Bainskloof and Du Toitskloof
A 218 km loop
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Why this ride
Scenery first, traffic last, with checkpoints that make sense on a bike. A 218 km loop that starts and ends near Constantia, about 3 h 58 of riding. On the way it passes Cape Town, Atlantis, Stellenbosch and near Stellenbosch. The climb of the day is Constantia. Long stretches are under trees.
Roadbook
- Fuel stop near Constantia
fuel
The wooded eastern flank of Table Mountain rises right above this point, a few kilometres from Constantia, where the southern suburbs meet the forests and the mountain. This is Cape Town's green side: oak avenues, pine and gum plantations, old estates and the cool, shaded slopes that catch the clouds when the southeaster blows. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden lies along the same slope, and on its terraces you can walk among proteas, ericas and other plants of the Cape Floral Kingdom with the mountain towering overhead.
The roads here wind through the trees. Rhodes Drive runs along the mountain from Constantia Nek past Kirstenbosch toward Newlands, a narrow, curving road shaded by old trees, with glimpses of the mountain through the branches. It is slow, often busy and shared with cyclists, but beautiful, especially in the early morning light. The forests of Cecilia and Newlands have walking trails up toward the mountain, and the air smells of pine, damp earth and fynbos.
The rides from here head east into the winelands and beyond. The Franschhoek Pass ride takes you through Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, the valley settled by French Huguenot refugees in the late seventeenth century, whose names still appear on many of the wine farms. The pass climbs out of the valley on a road said to follow an old elephant trail, with tight bends and spectacular views back down over the vineyards. Clarence Drive is the coastal road from Gordon's Bay to Kleinmond, clinging to the mountains above False Bay, where whales can be seen in winter and spring.
The weather shapes everything. In summer the southeaster blows hard and the tablecloth of cloud spills over the mountain, while winter fronts bring heavy rain and cold. The best riding months are often spring and autumn, when the air is clear and the light is golden. Bush fires are a real danger in the hot, dry months, and roads may be closed when they flare up.
For fuel, food and supplies, Constantia's shopping centres are close, and there are cafes at Kirstenbosch and in the nearby suburbs. Leave yourself time for a walk in the garden or the forest; it is one of the most peaceful places in the city, and a fine way to begin or end a long ride into the mountains.
- Constantia
pass
Constantia is where wine began in South Africa, and it still has the air of a place that knows it. The valley lies on the eastern side of the Table Mountain chain, sheltered from the Atlantic, with old oak avenues, whitewashed Cape Dutch farmhouses and vineyards climbing toward the steep slopes of the Constantiaberg. It is one of Cape Town's leafiest and wealthiest suburbs, but the farms are open to visitors and the roads around it are some of the most beautiful in the city.
The story starts with Simon van der Stel, the Dutch East India Company governor, who was granted the land in 1685 and built Groot Constantia, whose gabled manor house is now a museum. A century later the farm's sweet wine, Vin de Constance, was famous across Europe: Napoleon had it shipped to him in exile on St Helena, and Jane Austen mentions Constantia wine in Sense and Sensibility as a cure for a broken heart. The style was revived in modern times and you can taste it today, along with the region's sauvignon blanc, which loves the cool breezes from False Bay.
For riders, the best road begins at the top of the valley. Constantia Nek is the saddle between the mountains, and the road drops from it through forest and down to Hout Bay, which leads to Chapman's Peak Drive, the toll road cut into the cliffs above the Atlantic. Rhodes Drive runs the other way, under trees along the slope past Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden to Newlands. Both are twisty, shaded and slow enough to keep you honest, with cyclists and walkers on weekends. For the longer rides east, to Clarence Drive, the winelands or the passes beyond, you leave on the M3 and the N2, which are busy but quick.
The weather is a factor. In summer the southeaster, the Cape Doctor, can blow ferociously across the Cape Flats and the N2, while winter brings rain and the mountains catch the clouds. Spring and autumn are lovely, with green vines and long, clear light.
Constantia has shopping centres with fuel, cafes and supermarkets, and the wine farms have restaurants, though booking is often necessary at the popular ones. Taste with discipline: South Africa enforces drink-driving limits and the roads out of the valley are not the place for a heavy head.
- Near Cape Town
finish
Few cities give you a finish line like this one. You roll into central Cape Town with Table Mountain standing over the whole bowl of the city, flat-topped and close enough to feel personal, Devil's Peak on one side and Lion's Head and Signal Hill on the other. The point on the map sits in the old centre near the Company's Garden, the patch of land the Dutch East India Company planted in the seventeenth century to supply its ships with vegetables on the way to the East.
The rides that end here, over Bainskloof and Du Toitskloof or up the West Coast to see the spring flowers, are long days, and the approach back into town is usually the N1 or N7, busy and fast. Bainskloof Pass deserves a word: it was built by Andrew Geddes Bain in the 1850s and still runs on his stone walls, a narrow, slow, beautiful road above a river gorge where you should expect gravel on the inside of bends and baboons on the parapet. Du Toitskloof is the wide modern alternative over the same mountains, with a long tunnel option for when the weather turns.
Weather is the local obsession, and for good reason. In summer the south-easter, known as the Cape Doctor, can blow with startling force, especially around the mountain and on the False Bay side, and a laden bike on an exposed stretch will feel it. When the wind is up, the tablecloth of cloud pours over the top of Table Mountain. Winter brings rain from the north-west. The best riding months for most people are spring and autumn, roughly from September to November and from March to May.
If you have a little left in you, the short climb up Kloof Nek and along Signal Hill gives the classic view over the city and harbour at sunset. Fuel in South Africa is attendant-served, and a small tip is customary. Use attended or secure parking for the bike overnight and do not leave gear on it; that is simply standard city sense here. Then go and eat: the city is full of good food, from Cape Malay curries in the Bo-Kaap to seafood by the harbour.
- Cape Town
scenic
Cape Town sits at the foot of Table Mountain, a flat-topped sandstone wall about a kilometre high, and on a day when the tablecloth of cloud spills over the edge it is one of the great sights of the world. The city lies between the mountain and the Atlantic, with a harbour that was founded in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company as a supply station for ships on the route to the East. It grew into a port of many cultures, and the mix of Dutch, Malay, African and British influences is still visible in its food, language and architecture.
Robben Island, visible from the waterfront, was where Nelson Mandela spent eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison, and ferries run from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. The city centre has the Company's Garden, the Castle of Good Hope, the colourful Bo-Kaap quarter and the lively bars of Long Street. The winds can be fierce, especially the southeaster known as the Cape Doctor, which blows in summer and can make riding hard work.
For riders the city is a base and a beginning. Route 62, the long scenic alternative to the coastal N2 highway, starts inland and heads through wine country and the Karoo, with a few passes along the way. For a taste of coastal riding, Chapman's Peak Drive on the Atlantic side cuts along cliffs above the sea, and the Cape Peninsula leads to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Traffic can be heavy at rush hour, and in the city centre you should watch for minibus taxis, which stop without warning.
Fuel, repair shops and hotels are everywhere. Keep your valuables out of sight, and park in guarded areas where possible, since car and motorcycle crime exists in some neighbourhoods. The best months are from October to April, when the weather is warm and dry. Winter brings storms and cold rain from the Atlantic, but also bright clear days after the front has passed. Eat fish and chips on the harbour, and see the sunset from Signal Hill.
- Atlantis
photo
Atlantis is not a postcard town, and nobody here pretends it is. It was built from scratch in the 1970s on the sandy plains north of Cape Town, part of the apartheid government's plan to move coloured families out of the city and to create an industrial centre far from the suburbs. The result was a planned town of factories, schools and housing estates, some forty-five kilometres from the city, which still struggles with unemployment and crime. It is worth understanding that history as you ride through.
What the area offers is landscape. Around the town lie the Atlantis dunes, a great sea of white sand that has been used for sandboarding, quad biking and, of course, filming. The flat sandveld here is covered in tough, low scrub, part of the fynbos and strandveld vegetation of the West Coast, and in late winter and spring, roughly August and September, the plains burst into colour as wild flowers bloom after the rain.
Just north of Atlantis lies Mamre, an old Moravian mission village founded in the early nineteenth century, with whitewashed thatched cottages, a church and a mill, one of the most charming places on this coast. To the west lies the coast itself, with Silwerstroomstrand and other beaches where the Atlantic is cold, clear and sometimes rough, fed by the Benguela Current from the Antarctic. The Koeberg nuclear power station, the only one in Africa, stands on the coast to the south.
The rides from here are straight and open rather than curvy. The R27, the West Coast road, runs north toward Langebaan and the West Coast National Park with long straight stretches, while the R307 heads inland toward Darling and Malmesbury, through wheat fields and vineyards. Wind is the main challenge, especially in summer when the southeaster blows hard and the sand can drift onto the road. For the Clarence Drive and Bainskloof rides, the route leads back south and east, past Cape Town toward the mountains.
Atlantis has fuel, supermarkets and fast food, and it is a sensible place to fill up before heading north or into the hills. Stick to the main roads and busy places, keep your bike in sight, and avoid wandering into residential areas. For a calmer stop, ride to Mamre or the coast, where a picnic with a view of the ocean is a better reward.
- Near Stellenbosch, on the way back
swim
Cape Town / Western Cape return comes up 184 km in.
- Food stop near Stellenbosch
food
Stellenbosch is the second-oldest European settlement in South Africa, founded in 1679 by the governor Simon van der Stel, who named it after himself and his wife's family, and it has the look of a town that has been carefully looked after. Oak trees line the streets, white Cape Dutch houses with curved gables stand behind them, and the mountains rise on every side, purple at dusk. It is also a university town, home to the Afrikaans-speaking Stellenbosch University, which gives the centre a young, lively atmosphere.
The wine country surrounds it, and the roads out are among the loveliest in the Western Cape. Head east on the R310 up the Helshoogte Pass toward Franschhoek, a village founded by French Huguenot refugees in the late seventeenth century, and the road climbs through vineyards and pine plantations, with views over the valley as it twists around bends. Other options include the Jonkershoek valley, a quiet dead-end valley full of fynbos, and the long loop over Sir Lowry's Pass to the coast. Traffic can be heavy on weekends and in the harvest season, and the Cape's winter, from June to August, is cold and wet, so spring and autumn are best.
The nearby mountains are part of the Cape Floral Region, a World Heritage site that covers a tiny fraction of Africa and contains an astonishing share of its plant species. Fynbos, the heathland of proteas, ericas and restios, grows on the poor sandy soils and is bright with flowers in the late winter and spring. Baboons live on the slopes, and you may meet them on the passes, where they are wise to steal food from open bike luggage. Wine is the other great crop. The Cape's Mediterranean climate suits grapes, with Pinotage, a South African cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, as the signature red, and Chenin Blanc as the pride of the whites. Many estates offer tastings, though a motorcyclist should obviously treat them with great caution.
Practical matters are easy, and the town has fuel stations, repair shops and every kind of lodging. Drive carefully through the town centre, where students, cyclists and delivery vans share narrow streets, and park in guarded areas. Paarl, farther north-east, and Kraaifontein, close to Cape Town, are the bigger towns nearby. Take sun protection in summer, because the valley can be hot, and lunch at a vineyard restaurant is a wonderful way to spend a long afternoon.
- Back to Bainskloof and
finish
The name means wood bay in Dutch, because the early settlers cut timber from the forests in this valley to build and heat Cape Town. Today the harbour is lined with fish-and-chip stalls, and boat trips run out to Duiker Island, a rock covered in noisy Cape fur seals. Behind the village rise the sharp peaks of the Twelve Apostles and the Sentinel, a rock that looks like a sleeping giant.
The coast road from Hout Bay climbs onto the shoulder of the mountain and runs along cliffs high above the sea. Sea mist, called the Cape Doctor on the wind-blown days, rolls over the ridges, and the temperature can drop ten degrees in minutes. Around here, the mountain slopes carry fynbos with proteas and ericas, and in spring the hillsides are covered with colour. Dassies, the rock hyraxes, sun themselves on the stone walls.
This stop belongs to a ride that includes Du Toitskloof, the pass over the mountains east of Paarl, on the route to the interior. The old road over the top winds through granite and fynbos in tight curves, while the modern N1 now passes beneath in a long tunnel, and riders can choose between the two. Here, on the peninsula, the riding is different, with cliff roads, tunnels and sea views. Traffic is heavy on sunny weekends, and parking at viewpoints is hard to find. Strong south-easterly winds in summer can be dangerous on exposed sections, so check the forecast and be ready to turn back.
Practically, Hout Bay has fuel stations, supermarkets and a good selection of restaurants and cafes, many by the harbour, with fresh fish and chips, calamari and crayfish in season. There is also a weekend craft market. Constantia, a short way over the ridge, has more shops and wine estates. For a short break, the beach has a long sweep of white sand and cold, clear water. Parking is limited near the harbour on weekends, and security is wise, so never leave anything on the bike.