Derekthered's Corsica blog

Perversely, I have always quite liked the winding, cliff-hugging road along Corsica's west coast between Calvi and Porto. But in recent weeks this challenging driving experience, with its breathtaking views, has turned into a nightmare.

As a Brit I am used to moaning about roadworks, but the road widening taking place along this stretch is unlike anything I have ever experienced. To say these road works are extensive is an understatement - they are about 15km long! To say your car gets dusty is even more of an understatement: I emerged in Porto after this drive last month with a car that looked as though it had just been driven through the Sahara. The surface of the road in this stretch is completely unmade-up, and huge earth-moving vehicles are moving around the site in places, their drivers completely oblivious of other road users, who are forced to dodge them. It's frankly rather scary, and if you are a timid driver you'd better avoid it.

I am marginally in favour of the road widening, but I have my doubts. What happens when the road works reach the Calanques de Piana further south? It would be necessary to remove a sizeable section of cliff face to drive a wider road through here - not such good news. And as a writer to Corsica Lista (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/corsicalista/) says today, it would encourage much more traffic to use this unspoilt stretch of coastline.