CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
265 km from Soweto to Soweto, about 5 h of riding. The stops in between: Sharpeville Memorial garden, The stromatolite/basal fault plane site and back through Sharpeville Memorial garden. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,650 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
On 26 June 1955, some three thousand delegates gathered on a dusty open field in Kliptown, one of the oldest settlements of what became Soweto, for the Congress of the People. Police surrounded the meeting on its second day, but not before the crowd had adopted the Freedom Charter, the document that opens with the words that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. Its ideas went on to shape the country's post-apartheid constitution. The field is now Walter Sisulu Square, named after the anti-apartheid leader and mentor of Nelson Mandela, and the charter's clauses are carved into stone around a monument at its centre.
Read the complete Walter Sisulu Square write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Walter Sisulu Square is where the day begins. Next is Sharpeville Memorial garden.
On 21 March 1960, a crowd of several thousand people gathered outside the police station in Sharpeville, a township near Vereeniging in the south of Gauteng, to protest against the pass laws, which required black South Africans to carry documents restricting where they could live and work. The police opened fire, killing sixty nine people and wounding many more, most of them shot in the back as they fled. The massacre shocked the world and marked a turning point in the struggle against apartheid, leading to the banning of the liberation movements and the start of armed resistance. The date is now commemorated in South Africa as Human Rights Day, and internationally as the day for the elimination of racial discrimination.
Read the complete Sharpeville Memorial garden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Sharpeville Memorial garden comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is The stromatolite/basal fault plane site.
Microbes made this. That is the surprising thing about stromatolites: the layered, domed structures that look like cabbages turned to stone are the fossil remains of mats of bacteria that lived in shallow water and trapped sediment, growing layer on layer. They are among the oldest evidence of life on the planet, and the rocks around the Vredefort Dome in South Africa carry some very ancient examples.
Read the complete The stromatolite/basal fault plane site write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 135 km into the recorded legs you reach The stromatolite/basal fault plane site. Next is back through Sharpeville Memorial garden.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sharpeville Memorial garden write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Sharpeville Memorial garden, late in the day. Next is Walter Sisulu Square.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Walter Sisulu Square write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Walter Sisulu Square. That is the ride.
Walter Sisulu Square → Sharpeville Memorial garden is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sharpeville Memorial garden → The stromatolite/basal fault plane site is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The stromatolite/basal fault plane site → back through Sharpeville Memorial garden is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Sharpeville Memorial garden → Walter Sisulu Square is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.