Distance: 170km / 105ml (100% tar) 4 to 5 hours Level 1

After collecting the motorbikes and completing the necessary paperwork, we ride the entire Cape Peninsula, southwards through the coastal towns of Muizenberg, Fish Hoek and Simonstown stopping for a dockside lunch in Kalk Bay along the way. The Cape Point Nature Reserve, Misty Cliffs and Chapmans Peak will astound you with their beauty. The last leg of the route takes you along the Atlantic Seaboard, from Lllandudno, through Camps Bay and Sea Point and a sunset ride up Signal Hill. Dinner will be at the V&A Waterfront.

Distance: 280km/170ml (60% tar 40% gravel) 5 hours Level 2

After breakfast at the hotel, the first part of the route takes you through the Cape countryside to Wellington followed by a spectacular ride that meanders up the Bainskloof Pass to Ceres where we stop for a refuel and light lunch. Leaving Ceres it’s a warm welcome to the gravel, the wide, hard gravel road heads deep into the Karoo, and fortunately no thick sand. After 90 miles of undulating gravel you arrive to experience a true sense of Africa and an overnight tented camp complete with a uniquely South African bar and restaurant. This is the first night under the myriad of stars that adorn the African skies.

Distance: 400km/240ml (80% gravel 20% tar) 8 hours Level 2/3

It’s an early start today, where the first part of the journey takes us through the Tankwa Karoo Nature Reserve, keeping a look out for ostrich and herds of springbok along the way. After 100 miles of good gravel and we take a coffee/tea break in the Victorian Village of Matjiesfontein before a short stretch of tar road to Laignsberg. Then we ride the infamous Seweweekspoort to Calitzdorp for lunch. From Calitzdorp we take on the backroads through the Gamkaskloof Nature Reserve before traversing the picturesque 18 miles of the Swartberg Pass. As the African sun threatens the horizon we roll into Prince Albert where dinner is a traditional South African barbeque (braai) around an open fire.

Distance: 230km/140ml (40% gravel 60% tar) 4 hours Level 2 (with an optional 2km of Level 4)

After yesterday’s long day in the saddle, we start the day after a leisurely breakfast with a fast tar section to the Meiringspoort Pass that meanders through sheer cliffs and over a multitude of clear water stream bridges. After a coffee/light lunch break at the quaint village of De Rust we continue westwards to Willowmore to refuel before heading back onto the gravel for 60 miles into the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve. Our accommodation sits high up in the mountains, the driveway to the lodge offers riders a short but extremely technical riding experience (Level 4), alternatively riders can drive up in the courtesy truck that is on standby. Dinner is around the open fire on the pool deck, once again under the starlit African sky.

Distance: 180km/110ml (50% tar 50% gravel) - 6 hours Level 3/4

Leaving the lodge after a light breakfast we head into the most challenging and memorable part of the trip that includes a couple of shallow water crossings and a fairly deep river section. We then climb out of the valley up a narrow two track road littered with loose stones and partial cement path, this 2 mile mountain pass section tests your concentration and proves a real test for even the most experienced of gravel riders. We will have a packed lunch on the plateau section of the Baviaanskloof. After a further 70 miles, and approximately 3 hours later we arrive at the farming village of Patensie for a well-earned coffee/tea break afternoon tea. We then take to the tar road and head to our overnight accommodation in the seaside village of St Francis Bay to reflect on a truly memorable day of riding.

Distance: 250km/150ml (60% tar 40% gravel) - 4 hours Level 2

After such a big day we start today at a slower pace. We wave goodbye to this idyllic coastal town referred to as ‘little Venice’, famed for its white walled thatched homes that sit astride a network of man-made canals and waterways and head along a 30 mile gravel section before joining the national road that leads us on a fast ride to the seaside playground of Plettenberg Bay. Lunch on the Lookout Deck that is famous for its gastronomic seafood splendour. After lunch we head into the Keurboomsrivier State Forest on a narrow gravel lane that meanders through the tall trees for 50 miles and ends in the coastal town of Knysna, this section of the ride will be one to remember! Hotel accommodation and dinner in the beautiful waterfront area of the Knysna Quays.

Distance: 220km/130miles (60% gravel 40% tar) 5 hours Level 3

From Knysna we head back into the mountains via the State Forest gravel road to the Garden Route town of George. Framed by the Outeniqua Mountains, forests, rivers and picturesque farmlands we take a coffee stop before we head up the single track that is the Montagu Pass. It is then onwards to Oudtshoorn ‘the Ostrich capital of the world’ along the Karoo backroads. After lunch in Oudtshoorn we take a visit to one of the nearby Ostrich farms and a popular crocodile park. We will be staying at a lodge near the 20 million year old Cango Caves a series of hidden chambers cut deep into a thick limestone rock layer, where we will pay a short visit before dinner.

Distance: 250km/155 miles (50% tar 50% gravel) 6 hours Level 2

From Oudtshoorn we ride along the Kruisrivierpoort pass to the famous Route 62 and on to the village of Barrydale for a light lunch. From Barrydale to our overnight in Swellendam we drop down the sweeping tar road of the 16km Tradouw Pass, one of the most scenic in the Western Cape. Accommodation is at a beautiful country lodge with dinner at a restaurant in an old Cape Dutch farmhouse voted one of the best in South Africa (thus the light lunch).

Distance: 240km/145ml 6 hours Level 2

From Swellendam we head coastwards on the gravel roads to the most Southern tip of Africa at L’Agulhas, where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. Long undulating roads rise and fall through the vast open farmlands all the way to the coastline. Lunch will be at a seafood café in the seaside village of Struisbaai. The afternoon ride to our overnight accommodation in Hermanus is a mix of easy gravel and tar roads that snake along the coastline. Dinner at one of the many restaurants on the beachfront where we will keep an eye out for whales in the bay, famed as one of the best whale watching spots in South Africa.

Distance: 200km/120ml – 5 hours Level 1

Leaving Hermanus we take the gravel backroads to Theewaterskloof Dam whereafter we bid farewell to the gravel and ride the scenic Franschhoek Pass into the French Huguenot town of the same name. We will have lunch at one of the quaint cafés before a short ride to the centre of the Cape Winelands, Stellenbosch. We then ride back to into Cape Town along the False Bay coastline – the road hugs the beach all the way to Muizenberg and is a fitting end your time in the Western Cape. After dropping off the bikes we will return to the hotel before a farewell dinner at the V&A Waterfront.

Distance:

Extend your stay or spend the day in Cape Town before your evening flight home. We can arrange various activities during the day such as a wine tour and tasting in the Constantia Wine Farm region, cable car up Table Mountain, shopping at the V&A Waterfront, various art and history museums or simply spend the day at leisure resting before the long flight home.