Route de Lurin

RichS

New Member
Hi - I am new to the forum. I used to visit St. Barth often, but I haven't been there since the early 90's. I bet a lot has changed!

One change I noticed is the road connecting Lurin with Saline and St. Jean (called the Route de Lurin on Google maps). I remember that the only way to get to Gouverneur from most of the island was through Gustavia. When was the road built? Has it improved access around the island?

Thanks!
Rich
 
I don't know exactly when the current road was finished, but when we started coming, also in the early 90's, it basically looked like someones driveway. BTW, welcome to the forum.

Phil
 
That road is sometimes jokingly referred to as the Lurin Superhighway. It's not new, it's been there for as long as I can remember. It seems to get a lot of truck traffic, even more so now that there's a lot of road construction with accompanying detours. It does have a few drawbacks, as much of it is narrow, and there's a steep hairpin curve. The road connects to the road around the pond on the St Jean end, goes up past Santa Fé (where the turnoff to Gouverneur is), and continues into Gustavia by the Hotel Barrière Le Carl Gustaf. There is a connection to it from Saline, via the road next to Le Tamarin. A section of the road was in disrepair for awhile, but that section (only a few hundred feet) has been improved and widened, and there is a great view out over St Jean from there.

I'm back and forth on using that road, or using the main road around the island. If I'm staying in Lorient, I'll often take that road home from dinner in Gustavia. There's less traffic on the Lurin Road, but trucks do barrel through there in the daytime. Also, maneuvering the hairpin turn can be tricky until you get used to it.
 
More than a few years ago it featured a “honk and go” section that was decidedly alternating traffic flow. I kind of miss that speed-limiting chicane.
 
Who remembers the scary night trip to Castelets in Lurin on the dirt roads for a wonderful dinner at their Soporo de Mar?
 
Hi - I am new to the forum. I used to visit St. Barth often, but I haven't been there since the early 90's. I bet a lot has changed!

One change I noticed is the road connecting Lurin with Saline and St. Jean (called the Route de Lurin on Google maps). I remember that the only way to get to Gouverneur from most of the island was through Gustavia. When was the road built? Has it improved access around the island?

Thanks!
Rich

in 1970 it was certainly as you describe:

Screen Shot 2020-09-16 at 6.10.39 PM.png
 
The first time I ever drove in SBH was on that road. We arrived at Gouverneur loaded up for the day with beach gear, picnic lunch, beverages...everything...but my book. I decided to drive back to Lorien to get it while R set up camp. On the way back, just at the skinny “one lane” section, a big (well, for SBH) truck was coming the other way.

Obviously I lived to tell the tale but it was years before I drove again!
 
Who remembers the scary night trip to Castelets in Lurin on the dirt roads for a wonderful dinner at their Soporo de Mar?
. . . and my memories even are earlier than Soporo de Mar. The point that is shared, however, is “the dirt roads!” “Dirt” was good. When there had been rain, however, the mud of those roads required 4-wheel drive &/or a lot of driving skill!

”Memories“ . . . I don’t know how many artists have covered the song, but I’m remembering Barbra Streisand:

There's a time that I remember, when I did not know no pain
When I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same”

Times . . . they are a’ changing!
 
My memories also go back earlier than Sapore di Mare, to Les Castelets in the mid-80's. In those early days I was often renting a Gurgel, something which looked similar to a Volkswagen Thing. I never had trouble on any of the roads with a Gurgel, even in the rain. I used to say that I thought that it could climb a vertical wall in 1st gear.
 
. . . and my memories even are earlier than Soporo de Mar. The point that is shared, however, is “the dirt roads!” “Dirt” was good. When there had been rain, however, the mud of those roads required 4-wheel drive &/or a lot of driving skill!... remembering Barbra Streisand... times... they are a changing... !

Not a sound from the pavement?

Learning that you are a Maroon 5 fan is a surprise du jour!

You may be thinking of Streisand's version of the Cats song linked above or this song featured in her 1973 movie.

The Maroon 5 song is another in a long line of pop songs that have used the chord progression from this piece from the late 1600's that was brought to popular attention in a 1980 movie with a theme that was an adaptation of that classical piece by Marvin Hamlisch who has partial writing credits for the song in the second Streisand clip above.

Trivia question with answer linked: What was the 1980 movie?

Here is a rant about the use of the classical piece in pop music - there are many additional examples to the ones given in that. Here is one by the times they are a-changin' writer....
 
Yes, I remember Les Castelets as well, but without a car!

Even with the energy of youth, ( back in the 70’s -yikes! ) the walk up from Gustavia was a challenge, with the reward of a wonderful meal with Genevieve.....who took us on a tour and showed us the room where Baryshnikov used to stay, complete with the house audio cassettes of music!
 
Betty Buckley stopped the show CATS with MEMORIES in the original Broadway production. You could hear a pin drop!
 
That might be the scariest road in SBH...I do not drive at all there..well, I guess because I took a few turns on 2 wheels of the 4 wheel drive on a couple of turns going into Gustavia...needless to say now, Davesdad has chosen to do all the driving. I keep trying to get the courage up to drive some day again...a bucket list item for sure!
 
at the moment there is not much of a choice, for a while all traffic was routed that way as there was no way through St Jean by Eden Rock.. now you can go on the Carnage road, but for us when we come out from behind the pond if we go back to the main road by Eden Rock we have to go all the way to Lorient to double back to Petite Saline, the other option being Carenage up to the top of Morne Tourtourelle and down by Tamarin to get to Petite Saline.. that being the case as the road from Le Piment toward Saline is one way in the other direction at the moment - but if you go by Tamarin that road is all dug up and a mess as well. And there is a 3-minute stop light by Eden Rock with traffic really backing up at certain times of the day.... I wonder if they will finish the road work by late October when the luxury hotels start to reopen?
 
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