ARRIVAL IN CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
A transfer is organized to bring you into the Mother City with first impressions on the City, V&A Waterfront and Long Street, etc..
Maybe you start in getting an exciting overview of the city by using a Hop-on/Hop-off Bus. Easy to access and showing you around the most important spots in the city.
CAPE TOWN
Today you will meet your Tour Guide Dave at the hotel and speak through the details of the tour and later in the day we will take over the bikes. In the afternoon we have planned a training course on sand in order to get familiar with the individual bikes and handling and in the evening you can individually explore Cape Town and its restaurants.
CAPE TOWN TO CEDERBERG (approx 250 km)
After a good breakfast, we depart from Cape Town in the direction of the Cederburg, a world famous wilderness and protected area. We will leave the busy roads and traverse the world famous Bainskloof pass in the direction of Ceres, a deciduous fruit growing area and home to an enormous fruit juice industry.
We will traverse some beautiful gravel roads after we pass Op Die Berg, then smile all the way to the Cederberg Oasis, where we can relax and will enjoy the famous dinners served here. The Oasis is an adventure biker’s mecca in the middle of nowhere.
CEDERBERG LOOP TO THE TANKWA KAROO (approx 100 km)
After breakfast, we will ride north through the parts of the Cederberg yet unexplored, to Clanwilliam, where we can visit the museum, a step back in time and learn about th early inhabitants in the area, the San and Khoi people.
Then we will ride on some tar roads, through the reserve on some stunning passes, like the Pakhuis Pass, to the Englishman’s Grave.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-13-the-curious-case-of-the-absent-dead-englishman/
From here we will ride through the Bideau Valley to Wupperthal, a Moravian Mission Station from the past. Wupperthal leads us to the route to Esselbank. This is a stunning road with lots of surprises and amazing scenery.
https://www.dangerousroads.org/africa/south-africa/1037-eselbank-pass-south-africa.html
Esselbank leads us to Matjies Rivier Nature Reserve. We then pass the Oasis, going in the other direction and enjoy the most wonderful road to the start of the Katbakkies Pass that will guide us to the famous Tankwa Karoo.
https://www.mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/western-cape/item/41-katbakkies-pass,-tankwa-karoo.html
We will stop at some of the outstanding geological highlights of the route, then again at the iconic Tankwa Padstal for some refreshments and photo shoots.
It’s a short ride from here to our overnight accommodation at Bike XCape. Relaxing and sharing stories before dinner and some well deserved rest.
TANKWA KAROO (approx 250 km)
Our ride today leads us to Sutherland, home of the South African Large Telescope, and marvel at the beauty of the coldest place in South Africa.
We return to Bike X Cape for another night under the stars, reconnecting with nature's majesty
TANKWA KAROO TO ONS KAROO PLAAS (approx. 200 km)
We will ride today about 200 km to the ONS KAROO PLAAS and come through the town of Laingsburg.
The roads are treacherous and often get washed away, so we will adjust the fine tuning of our trip on-site depending on the actual conditions.
ONS KAROO PLAAS TO DIE HEL (approx. 200 km)
We don’t want to rush on the way to Hel and cross 2 passes!
After rising, we pack up and embark on our day’s journey. We start by riding through Seweweekspoort, a stunning gravel road pass cut through the Cape Folded Mountain range, then onto the tar through Huisrivier Pass to Calitzdorp. Calitzdorp is home to some of the finest brandies and Port wine in South Africa due to its unique Klein Karoo climate.
We will have breakfast in Calitzdorp, fill our bikes and head to Die Kruis via Groenfontein. Here we mat stop to experience a small rural art shop, then to Kobus se Gat for a brief refreshment stop ay the bottom od Swartberg Pass.
We will ride the entire pass to the hamlet of Prince Albert at the other end. It’s hot around here so we will have a refreshment break and have some time to explore before we head back to Die Hel after filling our bikes up again.
It is only a mere 37 km from the intersection at the pass to Die Hel, and it wil take some time because of photo stops and hairpin bends. Arrival at the restaurant at the bottom is like arriving at an oasis in the desert, a welcome release from the tension and anticipation of the pass. We will have a dinner here and stay over.
Here some information on the ride through "De Hel":
We went down into the Hel on Friday and back out on Saturday. Friday night it rained a bit, mostly light rain. They however predicted heavier rain for the Saturday afternoon, so not sure how the road looks now. Even on Friday the locals said the road is the worst it has ever been. I’m a fairly new offroad rider, i.e. I did the most offroad over the last three days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) than I ever did before, with a KTM 1290SAR. Being vertically challenged I fell over more than a few times going down and up the hell. I did it and was astonished at what my bike was capable of. But honestly it was scary as hell for me at places. Either a lot of loose rock or rock steps washed out of the ground. Extremely steep initially when riding back up. My more confident and experienced colleagues found it less challenging though. Overall good experience.
Once in Gamkaskloof we will have a pre-selected traditional Karoo dinner at the accommodation.
DIE HEL TO TSITSIKAMMA VILLAGE (approx. 350 km)
In the morning, we will leave Die Hel and proceed back to the Swartberg Pass, where we will descend towards Oudtshorn, the home of the Cango Caves. We will stop at the caves and join a Heritage tour in order to experience this extraordinary place.
https://www.cango-caves.co.za/
We will also have breakfast here. https://www.cango-caves.co.za/services/
Following the tour and breakfast, we will ride to De Rust, at the foot of the magnificent Meiringspoort Pass. Similarly to Seweweekspoort, this pass traverses the Cape Folded Mountain Range. We will ride up the pass and then onto gravel roads to Willowmore and Avontuur, where we will have a refreshment stop at Angie’s G Spot before climbing the Prince Albert Pass en route to Knysna. At the top, we will briefly visit the King Edward Big Tree, then ride through the Knysna forest hoping to see one of the elusive Elephants. And if we are good in timing, we may stop in Knysna for a taste of Oysters.
They are the specialty there. https://www.visitknysna.co.za/explore/scenic-outings-routes/the-seven-passes-road/
A brief stint on the tar takes us to the first of the Seven Passes, where we begin with the Phantom, Homtini, Karatara, Hoogekraal, Touw River, Silver River passes to Wilderness heights.
Accommodation in the Tsitsikamma Village and dinner at one of the excellent local restaurants.
STORMSRIVER MOUTH & TSITSIKAMMA NATIONAL PARK
The Tsitsikamma National Park with its many attractions (e.g: Natures Valley, Bloukrans Bridge and of course the world famous trees). But our personal highlight is Stormsriver Mouth! Take some time to hike over the suspension bridges and take a boat trip into the gorge. Ideally with a guided canoe tour. It's absolutely unique!
TSITSIKAMMA VILLAGE TO MOSSEL BAY (approx. 200 km)
After breakfast, we get back onto the bikes and explore some stunning back roads to George via the Kamanassie road, the historic Montagu Pass and then some lesser- known roads to end in Mossel Bay.
At Botlierskop we have planned a Game Drive in the Big 5 Private Game Reserve. A stunning encouter of Wildlife.
We will check into the hotel, enjoy some local spots and prepare for the Great White Shark experience the next morning.
MOSSEL BAY TO GANSBAAI - SAXON LODGE (approx. 320 km)
In the morning we offer another stunning wildlife encouter in South Africa: The dive with the sharks.
And later today we ride via Swellendamm and Bredasdorp to the direction of Gansbaai. We will have lunch and do the Platbos Forest walk. But just before we arrive we stop at Kleinbaai to see the Shark Cage Diving boats returning from their trip or do some Whale watching and the cave walk.
GANSBAAI TO CAPE TOWN (approx. 190 km)
via Hermanus and Betty Bay we ride back to the Mother City and may stop for the Southern Right Whales in Hermanus and the Penguins in Betty Bay or the beautiful Harold Porter Botanical Garden. The R44 is a spectacular road along the coastline of the False Bay. Just magnificent to ride on the bike.
END OF BIKE TOUR - A DAY IN CAPE TOWN
Time to relax at the V&A Waterfront and enjoy the vibe of this wonderful city.
For those who are interested in Table Mountain, we arrange the trip up.
Or as an option, we hike up Lions Head - the best spot for a glass of wine at sunset.
CAPE TOWN TO AIRPORT AND RETURN TO GERMANY
The transfer will pick us up depending on the outbound flight.
We hope you enjoyed SA and had a fantastic time.
