The shape of the loop
The loop works as a long triangle: north-east from the capital on fast dual carriageway, through the mountain corridor to the eastern shore, north along the coast, and then back west through a second pass to rejoin the main road home. Done at a comfortable pace with proper stops, it is a full day, and it involves three distinctly different kinds of driving, which is exactly why it is worth doing.
The mistake almost everyone makes on a first attempt is to treat it as a circuit to be completed rather than a day to be enjoyed. The distances look modest on a map and the roads are good, which encourages ambition. What the map does not show is the traffic through the towns in the mountain corridor, the slow commercial vehicles on the passes, and the fact that the most interesting stretches deserve to be driven slowly. Add two hours to whatever the screen tells you.
Through the mountains
The mountain corridor is the character of the whole route. The road climbs through bare rock in shades of grey and rust, the bends open and tighten without much warning, and the temperature drops perceptibly as you gain height. The surface is good and the road is wide enough, but it carries a steady stream of heavy quarry traffic and the overtaking opportunities are fewer than they look. Settle in behind a lorry rather than forcing a pass on a blind bend.
Watch for gravel washed onto the carriageway at the bottom of the gullies, particularly after any rain in the preceding weeks. It gathers in fans across the outside of bends exactly where you would naturally place the car, and it is the single most common cause of a nasty moment on these roads. Straighten the car before the fan, keep the steering light, and do not brake while you are crossing it.
The coast road
Reaching the eastern shore changes the day completely. The water here is a different colour from the Gulf on the western side, the mountains come almost to the beach in places, and the road runs close enough to the sea for long stretches that the whole drive relaxes. There are fishing harbours, small towns, mosques with fine detailing, and plenty of places to pull off and simply look, which is the correct way to use this section.
The road through the coastal towns is slower than the map suggests: speed limits drop sharply, there are frequent roundabouts, and pedestrian traffic near the markets is genuine rather than theoretical. This is not a section to make up time on. Treat it as the part of the day where you stop for a long lunch, walk on the beach for twenty minutes and let the car cool in the shade before the second mountain crossing.
Where the surface changes
Two things catch people out on the return. The first is the lesser pass, which is narrower and steeper than the outbound corridor and has sections where the carriageway is cut close against the rock with little shoulder. It is perfectly manageable but demands attention, and it is not a road to drive tired or in poor light. The second is the sequence of small towns on the western side, where the surface changes between well-maintained tarmac and older patched sections without warning.
If the light has gone or anyone in the car is flagging, take the longer main road home instead of the pass. It adds perhaps forty minutes and removes all the concentration from the last stage. There is no prize for completing the loop exactly as drawn, and the pass will be there another day in better conditions. Knowing when to take the easy option is most of what separates a good day's driving from a memorable one for the wrong reasons.
Timing the loop without rushing
The version of this day that works is an early start, the outbound mountain corridor before the quarry traffic builds, the coast reached by the middle of the morning, a genuinely long stop on the shore through the hottest hours, and the return in the late afternoon with the sun behind you rather than in your eyes. That order puts the demanding driving at the ends of the day and the resting in the middle, which is the right way round for anyone past fifty.
Cooler months make the whole loop far more pleasant, and the coastal section in particular becomes a place you want to linger rather than shelter from. In high summer the day is still perfectly doable, but the stops shorten, the appetite for walking disappears and the car works considerably harder on the passes. If you have any choice about when to go, wait for the cooler part of the year and give yourself the whole day.
The route index
- Add two hours to whatever the navigation screen estimates; town traffic and slow passes are not properly modelled.
- Gravel fans wash across the outside of bends at the bottom of gullies — straighten the car and do not brake across them.
- If the light has gone or anyone is tired, take the main road home rather than the second pass. It costs forty minutes and removes all the risk.
