Because life’s about the journey. For millennia the road has been mankind’s main medium for transport, and our highways reach everywhere from the sands of the central Sahara to the snow-capped summits of the Himalayas. These are the world’s most remarkable roads – some stunningly beautiful, others eye-openingly intrepid. 1. Transfagarasan, Romania Controversial opinion: Romania houses probably the best road on the planet. That’s what Jeremy Clarkson thinks anyway, as he crowned this barely pronounceable highway over the Carpathian Mountains his number one drive on Earth during a memorable episode of Top Gear. Ninety kilometres of tight turns round rocky crags, Tranfagarasan packs in a bit of everything: steep hairpin bends, tunnels hundreds of metres long, and even a drive-by view of Poenari Castle, once home to Vlad the Impaler.