Old Postal Route Closed

[2StrokeDan]

Have now planned to do the OPR twice....and bailed both times the day before due to various reasons, so this one will remain on the bucket list indefinitely it seems. Such a shame.

The land owners’ frustration is understandable, and justified if their road is being damaged by weekend warriors. I hope some form of mutually beneficial arrangement will be reached that would allow future use of the route.

I believe that route to have definite financial benefits for a shrewd organiser, but it needs to be the farmer as too many hands will slice profit.
I was planning to still take my wife over it in the car sometime. Shows you, do things, or risk not getting it done.

[dirt rat]

Our pastime passion is becoming a victim of its own success.The growth in numbers of both dualsport riding and 4x4 travel will inevitably lead to more restrictions and regulations.
Even our own forum plays a huge part in accelerating this process.Previously only really dedicated riders would seek out the more obscure routes - now ride reports advertise these routes to all.
Sad but such is life.Even Baviaanskloof is changing all the time -more paving on previously challenging sections with the result that it becomes more accessible to more people.
Don't procrastinate - do the trip now - it may be gone tomorrow.

[VaalBaas]

Have now planned to do the OPR twice....and bailed both times the day before due to various reasons, so this one will remain on the bucket list indefinitely it seems. Such a shame.

The land owners’ frustration is understandable, and justified if their road is being damaged by weekend warriors. I hope some form of mutually beneficial arrangement will be reached that would allow future use of the route.

I believe that route to have definite financial benefits for a shrewd organiser, but it needs to be the farmer as too many hands will slice profit.
I was planning to still take my wife over it in the car sometime. Shows you, do things, or risk not getting it done.

Did the route twice by bike from Tankwa to Biedouw and very glad that me and Vaalnoi did it earlier this year by car the other way over. Had a long chat with Henk that day about me wanting to come and show my son the beauty over a year or 2......

Hopefully there will be a solution to this as in one of the proposals above ....or more hopefully he will remember our conversation

Realy sad about this

[masehare]

Have now planned to do the OPR twice....and bailed both times the day before due to various reasons, so this one will remain on the bucket list indefinitely it seems. Such a shame.

The land owners’ frustration is understandable, and justified if their road is being damaged by weekend warriors. I hope some form of mutually beneficial arrangement will be reached that would allow future use of the route.

I believe that route to have definite financial benefits for a shrewd organiser, but it needs to be the farmer as too many hands will slice profit.
I was planning to still take my wife over it in the car sometime. Shows you, do things, or risk not getting it done.

Remember if a person pays to use a facility he expects some benefit for his money. If he pays, he can now shred up the road and will have a dedicated team on standby to medivac him in case of an accident. Just playing devil's advocate here.

I was also under the impression that this was a public road which might lead some people to think the road is maintained by the local municipality.

Anyway, sad day. Some good memories of trips there.

[Grunder]

Have now planned to do the OPR twice....and bailed both times the day before due to various reasons, so this one will remain on the bucket list indefinitely it seems. Such a shame.

The land owners’ frustration is understandable, and justified if their road is being damaged by weekend warriors. I hope some form of mutually beneficial arrangement will be reached that would allow future use of the route.

I believe that route to have definite financial benefits for a shrewd organiser, but it needs to be the farmer as too many hands will slice profit.
I was planning to still take my wife over it in the car sometime. Shows you, do things, or risk not getting it done.

Remember if a person pays to use a facility he expects some benefit for his money. If he pays, he can now shred up the road and will have a dedicated team on standby to medivac him in case of an accident. Just playing devil's advocate here.

Like people driving rental cars like they stole it!! 

I agree with the "business model" approach to the route.
This way they can then cover the costs for maintenance of the road due to the few.

They're are many of us out there who have respect for the wonders of the world and will keep doing so.


The more pressing matter here is the fact that he mentions its not the real Old Postal Route.... 
So most people who "did" the Old Postal Route now "did" nothing 

[shark_za]

If you want to do the postal route you need to go ride by the river it seems.

[Appel]

If you want to do the postal route you need to go ride by the river it seems.

You're going to have to carry your bike through there. There is no trace of any road/track at all!  Believe me, we've looked.

[Pietertjie]

What is really great is that, reading through ride reports, not a single WD ever contributed to this by not respecting the road and locals, everyone went through at walking pace and chatted fo the farmer.

It is really good to know all of this is because of other people.

[Dux]

What is really great is that, reading through ride reports, not a single WD ever contributed to this by not respecting the road and locals, everyone went through at walking pace and chatted fo the farmer.

It is really good to know all of this is because of other people.

Feeling guilty

[Pietertjie]

What is really great is that, reading through ride reports, not a single WD ever contributed to this by not respecting the road and locals, everyone went through at walking pace and chatted fo the farmer.

It is really good to know all of this is because of other people.

Feeling guilty

Why are you feeling guilty?

[2StrokeDan]

What is really great is that, reading through ride reports, not a single WD ever contributed to this by not respecting the road and locals, everyone went through at walking pace and chatted fo the farmer.

It is really good to know all of this is because of other people.

You sarcastic thing, you!

[Sprocketbek]

I will just have to treasure the memories of the last time I did it 
I rate it as the best route ever in WC 

http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=67389.msg1379887#msg1379887

Sorry about the Photobucket spoiler... 

[Dux]

I will just have to treasure the memories of the last time I did it 
I rate it as the best route ever in WC 

I agree wholeheartedly

 

What is really great is that, reading through ride reports, not a single WD ever contributed to this by not respecting the road and locals, everyone went through at walking pace and chatted fo the farmer.

It is really good to know all of this is because of other people.

Feeling guilty

Why are you feeling guilty?

Nope , not at all , anyone that had ridden with me knows  the way I ride , if I want to be windgat I will ride an enduro bike on a designated track as will most of the riders I know . When you ride with some of the guys here you realise it is very possible to ride fast without sliding , spinning etc and actually doing no more damage than someone riding slowly . In most cases the scenery dictates the pace not the speed of the bike/rider .
Talking to the farmer , yes , when the man opens the gate for you the courteous thing to do is to have a chat , believe me , with some of the forum members it is impossible for them not to , the trick is to get a word in yourself .

[ultraflight]

For those that doubt that this is a private road, here is the current map direct from the WC Roads Department of all official public roads.
You will see that only the western portion is a public road. The Eastern portion is all private road.
So essentially this is no longer a through road.
The dotted line along the right-hand edge, separates the Western Cape (shaded green) from the Northern Cape (white).
You can check for yourself here:
https://rnis.westerncape.gov.za/rnis/map.main

[espresso]

Hi Ultraflight, how can one look at these maps as an overlay with a map with place names (Towns, road names?)
It's really difficult to find what is where?

[ultraflight]

Sorry, but that is the only version they provide.  You need to be familiar with the roads to identify them.
When exploring an unfamiliar area, I put that map on one screen, and T4A on another screen and use that to locate the roads I seek.
In the top-right-hand corner (on a PC, slide the horizontal bar all the way over to the right), you can switch off the smaller roads, then you can start with just the highways, pan and zoom to an area of interest, then start enabling the smaller roads until you find the one you seek.

In the past, they had labels, but those seem to have disappeared, probably because it got too cluttered.

They had a much better map which highlighted all the gravel roads, colour-coded by current condition, at:
https://rnis.westerncape.gov.za/rnis/kml_jobs_display.draw_map?p_job_id=5
However that project seems to have been abandoned, which is a great pity.  Again you need to scroll all the way to the far top-right to switch on layers according to condition.

[espresso]

If I look on the map, it shows the Old Postal Route as a minor road.  Does this mean that it's a private road?

[ultraflight]

Which map? The one I posted above?
Henk’s father had a portion of the road proclaimed, thereby converting that section only, to a public road.
It is definitely not a through road.
The authorities have been there only once ever, shortly after the road was proclaimed, and have not done any road maintenance since then. It has fallen onto the three landowners along that stretch to maintain and repair the “public” road, at great effort and expense to themselves. The portion of road that is private, is now very definitely closed to the public, which means the Old Postal Route as we know it, is no longer accessible.
There will be signboards erected very soon declaring the road private property, no access without permission.
There will also be signs at the beginning of the public road warning that there is no way through to the other side, to save people the time, stress & effort of having to turn around much deeper in.

[ultraflight]

Our group met with Henk Bakker on Saturday as planned.
He is not unreasonable at all.
After experiencing the deterioration of the road for ourselves, it is clear that there has been extensive damage in places.
Karretjies Pass is now in a dangerous condition.
There is no doubt that the volume of traffic through there has grown to unreasonable levels that the road simply cannot sustain.
We encountered three 4x4 heading Westward (after getting very lost) and one Swiss couple heading Eastward. Apparently even weekdays now sees much tourists passing through in 4x4 or on bikes.
This is the unfortunate consequence of the route becoming well known as the news spread of its existence.

Realise that these landowners need to use that route to get their produce to market, to go buy supplies and to fetch their children from boarding school for weekends. They have every right to close off the private portion of the route, to protect their own rights and access to the outside world.

For now, we have to accept that this route will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
Henk did mention that they might relook at limited access possibilities sometime in the future.
We shall stay in touch and hopeful that once things quieten down, some form of arrangements can be made for controlled and limited access.

[Hondsekierie]

Duidelik het daardie boere te veel geld 

Ek sou baie mooi geld gemaak het met die ou klomp oortreders wat so graag daar wil ry.  En vir die internasionale toeriste sou ek die rand sommer omgedraai het in dollars of euros.  Dan bou ek n mooi ou oornagplekkie waar ek die die ouens nog verder kon laat betaal het om my mooi pad te kom ry. 

Ek glo daar is egter klaar operateurs wat hierdie, kom ons noem dit konsessiegeleentheid, oorweeg.  Geen admin vir die boer wat sy geld kan tel terwyl hy op die stoep sit  Solank hulle net nie besluit om daai pad te teer met al die winste 

(Darem self die geleentheid gehad om daardie pad te kon ry, nooit geweet dit was privaat pad/grond, maar so leer ons.  O ja, en niks paaie of lande stukkend gespin nie)