North Coast Road

[Mike Northcott]

Can someone tell me more about the new N-W road?? Is it now possible to follow the coast all the way up to Charlotteville???

Mike

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Mike

Yes, the road has been open for about a year and is WELL worth a trip. You can now follow the coast (pretty much) all the way around the island.

[Hugh S]

The road is an awesome drive but keep in mind that there is no beach access once past Parlituvier until you arrive in Charlotteville.

Hugh

[Carol Townsend]

We almost did the circular tour, but found a lorry blocking the road before we got to Charlotteville, and which showed no sign of moving, so we did a u-turn and went back the other way with my daughter feeling distinctly queasy. White tourist? She was often green, poor thing!
Cheers
Carolnoe

[David Watkins]

The road,once through L'anseForme, is terrific with fantastic vews of the sea and the forest.But it is a careful drive as there are some very sharp bends and gradients with 35k speed limits in some places.
David

[Dr Stefan Rustscheff]

Just a short comment. Beaches do exist after Parlatuvier. We have bloody bay of course, and LÁnse Fourmi beach, which is reached by a hair-rising overgrown track not made for the squeamish. We also have mad cow beach past L´anse fourmi which is reached through a very long dirt track, where, often cattle abound...
When driving past L´Anse fourmi, do stop at the obelisk! on the left hand side in the first right bend of the road and visit the local painter/artist Jenny Hilton-Clarke who does wonderful paintings. I have bought 4 myself and will buy another next summer. She lives in a VERY tiny shack 100 m before the obelisk. She is a marvellous person as well. Give her my greetings if and when someone stops.

[Phil Bondie]

I am impressed. Went down to L'Anse Fourmi this afternoon and the North Coast road is really nice. They have cleared all the slides and I only counted 3 potholes. Going down just pass the corner at Wild Cow there is a fantastic spot to look out north to see C-ville, St Giles (Melville) island, Marble island and London Bridge. I was going to put a red flag there to mark it but someone has already beat me to it. Along the way look out for a few tree limbs sticking out into the road at about windshield height and of course the cows as you get closer to L'Anse Fourmi. They have done a pretty good job cleaning up the construction staging sites.

I went on down to Castara, sorry David didn't look you up, to pick up flying fish for bait. The road from L'Anse Fourmi to Bloody Bay is not to bad. There is one spot they are doing alot of work on. It is where the long section of road dropped down about 18 inches in the big rain of Nov. 05 or was it 04, how time passes as you get older. It was scary to drive across and am glad they are doing a good job of repair. They started last year and have made it a big project. After the bridge in Bloody Bay the road is terrible up to the Sunshine Cafe and forest reserve cut-off. I can't believe they are taking the whole hill down at the entrance to the beach. What a mess. Down through Parlatuvier past Englishmans Bay and into Castara the road is in pretty good shape. I did see evidence of some recent looking slides but they have cleared most of them. David, it does appear you for sure have gotten more rain down your way.

Well thats it for the travel log. Phil