Tour Route Summary

Tour Route Prices

Tour Route Dates

Tour Route Rough Map

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We do the introductions, get our bikes and kit up, then leave Big Bay via Blouberg beach looking at the view of Table Mountain all the way into Cape Town City, from where we will travel all around the Cape Peninsula looking at all the beautiful Cape Town City points of interest. We pass the V&A waterfront, then on to the beautiful Atlantic ocean beaches of Seapoint, Bantry Bay, Clifton, drive up Signal Hill for a view over the city, then back down to Camps Bay (picture on left), Oudekraal, Llandudno, and into Hout Bay.

From Hout Bay we do the spectacular Chapmans Peak drive stopping to take in the scenery along the way. On past Noordhoek and down to Kommetjie beach. Then through to Scarborough and down to the Cape Point. Along the way you have an excellent chance of seeing baboons, penguins, seals, and many other types of bird and animal life.

After that we are on the warmer Indian ocean side and the route takes us past Smitswinkel, Boulders beach, Simon's Town, Glencairn, Fish Hoek and into Kalk Bay, St. James and Muizenberg.

From there we head out along the beachfront down towards Somerset West, passing and getting a wonderful view over Khayelitsha. We change direction and head inland towards Stellenbosch and into the Cape Winelands where we check into our first nights accommodation. We convene for a dinner and sample the excellent Stellebosch area's wines.

An easy days driving, but rich in viewing and interesting things to see.

Once we leave Stellenbosch we head up the pass to Franschhoek (picture on left), where we find ourselves in another famous wine producing region of the Cape.

We stop for coffee and explore the picturesque town. Then we vist one of the wine farms in the area. From Franschhoek we head up and out on another pass over into the higher mountain areas.

We ride past a large dam called the Theewaterskloof where we get onto our first dirt road for the trip. 30km of nice wide gravel road to ease into it for the trip down to Bot Rivier.

We then get back on tar and aim for the sea, going down out of the winelends and into the Overberg area of Hermanus, where we go for lunch at the Harbour.

After lunch we ride via Stanford and visit its brewery on our way to GansBaai. We explore a large cave on the way. Gansbaai is the home of the "Big 2", white sharks and whales. We check into our accommodation and chill at the beach and explore the town. Later meet up for dinner.

This day is purposely slow and easy going, in order to get that relaxed Africa feeling, to allow nature, the bush, the sea and the sand scapes to slowly immerse themselves into your mind so as to get rid of the stress of daily living. Without this you will not appreciate what is to come.

Leaving Gansbaai we get onto a dirt road and visit a waterfall on the way to the arty village of Napier, where we stop in and have a coffee. After Napier we head off to Pearly beach on dirt road for lunch.

We chill in this off-the-beaten-track village at the beach for a while. Then head along to Elim and explore the historic watermill.

Then off to Arniston beach via Bredasdorp and then back on another dirt road back towards Cape Agulhas (picture on left) and Struisbaai. Here we see where the most southern tip of Africa is and where the Indian and Altlantic oceans meet geographically speaking. There we check in for the night.

This day is designed to get more into the dirt road experience on moderately easy going roads over shorter scenic distances and to take in the beauty of the wilds.

Remember it's all about the journey and the experience not only the destination.

We leave Cape Agulhas on our way to De Hoop Nature reserve (picture on left). We get there and have a coffee in the reserve restaurant. We then drive down to the sea within the reserve and those who want to do short 5 or 8 km seafront walk in the nature reserve can do so, to take in the nature and small bird and mammal wildlife.

Then we head off towards Malgas on the Breede River, but turn off to Cape Infanta first to head down to the whale watching point at the mouth of the Breede river.

On the way back we get back to Malgas where we get a ferry trip on this pontoon across the river, which leaves one with a feeling of nostalgia and also in awe of this incredible river. We have lunch there.

Now for a nice long series of dirt roads zig zagging through the ever more drier and open fields as we head into the sea side part of the Klein Karoo on the way to Stil Baai.

We arrive in the small town of Stil Baai to relax for the evening and rest our weary bones from the dirt roads.

Leaving Stil Baai takes us on more rather dry and dusty dirt roads for a good 80km, through Gouritzmond, Jasons Post until we reach Mossel Bay after which the true "Garden" part of the Garden route hits you.

We make a turn in Mossel Bay for a look around, then head along the coast to George. From George there is a backroad one can take to get to the Wilderness via Sedgefield and it takes you through some beautiful country side.

We look around Sedgefield, down at the beach, around the lakes then head back along the main road to arrive in Wilderness where we first look at the trainline bridge over the lagoon, before finding our accommodation and resting up for the night.

We find a place to have some sundowners looking out over the sea and then a good dinner.

Today you will definitely notice the big contrast from on the one hand, in the morning the dry and dusty rolling deserted hills, into a rather sudden afternoon "Garden" part of the route, with greenery, with bigger more steep hills, green lush forests and blue blue seas. You are now in true Garden route country.

Today we are in for a wonderful dirt road ride from the coast front up into the montains and back along a very windey "Y" shaped route.

We leave the Wilderness and head along a meandering freeway toward Knysna through the hills. Knysna is an awesome place along the route which meets you with a large inland estuary. We spend some time in and around the town, looking at the Heads, the Yacht Mole and various other places of interest.

Then before it is too late, we leave and turn inland towards Avontuur. We wind first through lush greenery, then into rocky gorges (as per the picture on the left) and up on windy mountain dirt roads along the Alfreds Pass until we reach Avontuur.

We turn around at the top and come back down again. A route this exciting is definitly worth a second go, it's too much fun not to! On the return leg we turn off towards Plettenburg Bay and come out at the Keurboomstrand side.

From here we head into the town and find our accommodation. The rest is well deserved. There are some excellent restaurants in the area so later we head out to try one of them out.

Today we gear up and get out to initially explore some of the Plettenberg Bay area, before setting off to our destination for the day. There are some amazing beaches and reserves to look at in the area.

Then we take the main N2 tar road out of town, but soon turn off onto the old road down to a place called Natures Valley which takes you through the old original pass to get into the area through the forest. This is an amazing set of old passes for a bike to drive through on narrow tar through nature.

We then ride on to the Storms River Mouth which is a sea side nature reserve well worth a visit for lunch and a veiw over the crashing waves onto the rocks.

After lunch is a longer ride on the open road, driving with the mountains on one side and the beautiful country and sea on the other. We turn off and do the last 90km on dirt again on one of the lesser travelled roads by most people.

We pass through the small village of Oyster Bay and check out the beach here.

We finally end up in St. Francis Bay and Cape St. Francis. See the picture left of the whole village with its while walls and dark rooves.

As you can tell by the pictures, this more or less concludes the Garden part of the journey as we are now very close to the turning point of Port Elizabeth, but before we head back we cannot leave without taking in the Addo Wildlife reserve where they have all the Big 5.

To do this we take a back road route off the main road routes towards Addo. This takes us into the Karoo and we head for a small village called Steytlerville, via Hankey and Patensie.

While in the area, if anyone is a big surfer and wants to see Jefferies Bay, we are close enough to make a turn there, but generally we have a lot of dirt road, some parts of which are quite challenging, so we need some time to make the journey without rushing it. The journey starts off on tar for the first 60km; we do go through one nice pass just before Hankey. Then we get to a small town of Patensie where we can stop for a bite or a coffee, then onto true Karoo dirt road for the rest of the 100km.

See the picture of this road. Depending upon the time of year it can get quite hot and a few stops are necessary to cool down and have a drink and a rest.

You are now deep in the Karoo and the feeling of wide open spaces for 100's of km is very real here.

Depending upon accommodation availability we will either stay in Steytlerville or move closer to one of the lodges near the Addo. It is good to be as close as possible to get an early start for the game drives tomorrow.

Today we are up early and either have to get the bikes to the game reserve to meet the game drive vehicle or we will get collected. (We cannot use the bikes in this game reserve as it is too dangerous, but there are others where we can.)

We will chill out today and rest the bones from all the riding on the bike. Here we will drive around and see much wildlife of all sorts, shapes and sizes.

If you are lucky you might see all big five, but that very much depends on the time of year and the time of day.

We take this as a bike rest day, because some of the bigger challenges of the ride are yet to come in the following few days; the Baviaanskloof, the Swartberg and the Gamkaskloof are all still ahead of us and each of them is a fantastic ride but hard work and challenging.

We get back to the bikes and head down towards Patensie (where our accommodation is for the night) to be close to the start of the ride for the following day.

Early to bed tonight after sharing stories of the animals, because tomorrow is a big one. We will of course be tired anyway due to the early start and the long day viewing game, but mainly because after a lot of bike riding through the previous days, when you get a day to relax it definitly charges your batteries.

We get up and prepare for a wonderful day out in nature. We start off with a coffee and perhaps a breakfast at the Tolbos in Patensie, depending on where the accommodation was that we stayed at the previous night is located.

The Baviaanskloof Wilderness reserve is one of those places which you feel you are a million miles away from civilization. The whole reserve is about 160km long, but there are many interesting places to stop and absorb the beauty of the place. Either a stop at the top of the mountain passes in the early parts, or once you reach a river or gorge in the latter parts. (See picture left.)

Occasionally a few kudu will run out into the road as the bikes alert them, or you will have to avoid driving over a tortoise in the road making it's slow journey.

If you are a keen observer you will notice all sorts of wildlife, but remember to also watch the road as it can have some challenging places you will have to navigate over.

Finally after driving for what seems forever, we get to the main tar road on the other side of the Baviaanskloof and we head off to a place called Willowmore which is a little Karoo town which will be our home for the evening.

We check in and have a well deserved shower and then relax for the evening over a nice Karoo traditional meal and a few drinks to quench the thirst built up through the day. Not too much however - tomorrw is also a big riding challenge.

Arguably this is one of the best days bike riding of the journey. So much so that it warrants two pictures for the day! (Actually each day should have 100 pictures - it's all awesome!)

We set out from Willowmore and head along a 40km stretch of tar road but soon turn off onto one of those nice long and open dirt roads towards a small village of De Rust which is about 90km away.

We then stop for a coffee and relax a little in the village. After that we drive through and stop at the Meiringspoort Pass with its high rock cliff sides where you can see how the lava from millions of years ago flowed and formed the mountains.

After that another quick stop at a farm stall before heading off for the serious mountain dirt road passes.

We configure the bikes for gravel again and drive up the Swarberg Pass and head towards "Die Hell" a small village at the end of the Gamkaskloof Pass with its many many twists and turns.

Once you arrive here you will definitely feel like you are as far away from civilization as one can get, all through the spectacular beauty of the natural bush. This road was only constructed in the 1960's so before that the residents had to use donkeys along the Gamkas River Gorge but were mostly self sufficient in any case.

We look around at the destination and then after some refreshments, turn around and retrace our steps as there is only one way into this valley.

After a long drive we emerge back out on the tar road and ride into the small hamlet of Prince Alfred for a much needed break and some good food and drink.

Another long and hard day, but well worth it for what is seen and experienced.

Today we explore the town a little before leaving. We then drive up and over the 20km of Swartberg Pass again, on our way out. We aim towards Calitzdorp along more gravel road.

Calitzdorp is our next stop, rated in a book of the Karoo entitled "Timeless Karoo" by Jonathan Deal as "sunny, colourful, friendly, with an underlying air of undiscovered jewels".

From here we travel along the now famous road in the karoo, the R62 tar road, which is the old road down to Cape Town, behind the mountains in the Karoo as opposed to the coastal road of the Garden Route.

On the way we pass a small pub in the middle of nowhere called Ronnies Sex Shop! We also pop into the towns of Barrydale and finally arrive in Montagu for the evening. This town has hot springs. Just the thing to help those now weary bones!

Today is relatively more strenuous with some varying landscapes and road terrains, that vary from easy tar roads to some easy dirt roads all of which go through multiple passes and beautiful natural surroundings.

We leave Bot Rivier and head up into the drier mountains on a dirt road past farms up toward Theewaterskloof dam and then up and back down a pass into Franschhoek. The vegitation as you decend into the valley suddenly changes to something you'd expect to find in a French wineland. We explore the area and pop into a wine farm.

From here we head down another pass into Stellenbosch where we take in one of the well known wine farms. Not much drinking of wine as we have more passes to consider! Leaving Stellenbosch we make our way out through many of the famous South African winelands, towards Tulbach an early dutch settlers town. From there through a pass where baboons roam daily and into the Ceres fruit farms area (apples, peaches, apricots, pears, etc.) of the Cape region. Through another spectacular pass called Mitchells Pass. We then follow a wonderful road that winds though valleys between two mountain ranges for quite some way until we reach yet another pass and head up and over it on a dirt road decending into Citrusdal. We pass rocky mountain and leopard roaming country to get there.

Our accommodation is on one of the farms in the area, where you can feel what it was like to be settler in the Cape back in the 1700's.

Today the scenery changes again to open wheatfield plains, with long open roads and blue water seas with white sand beaches, and many small the fishing villages of the Western Cape.

We head off to Citrusdal, Piketburg, Velddrif and on to St. Helena Bay. Mosly tar roads but an abundance of dirt road to choose from as well, depending on the group dynamic.

We end up at beautiful Paternoster for lunch, where the white fishermans' houses and their colourful fishing boats contrast. Here you could equally feel like you are on a Greek island!

Choose from one of the excellent Fish restaurants in the area for lunch which are all virtually on the beach. After lunch we head down to Langebaan and see the small town along a natural estuary lake. See the many kite surfers here too.

Then we drive though the West Coast National Park to the naturally preserved beach on the far side, where we are more than likely to see a multitude of birdlife and buck of various types. After relaxing on the beach, we head back into Cape Town, passing through Darling into Blouberg again. We drop off the motorbikes in Big Bay and celebrate with a final sundowner at Eden on the Bay.