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Looking down the glen from the viewpoint, heather and grass falling away to the burn with the hills closing in under cloud.
Aberdeenshire

Devil’s Elbow Viewpoint

A viewpoint on the Cairnwell road between Glenshee and Braemar above the Devil's Elbow, the old double hairpin that drivers once dreaded, now left to walkers.

Welcome

On the road north over the Cairnwell, between Spittal of Glenshee and Braemar, the old road once wound up the hillside in a tight double hairpin, the Devil's Elbow, and for generations it was the part of the journey drivers dreaded.

Visited and photographed by Jack Cairney

It was often said to be one in three, though it was really nearer one in six. Even so, buses set their passengers down at the bottom to walk up, and the AA kept a well in a lay-by for cars that boiled over on the climb.

A new, straighter road opened alongside on 7 October 1971, and the old bends were left to walkers and cyclists, the tarmac cracked and the rusting barriers still in place. Today a viewpoint by the modern road has a curve of timber benches and a stone plinth carved with the contours of the hills, looking down Glen Beag, with the burn winding along the valley floor below.

It makes a good stop on the drive over the pass.

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Before you go

Free, at any time.

The viewpoint has a car park off the A93; the old road can be walked from it.

Where
The A93 south of the Cairnwell summit, between Spittal of Glenshee and Braemar.

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Did you know

The viewpoint's paved path and a long curved timber bench above the glen, the old road threading down the valley below the clouded hills.
Did you know

Walk up, please.

Buses once set their passengers down at the bottom of the Elbow so they could climb it on foot.

The curved timber bench along the paved viewpoint path, boulders at its end and the heather hills behind.
Did you know

Bypassed in 1971.

A straighter road opened alongside the old bends on 7 October 1971.

An upright view of the hill over the glen, sheep grazing in the heather and the line of an old track climbing across its foot.
Did you know

Not so steep.

Its gradient was said to be one in three; it was really nearer one in six.

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Where it is

On the A93 south of the Cairnwell, above the head of Glen Beag.

Close byThe Cairnwell.
  1. The CairnwellA Munro of 933 metres over the A93 at the Glenshee ski centre in the Cairngorms National Park, climbed from the ski centre's car park.1 mile as the crow flies
  2. Creag LeacachA Munro of 988 metres on the east side of the A93 in Glenshee, climbed from the car park south of the Devil's Elbow.1 mile as the crow flies
  3. Glas MaolA Munro of 1,068 metres in Angus, east of the A93 at the Glenshee ski centre, climbed from the ski centre's car park.2 miles as the crow flies
  4. Glen Shee from the road, heather and hills under a wide sky.GlensheeThe ski centre and the glen below the Cairnwell.4 miles 6 min by road
  5. Glenshee Café & Gift ShopGlenshee Café & Gift ShopA cafe at the foot of the pass.9 miles 11 min by road
  6. Saltire flag flies above the Fife Arms Hotel's stepped gablesBraemarThe village over the pass.11 miles 14 min by road
Directions
AttractionsCarn Aosda2.2 miles
The old drystone wall running across the stony plateau of Cairn of Claise under a wide sky.AttractionsCairn of Claise3.5 miles
AttractionsCarn an Tuirc3.7 miles
Glenshee Kirk, a small rubble-stone church with a bellcote, behind a mossy kirkyard wall and old gravestones, a green hill rising behind it at the Spittal of Glenshee.AttractionsSpittal of Glenshee3.9 miles
Loch Callater lying in its glen between heather slopes and hills.WalksLoch Callater6.1 miles
A path and a winding burn cross the floor of Corrie Fee beneath steep grassy and rocky slopes, with the head of the glacial corrie ahead under a blue sky.AttractionsMayar6.4 miles
The round dry-stone shelter on the top of Mount Blair, a steel viewpoint indicator ringing its rim, with snow-streaked hills across the glens beyond.WalksMount Blair8.1 miles
AttractionsDriesh8.3 miles
The Cockstane: Clan MacThomas' Ancient Gathering Stone, AberdeenshireAttractionsThe Cockstane: Clan MacThomas' Ancient Gathering Stone8.5 miles

Recommend to a friend

Stay nearby

Places to stay near the viewpoint, and when each is next free.

The whole of Larch House across its meadow: the larch-clad gable and long roof with roof lights, the lower wing beside it, a ring of river stones in the grass and oaks behind.Larch House
  • Sleeps 6
  • In Blairgowrie
  • 7 miles from the Devil's Elbow
Check datesA landscape view of Faunoran House from the garden, the terrace and its white table, the house reflected in the long pond.Faunoran House
  • Sleeps 10
  • In Crathie
  • 14 miles from the Devil's Elbow
Free 13–15 NovA stone cottage with a gabled dormer window catches evening light among autumn trees, a bench and picnic table on the gravel outside.Charlottefield
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Tulliemet
  • 17 miles from the Devil's Elbow
Check datesA stone farmhouse with dormer windows sits behind a timber post and rail fence, trees and hills visible beyond.Milton of Kincraigie
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Blair Atholl
  • 17 miles from the Devil's Elbow
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay in AberdeenshireAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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