L'Anse Fourmi to Charlotteville

[Deb & Tom]

I understand the northern road from the Bloody Bay area to Charlotteville is being renovated. Does anyone have recent knowledge of the progress there? Will it be useable by April, we are renting a jeep and are used to Caribbean roads. thanks

[Achim Lewandowski]

Hi,

the question should be, whether the road is used to you

State September 2003:

http://www.alewand.de/fotos/tobago/fo43.htm


Best regards,

Achim

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Deb & Tom

Sorry, the road is still "under construction" and unlikely to be finished by April (try April 2005). I understand that the road is officially "closed" so the insurance on your hire vehicle will not cover you - very risky if you were to break the suspension or have an 'incident' while driving on this stretch of road. It is passable in the dry season, but only with great care and at great risk of damage to the vehicle. Remember, Suzukis and similar are not 'proper' 4x4s and are not suited to real off-road work.

[Terence Crump]

There are many roads of similar condition to this one and I do not recall a sign showing 'road closed' at the Charlotteville end in April 2003 although it was clearly being rebuilt.
Is it purely guesswork which roads would not be covered by vehicle insurance?

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Terence

Welcome aboard!

I'm no insurance expert, so I'm guessing on a lot of this. However, I guess that anything that is not the public highway would classify as "off road". If there were no "road closed" signs, then I guess they would have a hell of a job saying it was not part of the highway becuase that road is shown on enough maps.

[Brian Taylor]

hello you all
last time we passed the road (not in one of our cars of course...never!) they let you pass it but the tracktors and trucks block it a lot so you can wait your time until they are finished with their work and let you pass.
would not risk it. if you want to go "offroad" on an official road, pass from mason hall to Mt. St. George. The Hillsbrough Dam is still closed, but the road is an adventure (but not a dangerous one) and worth passing...
have a shaking ride
steph&ali

[Sam Deeks]

Used to be my favourite lunatic thing to do... attempt the Charlotteville to L'Anse Fourmi 'track'. Did it a few times in the late 80s and mid 90s but at times it had my passengers screaming for mercy.

Having said that, I used to do a lot of wildlife sound recording (for making relaxation and meditation tapes) and there was no-where else better in Tobago for the call of parrots and the distant 'whump' of the surf somewhere through the bush down below you.

This season? I wouldn't even dare attempt it in a helicopter. One look at the landslides up the south coast en route to Charlotteville told me that. I might enjoy a bit of a 4X4 challenge with some mud and a few hairy 45degree tilts along the way.. but to try it over the last few weeks would have been madness.

Still - it's kind of a shame that progress is catching up and in the not too distant future there'll be a real road in place of that track. It felt like about the last wild, dangerous place in Tobago. Ah well, we have to think of the benefits to the people there rather than the cheap thrills of the tourist!

[Kevin Hampson]

HI all,
I managed the road in a Suzy in October, after Ivan but pre all the rain. Most of the run was on good hard pack but there were a few sections that were very muddy and had us slipping a bit even with 4 wheel drive.

No problem at all from the workman and tractors the odd wave and smile.

Regards
Kevin

[Paul Tallet]

Those interested in the L'Anse Fourmi - Charlottesville road development may be interested in the article below (dated 19th December 2004) which raises some thought provoking issues concerning the environmental effects this new road is having on the coastline ... obviously made worse by the effects of the recent heavy rain.


http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=51177374


I wonder if any that have visited these areas in the last few weeks have any comments about this coastline?

Regards

[Kevin Hampson]

Hi Paul,
I'm not surprised when we used the road in October it was all had pack rock so the loose stuff will wash away, and the drainage was far from finished. I suspect some areas will have been washed out all together.

I suppose that that they will put back the completion date for another year.

Regards
Kevin

[Sue-S]

We were told when we out in Tobago that the water and sea was very brown and muddy looking, the people we spoke to were very dissapointed, they didnt have transport so couldnt really travel around.
I have to say though that on out travels we didnt see any evidence of this.

[Sam Deeks]

Looking at Achim's picture, this isn't the track the way I knew it in the 80s! Anyone here remember it from back then...? Maybe Steve W does. It was *barely* two wheel-ruts in the jungle then, no wonder it scared the pants off me after the slightest rainfall.

The track in Achim's picture looks like the M4 by comparison!

[David Watkins]

I too have just looked at Achims picture,and having attempted the C'ville to L'Anse road last week and giving up at Fort Campleton I can tell you it ain't no motorway!!!!
David

[Jill M]

I can confirm that the road definately is NOT finished, by any stretch of the imagination. We drove first to L'Anse Fourmi but a sign said that the road was closed due to a landslide, we got as far as the workmens huts and decided to turn back. Then we asked a local at C/ville if the road was passable in our small hire car (not a jeep or 4 x 4). He said yes and that he saw cars like ours using it everyday ! The first part from C/ville is the worst. It is totally unmade, steep, narrow and scary - but there was nowhere to turn around and impossible to reverse back down, so the only way was to continue. It did get better and looked very similar to Achim's picture, but imagine one of the HUGE construction trucks passing you on a single track road and he wants to pass on the left - leaving us to the steep edge ! Further on was a patch of loose stone covering almost the whole width of the road, the road here was rather steep and we got stuck sinking deeper and deeper into the road. My husband had to reverse to get out of it and pass again on the edge of the road with the sheer drop.

The road eventually turned into tarmac, but still there were massive holes for the drainage system, some were taped off with caution tape - some not. They had even started cutting holes in the brand new road - it felt like we were back in England !

Eventually we arrived at the workmens huts we had seen earlier in the day at L'Anse Fourmi and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

To sum up - if you are considering taking this road in any type of vehicle at the moment - You must be barking MAD.

Jill