Hankeeb
Pack Dog
So my fiancé and I decided to give this adventure bike thing a go. Being avid mountain biker’s adventure is kind off in our blood, doing weekends away on the bike, exploring new places to ride, spending hours out in nature enjoying what it has to offer.
After months of shopping around we decided the weapon of choice will be a BMW F650GS Dakar. We bought one and started shopping around for all the essentials needed to be safe and not break the bank. All that and December holidays dawning on us we decided to give it a go and get our hands dirty...so to say.
We planned a day trip with some mountain passes, scenic routes, nice places to eat and things to do and see.
We started off in the most beautiful town in South Africa...our home town Stellenbosch.
Heading out early morning for our first coffee stop is where we start out.
Up on Helshoogte pass on Stellenbosch side and down via Pniel. Turn right to Franschhoek and just a few km's outside town you will find a small coffee roastery named Terbodore. With this being one of our favourite coffee stops we had to pop in.
From there we take a slow drive through town and out the back going up Franschhoek pass where we stop for a photo and to appreciate the view.
Down the back of Franschhoek pass we start seeing Theewaterskloof dam.
We planned our route to go via the Aphrodisiac Shack Smokehouse just outside Villiersdorp. They are known for smoking about anything possible and we really looked forward to spending some time there learning more about smoked meats, smoked salt, smoked...well about anything smoked.
When we approached the smoke house I could see the smoke from the road but that was not the smoke I was hoping for. When we stopped we were shocked to find the smoke house literally in smoke. The neighbour told us that the smoke house burnt down the night before.
The sad thing is that the owners were not there when it happened, they are not South African citizens and they lost everything, even their passports. They also did not have any insurance so they pretty much lost everything.
The good news however is that it was their house that burnt down and that the smokehouse survived the blaze.
So no smoked meats or any of those nice things for us.
On that note I would just like to say good luck to the owners and I hope they can rebuild their business and house and have a successful future ahead of them.
Leaving the smokehouse one of the local farm dogs thought the Dakar was growling at it and as we pull off it took a few bites at Arné (My fiancé) boot landing a few teeth marks on them.
Was a good laugh on the road out.
We took a quick fuel stop and headed out on the R321 around Theewaterskloof damn.
Getting to this point of our adventure is where we got to the realisation that this is where the real adventure starts...off-road.
Taking the turn off to Draaiberg that we would use to lead us into our next pass.
Van der Stel pass is a very interesting pass to drive, very flat but nice and long. 17km of twisty dirt roads with some scenic views will make the adventurous at heart very happy.
We only got a few cars on the pass but spotting one more 2 wheeled rider was a welcome sight.
Winding our way through the pass enjoying what it has to offer we finally got to the end of it. Taking a slow drive through Botrivier heading out to our next stop….Honingklip.
Honingklip is a must stop for anyone with a taste for good craft beer and some of the best sausages I have ever had. There is something for everyone here. A place for the kids to play, the most playful and loving Labradors, dedicated under cover parking for your bike, mountain bike trails and many more.
We decided to do our main fuel stop in Kleinmond at the Sasol garage in the main road. On our way there it started raining a fair bit. The engineer in me is strong so I always look for the best smartphone apps to keep tabs on my bikes, motorbikes, fuel economy and so on so it was just natural for me to log my fuel economy at the fill up.
So leaving a soaking wet Kleinmond we headed to the most tech part of our ride namely, Highlands pass. This is not a very well-known road but being a mountain biker means that we look for places where others don’t. Highlands pass (not sure if this is really a pass) is a pretty rough gravel road running from the coast up the back of the Mount Hebron Nature reserve. It is short, steep and pretty loose and slippery in places. With the rain making things a bit more exciting we took it slow to not have any side stand incidents.
This little gem of a road leads you into the back of the Elgin valley, one of our favourite areas to visit. From there a quick stop to just check the map and clean off the visors.
Our next stop is a quaint little restaurant for coffee and something sweet after the rain. Fred & Max was the place to stop. There we had a lovely piece of carrot cake and a well-made cuppachino. They converted the old train station into a wine tasting room and a restaurant.
We also popped in next door at the wine tasting room to buy some pear and apple ciders to take home.
From there we set out on the Villiersdorp road again via Viljoen’s pass. As we came over the pass the weather started to clear up and we were in for some sunny weather on the trip home. Just one more hairpin to go that any rally driver would love to go sideways around.
Going through Vyeboom was so quick we almost missed it. Must be one of the smallest towns in the Western Cape.
One last stop to check the map. Taking one more backroad to get us back to Theewaterskloof damn.
Heading back to Franschhoek again we encountered some serious wind blowing us all over the road. By now we have had all 4 seasons in one day! Just shows you what this beautiful country has to offer.
So our trip came to an end going back via Franschhoek and over Helshoogte pass again back into Stellenbosch. Of course not without incident, as Arné got stung by a bee on the way out of Pniel.
All in all our first experience was well to say the least awesome! 285km done and a few more places we can tick off our list.
After months of shopping around we decided the weapon of choice will be a BMW F650GS Dakar. We bought one and started shopping around for all the essentials needed to be safe and not break the bank. All that and December holidays dawning on us we decided to give it a go and get our hands dirty...so to say.
We planned a day trip with some mountain passes, scenic routes, nice places to eat and things to do and see.
We started off in the most beautiful town in South Africa...our home town Stellenbosch.
Heading out early morning for our first coffee stop is where we start out.
Up on Helshoogte pass on Stellenbosch side and down via Pniel. Turn right to Franschhoek and just a few km's outside town you will find a small coffee roastery named Terbodore. With this being one of our favourite coffee stops we had to pop in.
From there we take a slow drive through town and out the back going up Franschhoek pass where we stop for a photo and to appreciate the view.
Down the back of Franschhoek pass we start seeing Theewaterskloof dam.
We planned our route to go via the Aphrodisiac Shack Smokehouse just outside Villiersdorp. They are known for smoking about anything possible and we really looked forward to spending some time there learning more about smoked meats, smoked salt, smoked...well about anything smoked.
When we approached the smoke house I could see the smoke from the road but that was not the smoke I was hoping for. When we stopped we were shocked to find the smoke house literally in smoke. The neighbour told us that the smoke house burnt down the night before.
The sad thing is that the owners were not there when it happened, they are not South African citizens and they lost everything, even their passports. They also did not have any insurance so they pretty much lost everything.
The good news however is that it was their house that burnt down and that the smokehouse survived the blaze.
So no smoked meats or any of those nice things for us.
On that note I would just like to say good luck to the owners and I hope they can rebuild their business and house and have a successful future ahead of them.
Leaving the smokehouse one of the local farm dogs thought the Dakar was growling at it and as we pull off it took a few bites at Arné (My fiancé) boot landing a few teeth marks on them.
Was a good laugh on the road out.We took a quick fuel stop and headed out on the R321 around Theewaterskloof damn.
Getting to this point of our adventure is where we got to the realisation that this is where the real adventure starts...off-road.
Taking the turn off to Draaiberg that we would use to lead us into our next pass.
Van der Stel pass is a very interesting pass to drive, very flat but nice and long. 17km of twisty dirt roads with some scenic views will make the adventurous at heart very happy.
We only got a few cars on the pass but spotting one more 2 wheeled rider was a welcome sight.
Winding our way through the pass enjoying what it has to offer we finally got to the end of it. Taking a slow drive through Botrivier heading out to our next stop….Honingklip.
Honingklip is a must stop for anyone with a taste for good craft beer and some of the best sausages I have ever had. There is something for everyone here. A place for the kids to play, the most playful and loving Labradors, dedicated under cover parking for your bike, mountain bike trails and many more.
We decided to do our main fuel stop in Kleinmond at the Sasol garage in the main road. On our way there it started raining a fair bit. The engineer in me is strong so I always look for the best smartphone apps to keep tabs on my bikes, motorbikes, fuel economy and so on so it was just natural for me to log my fuel economy at the fill up.
So leaving a soaking wet Kleinmond we headed to the most tech part of our ride namely, Highlands pass. This is not a very well-known road but being a mountain biker means that we look for places where others don’t. Highlands pass (not sure if this is really a pass) is a pretty rough gravel road running from the coast up the back of the Mount Hebron Nature reserve. It is short, steep and pretty loose and slippery in places. With the rain making things a bit more exciting we took it slow to not have any side stand incidents.
This little gem of a road leads you into the back of the Elgin valley, one of our favourite areas to visit. From there a quick stop to just check the map and clean off the visors.
Our next stop is a quaint little restaurant for coffee and something sweet after the rain. Fred & Max was the place to stop. There we had a lovely piece of carrot cake and a well-made cuppachino. They converted the old train station into a wine tasting room and a restaurant.
We also popped in next door at the wine tasting room to buy some pear and apple ciders to take home.
From there we set out on the Villiersdorp road again via Viljoen’s pass. As we came over the pass the weather started to clear up and we were in for some sunny weather on the trip home. Just one more hairpin to go that any rally driver would love to go sideways around.
Going through Vyeboom was so quick we almost missed it. Must be one of the smallest towns in the Western Cape.
One last stop to check the map. Taking one more backroad to get us back to Theewaterskloof damn.
Heading back to Franschhoek again we encountered some serious wind blowing us all over the road. By now we have had all 4 seasons in one day! Just shows you what this beautiful country has to offer.
So our trip came to an end going back via Franschhoek and over Helshoogte pass again back into Stellenbosch. Of course not without incident, as Arné got stung by a bee on the way out of Pniel.
All in all our first experience was well to say the least awesome! 285km done and a few more places we can tick off our list.
