Geriatrix
Race Dog
Please read this report in conjunction with the articles on "Mountain Passes of South Africa" at the URLs given later, and with the Google Earth track attached as .kml and .kmz files. If some kind and knowledgable person could reformat these track files into a file that can be accessed by GPS units I would be grateful, thank you.
We have been living in George for almost three months now and I have done a bit of riding on the roads between George and Groot Brak. Yesterday I went for a 125km ride to the R328 between Mossel Bay and Outshoorn, the excuse being to find Outeniqua Moon, the farm where the huge charger horses, the Percheron, are bred.
We have had about 90mm of rain and the day was a pleasant temperature, clear sky.
I rode out of town towards the airport, turning at the Red Berry Farm turnoff, and then towards Groot Brak. After a couple of kilometres the road becomes a well maintained dirt road, but a bit wet, more muddy than normal and the potholes were bigger. My Continental TKC80 tyres were very good for most of the circuit, but I would have liked a set with more grip on the steepest sections.
I hope to redo the road in my car so more pictures will appear at some stage.
The Voetpadhoogte pass down into Groot Brak is very pleasant but demands some concentration and there are cyclists who ride on the wrong side of the road so be careful. Through the town and up the hill on Amy Searle St . A few right hand turns going up the hill and a left hand turn and then after about 1km a left turn onto a muddy dirt road.
There was a lot of mud but what a road! Well worth the trouble of getting there. The Dagbreek Pass ( unofficial name ) is a lovely road with steep gradients and plenty of interesting views. Parts of the road are steep and slippery so I needed to concentrate here.
This will lead you to the Moordkuil Pass ( also unofficial - see the descriptions ) with the turn-off at a farm homestead being rather intimidating for me. The T-junction was very, very muddy because of being churned up by traffic and with a moderate uphill start, and so it took me a bit of time to pluck up the courage to take the road. Parts of the road were way beyond my abilities, but for riders who are more able than I it is a road to enjoy. There are muddy sections and steep downhills to the low level bridges and then on the subsequent uphill a section that my bike stalled, and slid backwards on the wet clay despite the brakes being applied. Proper off-raod knobbly tyres would have helped. I had a problem here since I dare not fall, but all was well in the end and I got through the slippery parts until I got to the really steep uphills where the surface had been churned into soft and slippery mud. Here I was too nervous to ride and walked my bike up a section of 1:5 hill with irregular washed away road surface. Exhausting but luckily not too hot today. this was followed by less steep slopes with a dry surface that I could ride. I did not meet any other traffic on this section, but there were fresh tyre tracks so there is some movement.
Eventually I got to Outeniqua Moon and the tar road ( R328 ), which I took to Klein Brak, and the R102 home to George.
This is a circuit to be done by people with greater skill than I when it is wet. I would have found the hills manageable if they had been dry but the gradients would have still needed some thought.
There are some low level bridges that would be dangerous if the rivers were flowing more strongly.
The total distance was about 124km.
https://www.outeniquamoon.co.za
https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/western-cape/item/699-voetpadhoogte-pass-p1599.html
https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/western-cape/item/704-dagbreek-pass-blesbok-road-p1607.html
https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/western-cape/item/705-moordkuilrivier-pass.html
We have been living in George for almost three months now and I have done a bit of riding on the roads between George and Groot Brak. Yesterday I went for a 125km ride to the R328 between Mossel Bay and Outshoorn, the excuse being to find Outeniqua Moon, the farm where the huge charger horses, the Percheron, are bred.
We have had about 90mm of rain and the day was a pleasant temperature, clear sky.
I rode out of town towards the airport, turning at the Red Berry Farm turnoff, and then towards Groot Brak. After a couple of kilometres the road becomes a well maintained dirt road, but a bit wet, more muddy than normal and the potholes were bigger. My Continental TKC80 tyres were very good for most of the circuit, but I would have liked a set with more grip on the steepest sections.
I hope to redo the road in my car so more pictures will appear at some stage.
The Voetpadhoogte pass down into Groot Brak is very pleasant but demands some concentration and there are cyclists who ride on the wrong side of the road so be careful. Through the town and up the hill on Amy Searle St . A few right hand turns going up the hill and a left hand turn and then after about 1km a left turn onto a muddy dirt road.
There was a lot of mud but what a road! Well worth the trouble of getting there. The Dagbreek Pass ( unofficial name ) is a lovely road with steep gradients and plenty of interesting views. Parts of the road are steep and slippery so I needed to concentrate here.
This will lead you to the Moordkuil Pass ( also unofficial - see the descriptions ) with the turn-off at a farm homestead being rather intimidating for me. The T-junction was very, very muddy because of being churned up by traffic and with a moderate uphill start, and so it took me a bit of time to pluck up the courage to take the road. Parts of the road were way beyond my abilities, but for riders who are more able than I it is a road to enjoy. There are muddy sections and steep downhills to the low level bridges and then on the subsequent uphill a section that my bike stalled, and slid backwards on the wet clay despite the brakes being applied. Proper off-raod knobbly tyres would have helped. I had a problem here since I dare not fall, but all was well in the end and I got through the slippery parts until I got to the really steep uphills where the surface had been churned into soft and slippery mud. Here I was too nervous to ride and walked my bike up a section of 1:5 hill with irregular washed away road surface. Exhausting but luckily not too hot today. this was followed by less steep slopes with a dry surface that I could ride. I did not meet any other traffic on this section, but there were fresh tyre tracks so there is some movement.
Eventually I got to Outeniqua Moon and the tar road ( R328 ), which I took to Klein Brak, and the R102 home to George.
This is a circuit to be done by people with greater skill than I when it is wet. I would have found the hills manageable if they had been dry but the gradients would have still needed some thought.
There are some low level bridges that would be dangerous if the rivers were flowing more strongly.
The total distance was about 124km.
https://www.outeniquamoon.co.za
https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/western-cape/item/699-voetpadhoogte-pass-p1599.html
https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/western-cape/item/704-dagbreek-pass-blesbok-road-p1607.html
https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/western-cape/item/705-moordkuilrivier-pass.html
