A924

The A924 is a cross-country A-road in east Perthshire, connecting the A93 with the A9 in a spectacular journey across the hills.

Route

The road starts at Bridge of Cally by turning off the A93 on the north side of the bridge over the River Ardle. The tiny village is quickly left behind as the road then climbs up the strath, past a holiday park and above the river. This first section is a pleasant drive as the road winds through tree lined fields dotted with scattered farms. The road is never particularly wide, but just about wide enough for the traffic it carries, especially with the tight bends and a couple of speed limits through tiny villages. After about 7 miles, the B950 is met at the entrance to Kirkmichael. This is the only classified road met by the A924 except at the ends, and it winds its way over the hills to meet the A93 further north.

The A924 looking east towards Tarvie

Kirkmichael is the only real village met along the A924, and is a pretty little place lying astride the River Ardle, but quickly passed. About a mile past the village, the road narrows a little and loses its centre line, but be warned as it gets narrower still further west! From Kirkmichael to Enochdhu, the road stays close to the river bank, as it winds along the valley floor, the final approach to Enochdhu being a short straight through an avenue of trees. A similar avenue encloses the road beyond the tiny village, although there are again fields between road and river. As Strathardle turns into Glen Brerachan, the road steadily curves round to the west, through Straloch, barely even a village, but home to the recently closed primary school for this sparsely populated glen.

For several miles, the opposite side of the glen has been cloaked in a forestry plantation, with scattered blocks of trees to the north of the road as well, However, these come to a fairly abrupt end and the landscape becomes much wilder in character. Eventually, the glen carries the road round to head southwestwards and as the fields become rougher, the road comes out on to the moors. There are signs along the road warning drivers of sheep on the road, some of these are official ones. Others, put up by farmers, and in the past have had witty messages such as 'watch out, sheep don't know the green cross code'. After crossing the river at Dalnavaid Bridge, the road becomes almost single track and winds up a narrow ledge to the summit at around 380m.

The summit lies in a narrow pass, which the road uses to climb out of Glen Brerachan and so cross the watershed. Immediately, the landscape feels more expansive, and the road once more becomes just about wide enough for traffic to pass. Although descending gently, it takes about 2 miles before the road starts to drop more sharply and the full splendour of the view across the Tummel Valley ahead appears. The road has regained its white centre line now, and the extra width is needed as the bends tighten on the descent. As the first fields appear on the roadside, the road turns back on itself to the right, at a near hairpin still high above Pitlochry. A road continues ahead from the apex of the corner, dropping down past the distillery through Edradour and eventually finds the old A9 south of Pitlochry.

The tiny village of Kinnaird flashes by, and then after a couple more fields and curving around a wooded bend the first houses of Moulin appear. The road winds past them, and the pretty church, descending all the time as it drops down into Pitlochry town centre at a T-junction. Pitlochry is a bonny place, naturally filled with all of the tourist trappings you come to expect in this part of the world, but away from that there is plenty to explore, including Loch Faskally and the numerous walks in the surrounding woodlands. Originally the A924 ran down Bonnethill Road to end on the old A9, Atholl Road. However, the A9 now bypasses Pitlochry, so the A924 has been extended in both directions along the pre-bypass route, to meet the A9 at either end of the town.

The road to the right is the shorter route and follows Atholl Road as it crosses the railway and then runs alongside it to reach Pitlochry North Junction. This allows access to the A9 in both directions, as well as the B8019 which continues north along the original A9. The slightly longer road to the left passes under the railway and then follows Perth Road out of town, past the distillery and along the banks of the Tummel. Pitlochry South Junction only has south-facing sliproads to/from the A9, which is dualled to the south. In addition, the A924 has been diverted from Bonnethill Road onto West Moulin Road for the final descent into the town centre.

History

The A924 has hardly changed since it was first classified a century ago, except for the extensions in Pitlochry. A couple of bridges have been replaced, and there is evidence of some very slight realignments to a handful of bends, with some small laybys being left behind on the climb to the summit from Moulin. However, there is one further curiosity, the 1982 OS Landranger map (the first available after the bypass opened) shows the A924 extending further south and including the former A9 line as far as Moulinearn. This is almost certainly an error or misunderstanding, as no subsequent maps, including the 1984 edition of the same map, show this, and it seems an unlikely situation.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Pitlochry - Bridge-of-Cally