Fort William - Fort Augustus - Inverness Military Road Re-alignment

NH52SW 11.01 5000 2097 to 5264 2499

NH 5000 2097 - 5007 2116: The 1732 Wade road skirts the E side of Foyers church as a disused track.

NH 5007 2116 - 5243 2473: The B852 public road is generally on the line of the wade road, but at two places the road has been briefly by-passed (NH 5180 2358 and NH 5205 2382), and from NH 5213 2384 to NH 5215 2407 it has beenby-passed at the crossing of the Allt Mor at Inverfarigaig Bridge (NH52SW 9).

NH 5243 2473 - 5264 2499: A disused and impassable track at Balck Rock blasted out of the hillside. Carriageway 3.5m wide with parapet.

Visited by OS, June 1964 and February 1979.

Initially the re-aligned military road takes the form of an overgrown grass track, densely covered with vegetation, running past a cottage and its grounds just S of Foyers Primary School. It then rejoins the line now taken by the B 852 in the vicinity of NH 5007 2116. The B 852 appears to overlay the line of the military road from this point as far N as Inverfarigaig. The 'General's Hut' inn (NH52SW 10) is believed to have stood in the neighbourhood of NH 5069 2208, near the church at Boleskine. This building is thought to have been constructed specifically to accommodate General Wade whilst he was supervising the making of this section of road, but no traces of it are extant.

There is a deviation of the 18th century route from that of the B 852 at Inverfarigaig in order to cross the River Farigaig at a point where visible remains of a single span stone bridge are to be found. The Bridge, constructed in 1732, has been fenced off as it is in a state of collapse. Only the arch ring and abutment are left where the SW side of the bridge has collapsed.

To the N of Inverfarigaig, the line of the military road is again overlain by the B 852. At NH 5281 2494 is a small square stone culvert (NH52SW 11.02), which is still functioning despite being very overgrown. This culvert, which is surrounded by a very waterlogged area, lies in a section where explosives were used to blast a route for the military road as it passed through the Black Rock area beside Loch Ness. There is a section of this road still visible, taking the form of a very overgrown narrow disused track, the rock parapet at the summit of which can still be seen. It is possble that this section of road, which would not have been very wide even when first constructed, was abandoned fairly quickly in favour of a route a little nearer to the loch side.

M Logie (Highland Council) 1997; NMRS, MS/1007/3.