South Africa: Garden Route & Klein Karoo

Route Overview

On the map below you can see the overall route that we took on this tour. More detailed information about the rides can be found in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.





The tour began by flying to Cape Town. We spent a few days here, mostly hiking around Table Mountain and exploring different areas of the city. We then took a short flight to George to begin the cycling tour. The plan was to do a circle through the Klein Karoo mountains and then return towards the coast to explore the Garden Route at the end.

The plan was very flexible, particularly since the weather was forecasted to be around 40°C on some days. The main aims for the trip were to ride on fun gravel roads through spectacular scenery, to see some interesting wildlife and to get a glimpse into the diverse cultures that make up modern South Africa.

Logistics

We flew from Valencia to Johannesburg with British Airways (changing in Heathrow), which transported the bikes free of charge within the standard luggage allowance. Once in South Africa we used three different airlines to fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Cape Town to George and George back to Johannesburg.

On all of these airlines (Lift, Flysafair, Airlink) it was incredible easy, cheap and straightforward to reserve bicycles and bring them on board. We travelled with standard cardboard bicylce boxes, filled with various tools, shoes, clothes and accessories, all of which was not a problem as long as the boxes were within the stipulated weight.

From the airports there is no good public transport for bicycles, so it was necessary to arrange a private transfer. There are plenty of companies that you can find online to provide this service, just mention how many bike boxes you need to fit inside and they will send an appropriately sized van. Logistically, flying and getting from the airports in South Africa was one of the easiest of all the countries I have visited with a bike.

Lucia's bike for this trip was a steel framed Kona Sutra (2017), with a few minor adaptations. Firstly the cable disc brakes were replaced with hydraulic TRP Hylex, and the stock wheels were upgraded to lighter Fulcrum wheels. Otherwise, it is pretty much original spec. The bike is heavy (around 14kg / 35lb), but is extremely comfortable. Lucia carried one large Vaude waterproof pannier and one lightweight Altura pannier, which had more than enough space to carry clothes, hiking shoes, basic repairs and food on the rides.

My bike for this trip was a custom built Sardinha Nordest, with a rigid titanium frame and carbon fibre fork. It had a 1x12 Shimano SLX grouset (34 tooth chainring) and I put on 38mm Schwalbe Almotion tubeless tyres. I hoped these would be sufficient for the South African gravel, which had a reputation for being rough and corrugated at times.

I carried two panniers (large Vaude ones). Given the weather forecast (hot and dry) I was able to pack very lightly, and had plenty of space left in the panniers should I need to fill them with food or drinks during the tour.

Overall, this set up worked without any problems at all.


The route I had planned was mostly on gravel roads, with a few longer paved sections and some very short singletrack. The Schwalbe Almotion tubeless tyres which were comfortable and worked without any issues and no punctures. The gravel here is quite sharp and the vegetation can be thorny, so I would recommend tubeless tyres if you have the possibility with your set-up. It also enables you to lower the pressure if needed for a couple of bumpier descents.

Some people recommend significantly wider tyres for gravel riding in this region, but I don't think it is necessary unless you are inexperienced riding off road. If you plan to extend the tour more along the garden route or head further north into South Africa, then wider tyres become more important as the dirt roads can became more sandy and corrugated.

Alternative Routes

I had initially considered riding a one way route between George and Cape Town. The first part would have been similar, before heading west through Barrydale, Montagu, Robertson, Franschoek and Stellenbosch. I decided against this for three main reasons. Firstly, this would involve more riding on paved roads, which look a bit boring compared to the gravel and are also quite dangerous given South Africa's poor road safety record (more on that below).

Secondly, I decided that the more interesting villages and scenery to me was around the Swartberg Mountains and Garden Route, so spending more time circling around this area made sense. Finally, it is a reality that South Africa is a country with a very high rate of violent crime. And that rate increases significantly as you get closer to Cape Town. Even towns with a relatively good reputation, like Stellenbosch, have quite frequent incidents of people being mugged when cycling and having their bike stolen.

Having settled on the Garden Route and Klein Karoo I also considered heading back to George via the east, instead of the west. This would have meant instead of going back towards the coast via the Robinson Pass, I would have headed east through De Rust, Uniondale and Knysna. I was very close to doing this and planned the route (a link is included in Part 4), but due to the very hot weather, we ended up opting for the easier route of the Robinson Pass. I think both are pretty equal in terms of scenery and enjoyment.

Overall Thoughts

This ended up being an enjoyable trip. It was somewhere I had been interested in visiting for a while, but it was planned at very short notice after we had to cancel a tour to Sri Lanka due to flight disruption across the Middle East.

I was a little apprehensive about safety and South Africa's reputation for violent crime, as a bicycle is quite a vulnerable method of transport. However, once we had left Cape Town and arrived in George, we never had any safety concerns. My research told me that this was the safest part of South Africa, and it certainly looked that way. Most houses had very little security and there were people walking around safely at night in most towns without precaution.

The highlight was the incredibly diverse and picturesque scenery. This was only a short tour but we experienced vibrant green coastal mountains, areas of semi-desert, fertile Mediterranean like valleys full of vineyards and olive trees, and much more. We cycled alongside giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, baboons, ostriches and other animals either roaming wild or in large game reserves. The gravel and dirt roads were in mixed condition, but were always a lot of fun to ride. The food and hospitality was another highlight, with hotels and restaurants all of a very high quality, and relatively low cost when converting from the Euro.


The main negatives were the very obvious inequality in South Africa and also the dangerous traffic on paved roads. I have read a bit about South Africa's history, but I really don't know enough to confidently comment on the causes of and solutions to the inequality. However, it is glaringly obvious that the inequality has a large racial element to it, with wealthy neighbourhoods overwhelmingly white and very poor neighbourhoods almost entirely black. Every single hotel that I stayed in was owned and ran by white families, while all the service workers there were black. It did make me feel a bit uncomfortable, but despite this obvious inequality, almost all South Africans I met were rather cheerful and friendly.

At least they were friendly face to face; they were certainly not friendly when behind the wheel of a car! South Africa has a high rate of road deaths, with a large percentage of the victims being pedestrians and cyclists. Having cycled on the roads there, it's not difficult to see why. Speed limits are high, cars are big, cyclists are looked down upon and there is a significant problem with drink-driving.

Cars almost never slowed down when overtaking outside of cities. If there was room to move over then most would leave a bit of space, but if there wasn't room then they would fly past at 100km/h leaving less than a metre spare. In such conditions it only takes a minor lapse in judgement or something unexpected happening to have catastrophic results. I recommend limiting riding on paved roads as much as possible - or at least find ones with a significant shoulder to ride on.

I don't want to dwell too much on the negatives, because I did really enjoyed it. South African culture is kind of familiar to a European, but at the same time different. It was interesting to see this first hand, while enjoying the spectacular scenery and gravel roads of the Western Cape.



Overall, my experience on this trip was positive. I'm not sure if I will come back to South Africa in the near future - as there are undoubted safety concerns in many other regions - but I would thoroughly recommend this trip for keen gravel riders.

I also apologise for the relatively poor quality of the photos from this trip. I took an old, cheap phone with me which I didn't care about losing in case I was robbed at some point, and it doesn't have the best camera!

Check out the links below for much more details about the rides that we did...


Part 1 - Cape Town & George to Rooiberg Lodge

Part 2 - Rooiberg to Prince Albert

Part 3 - The Swartberg Mountains

Part 4 - The Garden Route

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