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. In the 1960s, the old road was bypassed by a wider modern road, without such dramatic hairpin bends.
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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