Route 62 and Swartberg Pass · short arc

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Grabouw

   Apples built Grabouw. The town lies in the Elgin valley, a high basin in the mountains east of Cape Town, where cool nights, good soil and plentiful water make ideal conditions for fruit. Orchards of apples and pears cover the valley floor and the lower slopes, and in spring the trees are white and pink with blossom. In recent decades vineyards have joined them, producing some of South Africa's best cool-climate wines.

   Read the complete Grabouw write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Route 62 and Swartberg Pass is where the day begins. Next is Route 62 and Swartberg Pass high point.

2. 2. Retreat

   Retreat sits on the flat land between the mountains of the Cape Peninsula and the sandy plains that run down to False Bay, a busy, working suburb on Main Road and the railway line south of the city. It is no beauty spot, but it lies right at the foot of some of the finest short rides in Cape Town, and its petrol stations and shops are useful when you are about to climb into the hills or head out along the coast.

   Read the complete Photo stop near Retreat write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Route 62 and Swartberg Pass scenic road.

3. 3. Constantia

   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.

   Read the complete Constantia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Route 62 and Swartberg Pass photo pull-off.

4. 4. 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.

   Read the complete Cape Town write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The high point of this section. Next is Food stop near Moorreesburg.

5. 5. Food stop near Moorreesburg

   Planning note

   Food at 411 km, roughly 8 hours into the riding. Next is Cape Town / Western Cape.

6. 6. Cape Town / Western Cape

   The valley is a quiet pocket of the Winelands ringed by the Witzenberg and Winterhoek ranges, and the town has the longest row of preserved Cape Dutch buildings in the country on Church Street. On the night of the twenty-ninth of September 1969, an earthquake of magnitude six-point-three shook the town, damaging most of those buildings. Restoration took years, and the street today looks as it did in the eighteenth century, a remarkable act of collective repair.

   Read the complete Cape Town / Western Cape write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 514 km.