Prince Alfreds Pass

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Knysna

   Knysna lies around a tidal lagoon on the Garden Route, with a pair of sandstone cliffs known as the Heads guarding the narrow channel to the sea. Forest runs down to the water, and the whole town has a green, relaxed look, with a population around sixty-nine thousand and a waterfront full of small shops and restaurants. The lagoon is an estuary, home to rare seahorses and a rich oyster industry, and every year there is an oyster festival in the winter that fills the town.

   Read the complete Knysna write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Knysna is where the day begins. Next is Avontuur.

2. 2. Avontuur

   Prince Alfred's Pass runs north from the forests of Knysna over the Outeniqua range to the dry valley called the Langkloof, and Avontuur sits at its far end, a small farming outpost where the green of the coast gives way to orchards and rock. The name means adventure in Afrikaans, and the pass, opened in 1867 and designed by the road engineer Thomas Bain, is among the finest of his works, climbing in great bends through indigenous forest, across a high stretch of mountain fynbos, and down the northern slope.

   Read the complete Avontuur write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Avontuur comes up about 85 km into the recorded legs. Next is Prince Alfreds Pass.

3. 3. Prince Alfreds Pass

   Prince Alfred's Pass is one of the great gravel roads of the Cape, and it is wonderfully unhurried. It runs for around seventy kilometres from the forests of Knysna north to Avontuur, climbing through the Outeniqua Mountains to just over a thousand metres, and it is the sort of road where the journey is more important than the destination. The pass was designed by Thomas Bain and built in the 1860s, and it is named for Queen Victoria's son Prince Alfred, who visited the Cape in 1860.

   Read the complete Prince Alfreds Pass write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Prince Alfreds Pass. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Uniondale, mostly downhill.

4. 4. Uniondale

   Uniondale is a small Karoo town on the northern side of the Outeniqua mountains, a place of whitewashed houses, tin roofs and a long, wide main street that has seen little change in decades. It lies in a dry valley at the foot of the pass, on the road between the coast and the Little Karoo, and it serves as the gateway to Prince Alfred's Pass, one of the most beautiful gravel roads in South Africa. The surrounding country is open and rolling, with sheep and goats grazing among rocky hills.

   Read the complete Uniondale write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Uniondale closes the day.