Nets Held at Rest as Glen Kinglas Buried the A83

The A83 between Tarbet and Inveraray reopened at 3pm on 11 October 2023 after crews shifted more than 12,000 tonnes of landslide debris. BEAR Scotland, which runs the trunk road for Transport Scotland, said hillside checks that morning had cleared the route for all traffic.

The dumps that shut the road sat in Glen Kinglas and at the A815 turn for Dunoon. Seven landslides reached the carriageway. Ten people had to leave by helicopter on the Saturday, and the B828 stayed shut even after the trunk road came back.

Catch Nets Held at Rest and Be Thankful

Rest and Be Thankful is the name that attaches itself to every A83 scare. It is the highest point on the road, the pass that separates Glen Croe from Glen Kinglas, and the stretch Transport Scotland treats as one of the most highly ranked debris flow hazard sites in the country.

That is where the nets and catch pits already stand. On this storm they did the work they were built for. Two further landslides at Rest never made the tarmac; the debris net and debris pit held them. One small slide did reach the road there, and crews cleared it.

The same kit had already proved itself on 5 December 2015, during Storm Barbara, when the nets stopped about 1,000 tonnes short of the trunk road. Landslide specialist Dave Petley, then writing as a ground engineer, has called Rest and Be Thankful “the greatest current geotechnical challenge in the UK,” pointing to thick glacial till sitting on the upper slopes of Glen Croe, ready to move when the rain comes.

The October storm still closed the A83 for five calendar days. The catch system at Rest was not the failure. The road failed where that system thins out.

Our teams have worked tirelessly in challenging conditions to reopen the A83 to all traffic. We are very grateful to our colleagues and partners, as well as local residents for all your support and patience during this challenging time.

Ian Stewart, BEAR Scotland North West representative

Stewart’s crews, with ground engineers from Jacobs, stayed on after the 3pm reopening to watch the hillsides that had actually moved.

Four Hits in Glen Kinglas, Two at the Dunoon Junction

BEAR’s own tally is the cleanest map of the night. Eleven slides were logged along the closed section. Seven of them reached the road. Four of those seven were in Glen Kinglas. Two very large ones hit the A83 at the A815 Dunoon junction, west of the glen. That junction is the turn that takes Cowal traffic toward Dunoon. It is also where vehicles were trapped.

THE LANDSLIDES ALONG THE A83

Glen Kinglas did have a debris bund, and it caught the two small slides. It did not catch the four that buried the A83, and there was no equivalent net-and-pit screen at the Dunoon junction. When BEAR posted proof of the “huge effort” once the road was open, the before and after pictures were of that junction, not of the Rest viewpoint.

With the #A83 back up and running, these before and after photos from the A815/A83 Dunoon junction show just a small part of the huge effort our team and partners put in to clear the road. 🚒👩‍🏭

We want to say a huge thanks and well done – incredible effort 👏. pic.twitter.com/j6alzLtKg2

— BEAR NW Trunk Roads (@NWTrunkRoads) October 11, 2023

The Old Military Road, the short local diversion that usually saves Argyll when Rest is shut, was clear. It could not help, because the block sat beyond Rest, down in the glen and across the Cowal turn.

Saturday’s Closure and the Wednesday Reopening

Rain had already been falling on the Friday evening under an amber warning. By Saturday morning the A83 was shut between Tarbet and Inveraray, and the A815 was shut with it. Police Scotland told drivers to stay out of Argyll and Bute.

THE FIVE DAYS THE TRUNK ROAD WAS SHUT

1. 6 October 2023: The Met Office issues amber rain warnings as a slow-moving front sits over Scotland, with the heaviest totals flagged for Argyll.
2. 7 October 2023: Landslides close the A83 and the A815. Several vehicles are stuck. An HM Coastguard helicopter from Prestwick lifts ten people off the road. Police Scotland reports no injuries.
3. 8 to 10 October 2023: BEAR teams and ground engineers clear debris, ditches and drains through Glen Kinglas and at the Dunoon junction. The Old Military Road stays open but cannot bypass the blocked glen.
4. 11 October 2023: Morning hillside inspections pass. The A83 and the A815 reopen at 3pm. The B828 stays closed because of flood damage. BEAR says it will patrol the area 24 hours a day for the rest of the week.

Argyll and Bute Council timed the A815 reopening with BEAR so Cowal could reach the trunk road again the same afternoon. Garelochhead Coaches put buses back into Lochgoilhead and Carrick Castle the next morning, still unable to use the B828 and still routing via the A815 and the B839 through Hell’s Glen.

Ten People Were Lifted Off the Road

The human cost sat at the same junction the photos later showed stripped of mud. Police Scotland said it was called to multiple landslides on the A83 and the A815 on the morning of 7 October 2023, with vehicles stuck between the slides.

A number of vehicles were stuck between the landslides. Emergency services, including HM Coastguard, attended and ten people were airlifted to safety. There were no reports of injuries. The roads remain closed and drivers are urged to avoid travel in the area.

Police Scotland spokesperson, 7 October 2023

HM Coastguard said its Prestwick search and rescue helicopter lifted 10 people cut off by a landslide at the junction of the A815 and the A83 near Inveraray. They were flown out and met on the ground. No one was reported hurt. Several cars still had to be dug out of the debris in the days that followed.

The A83 is one of only two east-west trunk links between Argyll and Bute and the Central Belt. When it closes, and the A815 closes with it, Cowal has no inland way onto that network. The ten people on the junction that Saturday were not caught on the famous hairpin. They were caught on the unprotected turn the Rest nets were never asked to police.

How Much Rain Fell Around the A83?

BEAR said the area around the A83 took a month’s rain, around 160mm, in 36 hours from Friday evening into Saturday. That operational figure sits next to the Met Office gauges, which logged two-day totals from 09:00 UTC on 6 October to 09:00 UTC on 8 October 2023.

The office had already put amber warnings for heavy rain in Scotland on the Friday. Chief meteorologist Neil Armstrong said 60-80mm was likely inside the amber areas, with 180mm or more in the wettest spots across Argyll.

RAINFALL AT THE GLEN GAUGES

Loch Restil sits in the pass between Glen Kinglas and Glen Croe. Its 162.8mm is the nearest official total to BEAR’s “around 160mm.” The Rest and Be Thankful gauge itself, 148.4mm, was wet enough to load the famous slope. It was still the smaller number beside Kilmelford and Loch Restil. The rain did not single out Rest. It soaked the whole corridor, then the slides ran where the ground was least fenced.

After the A83 Reopened, the B828 Stayed Shut

Argyll and Bute Council put the point in one line when it announced the A815 would open with the A83 at 3pm: the move would “allow normal access from the Cowal Peninsula to the trunk road network.” Cowal got that access back on the Wednesday. Other roads in the same weather did not.

ROADS THAT SHUT WITH THE A83

• A83 Tarbet to Inveraray: Closed from 7 October 2023; reopened to all traffic at 3pm on 11 October 2023 after more than 12,000 tonnes came off the road and verges.
• A815 to Dunoon: Closed with the trunk road; reopened at 3pm the same Wednesday, restoring the Cowal turn.
• B828: Stayed closed after the trunk road reopened, with flood damage to the carriageway, leaving Lochgoilhead on a Hell’s Glen detour.
• Old Military Road: Unaffected by the storm, and useless as a bypass because the block was in Glen Kinglas and at the Dunoon junction, not on the Rest climb.

BEAR removed over 12,000 tonnes of debris from the A83 and its verges, and it cleared ditches and drains before it handed the road back. It also said teams would keep inspecting the hillsides by the A815 junction and inside Glen Kinglas, the two places the nets at Rest could not cover. Motorists were asked to follow the remaining signs. The B828 was not in that gift. It is a local road, and the flood damage was still on it after the trunk road looked clean.

A Debris Flow Shelter Aimed at Glen Croe

Three days before the rain, on 4 October 2023, transport minister Fiona Hyslop chaired the first meeting of the A83 taskforce. She said work to realign the southern end of the diversion route would start later that year. Two hundred and twenty people had been to the recent public exhibition for the long-term plan, and more than 3,500 had looked at it online.

That plan, chosen on 2 June 2023, is a debris flow shelter on the line of the existing A83 through Glen Croe. Transport Scotland’s preferred route lists 1,370m of debris flow shelter and catch pit, plus 180m of protection wall and catch pit. In 2023 the option was costed at £405 million to £470 million. It is a roof over the Rest climb, with a pit behind the wall so debris can be lifted off without closing the road.

There is a clear need for pace and urgency on delivering improvements to the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful for the communities and businesses who often feel the brunt of closure and the associated impacts that creates.

Fiona Hyslop, transport minister, A83 taskforce, 4 October 2023

The shelter is aimed at Ben Luibhean’s slope above Glen Croe. It is not a screen for Glen Kinglas, and it is not a roof over the A815 Dunoon junction. Those were the places that took the 12,000 tonnes, trapped the ten people, and kept the A83 dark from 7 October until 3pm on 11 October 2023. Rest’s nets held. The road still vanished, because the storm did not only fall on the famous pass.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Does the A83 Close So Often at Rest and Be Thankful?

Transport Scotland’s Scottish Road Network Landslide Study ranks the A83 from Ardgartan to Rest and Be Thankful among the highest debris-flow hazard sites in Scotland, and the upper slopes of Glen Croe hold thick glacial till and colluvium that can run when rain saturates the hillside. Forestry planting above the road is in planning, with any benefit put at about 15 to 35 years after the trees go in, which is why the live defence is still nets, pits, drains and, on this storm, a full closure while crews dug.

What Is the Official Diversion When the A83 Shuts?

The pre-planned diversion uses the A82 between Tarbet and Tyndrum, the A85 from Tyndrum to Dalmally, and the A819 from Dalmally to Inveraray, a run Transport Scotland puts at 66 minutes, 31 minutes longer and 25 miles extra between Tarbet and Inveraray. The Old Military Road under Rest is the short local alternative when only that climb is shut; in this storm it stayed clear and still could not carry traffic past Glen Kinglas or the Dunoon junction.

When Was the Debris Flow Shelter Chosen for the A83?

Transport Scotland named the Brown Option as the preferred long-term route on 2 June 2023 after comparing five schemes through Glen Croe, two of which included tunnels. Public exhibitions ran from 12 to 15 June 2023 in Arrochar and Lochgilphead, with 220 people through the door and more than 3,500 viewing the plans online, and the shelter would still sit on the Rest climb rather than on the Glen Kinglas and A815 stretches that closed the road in October 2023.

Where Were the Ten People Taken After the Airlift?

The HM Coastguard helicopter from Prestwick flew them to Inveraray, where the Inveraray Coastguard Rescue Team met them and gave shelter, after the alarm on the morning of 7 October 2023. Police Scotland said none of the ten was injured, and the cars they left behind stayed in the debris until the clear-up reached them.

BEAR’s ground engineers kept walking the Glen Kinglas and A815 slopes after the 3pm reopening, and the B828 still needed repair. The trunk road was open. The hills that had moved were the ones still being watched.