Devil's Elbow, The

The Devil's Elbow was the name given to the steeply climbing double hairpin bend on the old road through Gleann Beag near its highest point at the Cairnwell pass. In the space of 5 miles (8 km) the height above sea level doubles from 335m (1100 feet) at Spittal of Glen Shee to 670m (2200 feet) at the highest point on the road from Blairgowrie to Braemar. The old road was bypassed by a wider modern road without such dramatic hairpin bends in the 1960s.

Concrete blocks can still be seen in the vicinity which formed part of a World War II defensive line intended to prevent German invaders moving south from a landing in NE Scotland.

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©2013 The Editors of The Gazetteer for Scotland
Supported by: The Robertson Trust,  The Royal Scottish Geographical Society,
  School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh.