September 25, 2023 Comments (0) Cape Peninsula, Winelands & Whales

Chilled Spring Garden Route 4 Days

4 Days of scenic chilled riding through the Cape Garden Route and Great Karoo.

The Western Cape and in particular the Garden Route is always a beautiful place to visit on a motorcycle. Add the spring flowers and fresh green vegetation and you have something truly special.

We are gifted with endless choices of routes, from sublime asphalt roads to testing off-road tracks and everything in-between. For this tour my guests were two up on a rental BMW GS1250 and we chose a mix of scenic asphalt and easy gravel tracks.

Day 1.

Day one took us along the legendary Clarence Drive road with mind blowing views and endless curves hugging the ocean to our lunch stop in Hermanus. More beautiful roads passing through the quaint hamlet of Elim on route to the southern most tip of Africa at Cape Agulhas. After straddling the meeting line of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans we spent a relaxing night at the Arniston Hotel and Spa. As always great views and food to compliment the show stopper sea views from the hotel.

Day 2.

Our second day was a shorter gravel day through the yellow flowering canola fields and a ferry ride across the mighty Breede River for a lunch on the ocean in Mossel Bay and then a short hop to the luxurious Botlierskop Private Game Reserve in time for a three hour game drive. Elephant, rhino, giraffe, hippos, numerous antelope but sadly the lions were shy today. A pod of cheetahs however made up for that.

Day 3.

Day three was a visual feast with some of the finest roads you’ll ever encounter on two wheels. The first two on asphalt, Robinson Pass (twisty delight) and Meiringspoort (epic gorge). After a lunch in the beautiful Karoo village of Prince Albert we headed up Swartberg Pass, the finest gravel pass in South Africa. And my personal favourite, Seweweekspoort. The poor (gorge) is twisting track through the Swartberg Mountain range with 23 river crossings that links the Coastal Garden Route with the arid Great Karoo. Late afternoon the sun glows deep orange on the high sandstone cliffs. Truly epic. And then icing on the day’s cake the tricky but beautiful decent to our lodge in the Boschluyskloof Private Nature Reserve. A remote luxurious gem with beautiful chalets and awesome attention to detail.

Day 4.

We headed back to Cape Town through the Karoo on easy asphalt and gravel roads with expansive views and semi desert vegetation. Although the beautiful blue skies abandoned us as we approached Bainskloof Mountain Pass the gentle rain only enhanced the beauty of this feat of road engineering. A beautiful curvy mountain pass that delivered us back to the Cape Winelands with stunning vistas, rivers and waterfalls.

I am so blessed to live in one of the most beautiful regions in the world and it’s always a pleasure and privilege to share it with appreciative guests.