn right. Both directions are a wide S2, built to a high standard with separate cycle lanes for much of the way, and that road continues east of Coylumbridge as C1126, past Loch Morlich, climbing into the Cairngorms to reach the Ski Centre at over 600m above sea level. However, this is not the B970, which turns off at a TOTSO at Coylum Bridge.
Coylumbridge - Speybridge
Beyond Coylumbridge, the road quickly reverts to a narrow S2, running through forestry plantations and small fields as it continues north-east through Strathspey. There are fewer bends and fewer hills than before, but no more traffic as it passes through the tiny villages of Auchgourish and Street of Kincardine to reach the junction for Boat of Garten. Here a minor road crosses Boat of Garten Bridge to pass through the village and beyond to the A95. The B970 continues, however, turning east to Nethy Bridge, where the Nethy Bridge itself carries the road across the River Nethy, and past the substantial pile of Nethy Bridge Hotel. The next road on the left, to Broomhill station and the A95, was at one time part of the B970 but is now unclassified.
As it leaves the village behind, the B970 is on the final leg of the journey, still following the Spey but now with the old railway line, now the Strathspey Way, between it and the river. This is a different, but parallel line to that operated by the preserved Strathspey Railway. The route finally reaches journey's end on the A95 a short distant south of the New Speybridge and Grantown on Spey.
History
The original route of the B970, according to the 1922 Road Lists, was from Grantown (actually from the A95 at the south end of Old Speybridge) south-east through the mountains to Bridge of Gairn, near Ballater. The map on the left shows the B970 near Ballater. It was first extended through Nethy Bridge and across Broomhill Bridge to the A95 in the later 1920s, before a further extension took it on to Aviemore by 1935, retaining the spur at Broomhill. This lengthy route remained intact until the A939 was extended south through Tomintoul around the end of World War II, first appearing on the 1946 OS Ten Mile map. At this point the B970 was extended further west still to join the A9 south of Newtonmore, and the spur at Broomhill was removed, although the connection to Aviemore was retained as a spur.
The original southern end of the A939 extension actually followed the ex-B969 to Crathie rather than the full length of the B970 to Ballater. As such the stub left did not become an isolated section of the B970 but rather a western extension of the B972. Things changed in the 1970s to the current situation. As a result of all of the above, the modern route of the B970 includes none of the original 1922 route, but a clear progression can be traced between the two routes, with about three-quarters of the whole length forming the B970 at one time in the 1930s/40s.
The spur at Aviemore originally crossed the old Spey Bridge (Aviemore), and then passed under the railway line to meet the A9 as was. This bridge still exists, and is used by the NCN7 cycle route. The current route, with the new Spey Bridge and Railway Bridge was completed in 1970 per the 1970 Scottish Development Department Report and was part of the 2.25 mile reconstruction scheme between Aviemore and Coylumbridge. It was probably related to the creation of the A951. The route reverted to being the B970 when the A9 Aviemore Bypass was completed.
The 1940s western end, to Newtonmore, was also altered with the construction of the A9. The old route ended to the south of town on the pre-bypass A9 (now the B9150). When Kingussie and Newtonmore were bypassed the B970 was severed and so rerouted from Ruthven along a previously unclassified road into Kingussie instead. The northern section of the old road is diverted through an underpass, and the southern section is still open to traffic, and signed to Ralia and Nuide. However, in between these two sections the A9 criss-crosses the old road, with some loops of the old road visible, so walkers have to take to the fields to make the connection.
