A24 (Isle of Man)

The route starts at a roundabout on the A6 next to the business park on the edge of Douglas, and heads west along Cooil Road. After passing a handful of houses, the route leaves the urban area behind and strides out across the fields, climbing steadily past the B32 and on up to a summit of over 160m, which offers a fantastic viewpoint. As the route dips down, it passes the Chibbanagh Plantation, where a car park offers most of the view without having to park dangerously on the busy road. A little further down the hill, the route meets the A26 at Braaid Crossroads, now a busy mini roundabout. This tiny settlement takes its name from a ruinous Iron Age / Viking settlement site in a nearby field.

The route climbs away from the junction, curving around the western flank of the small hill of Sileau Chiarn, passing a junction with the B37 and then meeting the B35 at a crossroads in a slight dip. Over the next hill, the route drops down into Eairy, another tiny settlement set around a small reservoir. At the bottom of the hill, a near hairpin bend doubles back along the shore, passing the B36 as it turns westwards again. The next section is a little more built up, with a steady line of houses along the roadside as it winds gently around to Foxdale. The village is entered at the top of the hill, and the route drops quite steeply down past modern housing estates on Mines Road. It then comes to an end at a T junction on the A3.

History

As originally numbered in the 1920's, the route was given the B17 number. It had been renumbered as the A24 by 1963, although originally the A24 (and B17 before it) started further south east in towards Douglas at Kewaigue. The old line of the A6 forked left here to meet the A5, although that junction is now closed up. The section of A24 from Kewaigue to Cooil was renumbered when the A6 was re-routed and extended around Douglas to form a sort of ring road.