Was Once a Main Road

Back in the days of my youth, the main roads in the remoter parts of the Scottish Highlands were virtually all Single Track Roads; it was only in the 1980s that the key arteries started to be upgraded to contemporary standards.

In a number of places, the local terrain necessitated the new road taking a different course to the old. This shows a part of the old course of the A894 where it passes alongside Loch Dubhaird Beag (Loch Duartbeg) a few miles south of Scourie, where the old road now forms an 'all-abilities' trail adjoining the Loch a' Mhuillinn National Nature Reserve.

The white diamond to the right of the photo is one of the oldest type of 'Passing Place' signs still to be seen in Scotland - it gives some idea how far the vegetation has encroached over the old carriageway over the last quarter-century since cars stopped coming this way.