SirGravellot
Pack Dog
So, there I was, 9 am on a Saturday, standing at Honda George....waiting for other EcoNation riders to join me on a ± 260 km roundtrip to Rust-en-Vrede Waterfall on the Oude Muragie gravel road between De Rust and the Cango Caves.
The terrain: 94% Sec. Gravel; 6% Tar. Picnic lunch at the waterfallâ?¦.irresistible you would thinkâ?¦well apparently not. Nobody pitched. Go figure! ???
So to hell with it Iâ??ll ride alone I decided. The Lone Ranger and Tonto ride again! O0
The route should have been basically this:
Montagu Pass (1848) â?? Paardepoort â?? then next to Kammanassie Mountain Range: Daskop â?? Elandskraal - Koutjie â?? through Dyselsdorp - then skirting Swartberg Mountains: Odemuragie â?? Grootkruis - Kleinkruis - Rust-en-Vrede Waterfall â?? Picnic â?? Gatplaas â?? Vergelegen â?? Dyselsdorp â?? Kammanassie Dam - Heimersrivier â?? Paardepoort - Montagu Pass (1848) â?? Cactus Cantina Pub
So, instead I decided to do a shorter roundtrip to Dyselsdorp and back. Wow â?? I wasnâ??t expecting the day to turn out this nice.
Iâ??ve been through the Montagu Pass probably a thousand times (exaggerating of course) â?¦but this time I stopped at a spot Iâ??ve never stopped before. Just after the Keurtjie bridge I passed a mountain biker and he gestured up the pass so as to warn me of other bikers. I slowed and stopped for the mountain bikers coming down. When I looked up I suddenly saw the â??newâ? Outeniqua Pass between the trees. What a picture I thought â?? â??Oldâ? and â??Newâ? in one pic â?? nice.
I went up the pass quite quickly and only stopped at the top. This pic was taken from the top of Montagu Pass down the valley towards Herold.
Coming into Paardepoort I stopped at this old abandoned house/shack/stable-thingyâ?¦Pure Paardepoort Historyâ?¦.I wandered who once lived here?
After Paardepoort I turned off and tackled some long straights of the Klein Karoo and enjoyed the incredible vistas with the backdrop of the Swartberg- and Kammanassie Mountain ranges on the distant horizon.
I was excited to be riding so close to the Kammanassie Mountain Range. The next pic was taken back towards Daskop at the foot of the Kammanassie Mountain Range.
From here I skirted the Kammanassie and stumbled upon some stunning vistas:
(Looking towards Oudtshoorn)
Trailrider â?? the next two pics are facing the â??Moeder van alle kloweâ?â??s side entrance. >
Just before I reached Dyselsdorp the clouds where rolling over the Swartberg Mountains on the horizon:
Dyselsdorp is a primarily colored community with awesome scenic views all around the little town. I took the first road into Dyselsdorp and zigzagged through many pedestrian-busy streets before I ended up on the â??mainâ? road coming from the Kammanassie Dam side. The next two pictures where taken from Dyselsdorp towards the Swartberg Mountains to the North and North-West respectively:
This is a picture of (one of) the main Churches in Dyselsdorp.
Stairway to Heaven?
Right, time to head back home. The next pic was taken back towards Dyselsdorp on the Kammanassie rd.
After a near fall caused by a huge â??poolâ? of fine white powder I stopped to take this. The different colors you see along the way are just amazing. Hereâ??s a brilliant red Konglomerate wall in Hottomâ??s Kloof.
Looking back towards the Kammanassie Dam:
I stopped and bought a cold drink at the best (and only) shop in Herold and was once again amazed at what beauty surrounded me. These inhabitants of a little farm community see this every day, and I could not stop myself from wondering if they still appreciated itâ?¦.:
Thatâ??s the Outeniqua Mountain Range in the background and to be more specific - Cradockâ??s Peak.
The next picture summed up the whole day for me; which was almost a spiritual experience (like most times) â?? A Church â?? a â??Windpompâ? and my favorite road-sign â?? Amen. ;D
Just one last photo coming down the Montagu Pass â?? looking at Losberg:
If you have Google Earth installed and want to peek where Dyselsdorp is, you can download this Google Earth .kmz file and open it.
https://www.22south.com/images/Dyselsdorp.kmz
The terrain: 94% Sec. Gravel; 6% Tar. Picnic lunch at the waterfallâ?¦.irresistible you would thinkâ?¦well apparently not. Nobody pitched. Go figure! ???
So to hell with it Iâ??ll ride alone I decided. The Lone Ranger and Tonto ride again! O0
The route should have been basically this:
Montagu Pass (1848) â?? Paardepoort â?? then next to Kammanassie Mountain Range: Daskop â?? Elandskraal - Koutjie â?? through Dyselsdorp - then skirting Swartberg Mountains: Odemuragie â?? Grootkruis - Kleinkruis - Rust-en-Vrede Waterfall â?? Picnic â?? Gatplaas â?? Vergelegen â?? Dyselsdorp â?? Kammanassie Dam - Heimersrivier â?? Paardepoort - Montagu Pass (1848) â?? Cactus Cantina Pub
So, instead I decided to do a shorter roundtrip to Dyselsdorp and back. Wow â?? I wasnâ??t expecting the day to turn out this nice.
Iâ??ve been through the Montagu Pass probably a thousand times (exaggerating of course) â?¦but this time I stopped at a spot Iâ??ve never stopped before. Just after the Keurtjie bridge I passed a mountain biker and he gestured up the pass so as to warn me of other bikers. I slowed and stopped for the mountain bikers coming down. When I looked up I suddenly saw the â??newâ? Outeniqua Pass between the trees. What a picture I thought â?? â??Oldâ? and â??Newâ? in one pic â?? nice.
I went up the pass quite quickly and only stopped at the top. This pic was taken from the top of Montagu Pass down the valley towards Herold.
Coming into Paardepoort I stopped at this old abandoned house/shack/stable-thingyâ?¦Pure Paardepoort Historyâ?¦.I wandered who once lived here?
After Paardepoort I turned off and tackled some long straights of the Klein Karoo and enjoyed the incredible vistas with the backdrop of the Swartberg- and Kammanassie Mountain ranges on the distant horizon.
I was excited to be riding so close to the Kammanassie Mountain Range. The next pic was taken back towards Daskop at the foot of the Kammanassie Mountain Range.
From here I skirted the Kammanassie and stumbled upon some stunning vistas:
(Looking towards Oudtshoorn)
Trailrider â?? the next two pics are facing the â??Moeder van alle kloweâ?â??s side entrance. >
Just before I reached Dyselsdorp the clouds where rolling over the Swartberg Mountains on the horizon:
Dyselsdorp is a primarily colored community with awesome scenic views all around the little town. I took the first road into Dyselsdorp and zigzagged through many pedestrian-busy streets before I ended up on the â??mainâ? road coming from the Kammanassie Dam side. The next two pictures where taken from Dyselsdorp towards the Swartberg Mountains to the North and North-West respectively:
This is a picture of (one of) the main Churches in Dyselsdorp.
Stairway to Heaven?
Right, time to head back home. The next pic was taken back towards Dyselsdorp on the Kammanassie rd.
After a near fall caused by a huge â??poolâ? of fine white powder I stopped to take this. The different colors you see along the way are just amazing. Hereâ??s a brilliant red Konglomerate wall in Hottomâ??s Kloof.
Looking back towards the Kammanassie Dam:
I stopped and bought a cold drink at the best (and only) shop in Herold and was once again amazed at what beauty surrounded me. These inhabitants of a little farm community see this every day, and I could not stop myself from wondering if they still appreciated itâ?¦.:
Thatâ??s the Outeniqua Mountain Range in the background and to be more specific - Cradockâ??s Peak.
The next picture summed up the whole day for me; which was almost a spiritual experience (like most times) â?? A Church â?? a â??Windpompâ? and my favorite road-sign â?? Amen. ;D
Just one last photo coming down the Montagu Pass â?? looking at Losberg:
If you have Google Earth installed and want to peek where Dyselsdorp is, you can download this Google Earth .kmz file and open it.
https://www.22south.com/images/Dyselsdorp.kmz