The route starts at a mini roundabout on the A5 in front of the village pub and heads north along the narrow Main Road to another mini roundabout, this time with the A26. Turning left, the route winds south east past houses and over the Silver Burn. The ruins of Rushen Abbey are hidden behind high stone walls on the right, and then one more double bend takes the A7 out of the village. A couple of fields later, it crosses the A3 at Cross Four Ways, the A7 maintaining priority through the junction. The next section is part of the Southern 100 Course, a short motorbike road racing circuit which also uses the A3, A5 and A28 to form a roughly square route.
The A7 winds west across fields, with houses scattered along the roadside to Ballabeg, where it has to TOTSO right, the A28 having priority as it heads south from the village. Most of the houses lie on the right hand side of the road, with fields to the left, and after a short run north west, the route curves round in front of the church to head west once more. The B42 and B43 both turn right on the bend just before the church, heading north to meet the A27. Half a mile after Ballabeg, the A7 enters Colby, where the A27 itself meets the A7, immediately before the small bridge over the Colby River.
A nearly continuous line of houses sits on the north side of the road, past the junction with the B44 and on to the next village of Ballagawne, which is little more than a large housing estate. Along the way, both the B33 and B45 turn left to cross the short distance to the A5 on the south coast. The A36 and A29 are then met at Ballagawne Roundabout, with the A7 continuing ahead, passing between a couple of fields to reach Ballafesson. This is really the edge of Port Erin, and the A7 sweeps round to the left at a junction with the A32 to head south on Ballafesson Road. After passing junctions with the B46 and B59, the route comes to an end back on the A5 at the eastern end of Port Erin town centre.
History
The A7 and A5 swapped numbers at some point between 1994 and 2003, so the entire route of the current A7 was the original route of the A5 between Ballasalla and Port Erin. The southern route along the coast is definitely the busier road today, and perhaps has slightly fewer villages to navigate through, making it the faster of the two routes as well.
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