Why this ride
A proper escape from Cape Town with roads worth waking up for. Out of Cape Town and back again: 238 km, roughly 3 h 12 in the saddle. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hermanus Whale Coast
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 238 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 12
- Journey
- Loop
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Route 62 South Africa
The ride follows Route 62 South Africa for 16 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 16 km
- Named road
- Route 62 South Africa
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cape Town
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.
2. Hermanus
In Hermanus, one of the town's municipal employees blows a horn made from kelp to announce the whales. The whale crier is a local tradition, and it makes sense, because between roughly June and November southern right whales come into Walker Bay to calve and play, and from the cliff path that runs along the shoreline you can watch them from a few metres above the surf. Mothers and calves roll in the shallows, males breach and slap the water with their tails, and you hear their breath carried across the bay. It is among the best land-based whale watching in the world.
3. Cape Town
Return visit. Read the place description above.