Roadtrip Around Barbados

Yesterday, we drove a lap around an entire country - how often do you get to say that!? Having a later flight than the rest of the touring Waving The Flag group, Melissa and I, and Graham, hired a car and completed a lap around Barbados, allowing us to see parts of it that perhaps not everyone manages to see.

Heading out from St Lawrence Gap, we ventured into Bridgetown for a final look, and wander through the bustling streets of the capital. With the shops open, the fruit and veggies stalls lining many of the streets, and the regular Bajans just going about their day, this felt like such a real glimpse.

Getting back to the car, we drove north through Holetown and Speightown, both fairly small towns despite their lettering size on our map. We were soon to discover that navigating by towns as we did our lap was tricky, with many of them featuring on the map, but being such a small blur as we drove past. I wondered if as an Aussie used to roadtripping such vast distances, that getting used to these places on the map oh so close together was just too hard to fathom.

We stopped just at the outer edge of town when we spotted Speightstown Pier, for a closer look, and also to get our feet onto the beautiful what sand that now edged the road.

Climbing back into the air conditioning comfort of the car, given the increasing temperature and blazing sun outside, we then headed inland, to the parish of St Lucy, we were worked on getting a view of her from above.

In this part of the island we started passing fields of sugar cane, as we worked our way through the smaller roads and villages towards the northern edge of Barbados. We went off road at Salmond to take in Archer's Bay, and the rugged coastline at this end of the island. The emerald blue water crashing into the cliffs and Barbados' answer to the 12 Apostles.

Back on the main road, we also found North Point, where we stopped for some lunch and watched as the waves crashed some more.

Starting to watch the clock, we then meandered through the small roads all the way along and down the east coast of Barbados. Sugar cane was replaced with banana crops, and clear beaches were switched for mountain views, curves, and steep roads giving us a widescreen filled with combination ocean and mountain contrasts.

One of the main landmarks that allowed Graham and I to navigate as Melissa drove was the churches, one in almost every town. And grand, amazing churches they were, often perched away from the village life, or tucked smack-bang in the middle of it all.

Following the map closely at the end, nearing our deadline for the end of our roadtrip, being check in time at the airport, we made it without any issues. Like everything in the Caribbean, things are just chill! Such a great day, seeing all outer angles of Barbados.