Local Impact & Road Closures
Your Weekend Guide to Closures & Access
From Friday 28 to Sunday 30 August 2026, explorr comes to Banchory for the first time, and we'd like to thank you in advance for having us. explorr is a three-day outdoor endurance festival in Banchory — a Gravel Stage Race, off-road running across 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon distances, a charity night hike, and a festival village at the heart of it all. Run Banchory, the town's much-loved running event, has been rolled into explorr as part of the weekend.
Alongside the sport, explorr is raising funds for Banchory Outdoor and Active, Prostate Cancer UK and Breast Cancer UK.
The Festival Village is free to access and will be in King George V Park all weekend, open from Friday afternoon through to Sunday afternoon. Expect live music, an outdoor expo, street food, local flavours and post-race stories — everyone in Banchory is welcome, whether you're racing or not.
To bring an event like this to Royal Deeside there will be some unavoidable restrictions, delays and traffic management requirements over the weekend. In particular, there will be parking restrictions on Dee Street and adjacent to King George V Park, along with traffic management and road closures at various points across the weekend. Full details are outlined below.
Impact mitigations have been developed to keep disruption to a minimum. Support for vulnerable and disabled persons is available, and plans to ensure access for carers will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Advanced warning signs will be deployed locally one week before the event.
The area in and around Banchory will be impacted between Friday 28 August and Sunday 30 August 2026. Detailed road closure and traffic management measures are outlined below.
The residents contact phone number over the event weekend is 07539 496854.
Support for Vulnerable and Disabled Persons
We are readily available to work with you if you are a vulnerable or disabled individual needing personalised mitigation plans. This includes ensuring access for carers is maintained during any road closures. Please reach out to us so that we can discuss your concerns and needs before making a detailed plan to support you. Should you have any further questions, please email us at info@explorr.co.uk and we'll call you back at your convenience.
Impact Zones
With event activities across Banchory and the wider Royal Deeside area, we've separated the impacted areas into a number of main zones. You'll find details for each further down on this page. Emergency access to all impact zones is guaranteed 24/7.
Closure locations & maps will be published here shortly.
Parking restrictions & road closure on Dee St / B974 between Bellfield Car park exit and Banchory Scout Hut.
Impacts
Parking will be suspended from Saturday 07:00hrs to Sunday 18:00hrs.
Expect short delays on Saturday between 09:50hrs and 10:20hrs. This area will be closed for vehicle traffic from Sunday 07:00hrs to Sunday 19:00hrs.
Mitigations
Signposted detour via A93 and Crathes Bridge (A957) will ensure uninterrupted access to North to South of River Dee throughout road closures.
Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout.
Road closures and traffic management on Dee St / B974 between Banchory Lodge Drive & Bridge of Dee (southside).
Impacts
Expect short delays on Saturday between 09:50hrs and 10:20hrs. This area will be fully closed for vehicle traffic from Sunday 09:30hrs to 11:00hrs. From Sunday 11:00hrs to 18:00hrs single lane managed access to Banchory Lodge Hotel, Banchory Lodge Caravan Park, Deeview Apartments and other properties in this area, will be facilitated via traffic management operatives and a traffic light system.
Mitigations
Signposted detour via A93 and Crathes Bridge (A957) will ensure uninterrupted access to North to South of River Dee throughout road closures.
Access to Banchory Lodge Hotel maintained throughout closures via special signposted access route (via Station Road / Dental Practice junction & King George V Park - follow signage on the day).
Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout.
Road closures on B974 between Bridge of Dee (southside) & next junction at Deebank.
Impacts
Expect short delays on Saturday between 09:50hrs and 10:20hrs. This area will be fully closed for vehicle traffic from Sunday 09:30hrs to 10:30hrs.
Mitigations
Signposted detour via A93 and Crathes Bridge (A957) will ensure uninterrupted access to North to South of River Dee throughout road closures.
Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout.
Traffic management on B794, Bridge of Feugh, southbound towards Craig of Affrusk Wood.
Impacts
Expect short delays on Saturday between 09:50hrs and 10:20hrs.
Mitigations
Please plan your travel accordingly, short dealys will be necessary to facilitate the safe start of cycling events on Saturday.
Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout.
Road closure and Traffic management between on B794, Bridge of Feugh, southbound towards Craig of Affrusk Wood.
Impacts
This area will be fully closed for vehicle traffic from Sunday 09:45hrs to 10:45hrs. From Sunday 10:45hrs to 18:00hrs one way system to ensure access to all impacted properties and Blackhall Road.
Mitigations
Please plan your travel accordingly, no access/agress is possible during the road closure period. Please follow the one-way system when in operation.
Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout.
Road closure on road toward Scolty Woodland Car Park.
Impacts
This area will be fully closed for vehicle traffic from Sunday 09:45hrs to 11:15hrs. From Sunday 10:45hrs to 18:00hrs one way system to ensure access to all impacted properties and Blackhall Road. There is no access to Scolty Woodland Car Park from Sunday 09:45hrs to 16:00hrs.
Mitigations
Please plan your travel accordingly, no access/agress is possible during the road closure period. Please follow the one-way system when in operation.
Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout.
Road closure on Blackhall Road
Impacts
This area will be fully closed for vehicle traffic from Sunday 09:45hrs to 11:45hrs.
Mitigations
Please plan your travel accordingly, no access/agress is possible during the road closure period.
Pedestrian access will be maintained throughout.