DD650
Race Dog
Well, work and going to Madagascar kept me a bit busy, but I finally had time to start this ride report. 
From a number of weekends and short trips to the beautiful Western Cape Province and numerous ride reports about the area, we decided that we needed a longer trip to the fairest Cape so we could explore all these roads ourselves. We knew the BMW Bikefest and lots of public holidays were coming up in April, so we opted to stay home in December, safe up some leave and make a nice looooong holiday! The plan was to go down 2 weeks before the Bikefest and ride as many passes (tar and dirt) as we can.
Pretoria to Cape Town / Paarl
We started off our trip on Sunday 10 April when we loaded our bikes on the Premier Classe train to Cape Town. The trip started with a 2 hour delay after they had to replace one of the carriages, but hey, what is 2 hours out of a 3 week holiday! And we were on vacation after all so we were not worried too much. Even spending an extra 2 hours on the train wasn’t a problem!
The Premier Classe was a great experience! I think most kids were just fascinated by trains, especially the old steam trains. This journey on the train brought back a lot of memories from growing up and reminded me a lot of bygone eras when train rides were romantic expeditions into the unknown. It is like you are in your own little cocoon watching the world and life go by. We saw farmers busy with their daily tasks, children going to school, workers fixing roads, other workers putting in more cables, women going shopping or people just on their way to some unknown destiny.
Sunrise
We passed numerous old, abandoned and dilapidated stations. Some broken down almost completely; others still almost intact but without windows or doors. Names like Deelfontein, Lietjiesbos and Biesiespoort flashed by, making me wonder what life was like on these little stations when trains still stopped there regularly to fill up with water and other provisions. We saw a lot of old block houses still used during the Boer wars and even a very well kept old graveyard. The Karoo was beautiful and green with lots of pools of water next to the road. We even saw a number of Springbok, Blesbok and white Blesbok.
Views from the train
Life inside the train was a very relaxed affair – chatting, sleeping and eating the best food! The most delicious 3 to 5 course meals! And best of all, we did a very informative recce for doing a trip all along the railway service roads! It was quite fun working out a nice dirt route all along the tracks! Definitely something on the cards for another time.
Even the serviettes looked all fancy.
All too soon – well, to be honest, 2 hours late, but who cares? – our train ride was over and it was time to get off in Cape Town. Offloading the bikes took some time, mainly because they needed to get the car carriage in the right position for us to offload. We were eventually on our way to Paarl, our first sleep-over in the Cape. Doing these 60 odd kilometres in the dark and bits of rain was not a lot of fun and we were quite happy to book in at Zen Tree Lodge for a good night’s sleep!
Paarl to Montagu
We left Paarl after breakfast to seriously start the biking part of our trip. On the cards for today was to go to Montagu along three of the major tar passes. We started off by heading towards Bainskloof Pass and as soon as we start the pass, we saw the first baboon, but he didn’t even bothered looking up or acknowledging us at all. For some reason that immediately put me into travelling mode and I suddenly left work and all its worries behind – just looking forward to the trip and all it will bring.
Bainskloof Pass
Bainskloof Pass was as beautiful as ever and covered with fynbos. We took it real slow to take in the beautiful scenery and we could smell the fruits at the bottom of the pass. This was a fantastic start to our trip!
Beautiful Bainskloof Pass
From this pass we took a turn through Slanghoek valley and its vineyards already starting to show the first rich autumn colours and turned onto the old Du Toitskloof pass.
Du Toitskloof Pass
The fantastic views accompanied us all the way to Franschhoek and a sumptuous light lunch of local cheeses, olives and preserves. After lunch it was time for Franschhoek Pass – another beauty. We thoroughly enjoyed the scenery on these three passes as well as the nice twisties, even though we took it quite easy to take in the stunning beauty around us.
Franschhoek Pass
We carried on towards Villiersdorp and took a nice short dirt road, the first for the trip, around the Theewaterskloof dam and from there straight to Affieplaas padstal outside Robertson for tea and scones.
Theewaterskloof Dam
First dirt road for the trip
Affieplaas Farmstall
The R60 then carried us all the way through Kogmanskloof Pass into Montagu, our stop for the next two days.
From a number of weekends and short trips to the beautiful Western Cape Province and numerous ride reports about the area, we decided that we needed a longer trip to the fairest Cape so we could explore all these roads ourselves. We knew the BMW Bikefest and lots of public holidays were coming up in April, so we opted to stay home in December, safe up some leave and make a nice looooong holiday! The plan was to go down 2 weeks before the Bikefest and ride as many passes (tar and dirt) as we can.
Pretoria to Cape Town / Paarl
We started off our trip on Sunday 10 April when we loaded our bikes on the Premier Classe train to Cape Town. The trip started with a 2 hour delay after they had to replace one of the carriages, but hey, what is 2 hours out of a 3 week holiday! And we were on vacation after all so we were not worried too much. Even spending an extra 2 hours on the train wasn’t a problem!
The Premier Classe was a great experience! I think most kids were just fascinated by trains, especially the old steam trains. This journey on the train brought back a lot of memories from growing up and reminded me a lot of bygone eras when train rides were romantic expeditions into the unknown. It is like you are in your own little cocoon watching the world and life go by. We saw farmers busy with their daily tasks, children going to school, workers fixing roads, other workers putting in more cables, women going shopping or people just on their way to some unknown destiny.
Sunrise
We passed numerous old, abandoned and dilapidated stations. Some broken down almost completely; others still almost intact but without windows or doors. Names like Deelfontein, Lietjiesbos and Biesiespoort flashed by, making me wonder what life was like on these little stations when trains still stopped there regularly to fill up with water and other provisions. We saw a lot of old block houses still used during the Boer wars and even a very well kept old graveyard. The Karoo was beautiful and green with lots of pools of water next to the road. We even saw a number of Springbok, Blesbok and white Blesbok.
Views from the train
Life inside the train was a very relaxed affair – chatting, sleeping and eating the best food! The most delicious 3 to 5 course meals! And best of all, we did a very informative recce for doing a trip all along the railway service roads! It was quite fun working out a nice dirt route all along the tracks! Definitely something on the cards for another time.
Even the serviettes looked all fancy.
All too soon – well, to be honest, 2 hours late, but who cares? – our train ride was over and it was time to get off in Cape Town. Offloading the bikes took some time, mainly because they needed to get the car carriage in the right position for us to offload. We were eventually on our way to Paarl, our first sleep-over in the Cape. Doing these 60 odd kilometres in the dark and bits of rain was not a lot of fun and we were quite happy to book in at Zen Tree Lodge for a good night’s sleep!
Paarl to Montagu
We left Paarl after breakfast to seriously start the biking part of our trip. On the cards for today was to go to Montagu along three of the major tar passes. We started off by heading towards Bainskloof Pass and as soon as we start the pass, we saw the first baboon, but he didn’t even bothered looking up or acknowledging us at all. For some reason that immediately put me into travelling mode and I suddenly left work and all its worries behind – just looking forward to the trip and all it will bring.
Bainskloof Pass
Bainskloof Pass was as beautiful as ever and covered with fynbos. We took it real slow to take in the beautiful scenery and we could smell the fruits at the bottom of the pass. This was a fantastic start to our trip!
Beautiful Bainskloof Pass
From this pass we took a turn through Slanghoek valley and its vineyards already starting to show the first rich autumn colours and turned onto the old Du Toitskloof pass.
Du Toitskloof Pass
The fantastic views accompanied us all the way to Franschhoek and a sumptuous light lunch of local cheeses, olives and preserves. After lunch it was time for Franschhoek Pass – another beauty. We thoroughly enjoyed the scenery on these three passes as well as the nice twisties, even though we took it quite easy to take in the stunning beauty around us.
Franschhoek Pass
We carried on towards Villiersdorp and took a nice short dirt road, the first for the trip, around the Theewaterskloof dam and from there straight to Affieplaas padstal outside Robertson for tea and scones.
Theewaterskloof Dam
First dirt road for the trip
Affieplaas Farmstall
The R60 then carried us all the way through Kogmanskloof Pass into Montagu, our stop for the next two days.
