Garden Route · part 1

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Mossel Bay

   The Garden Route is usually said to begin at Mossel Bay, and this is where the story of European contact with this coast begins too. In 1488 the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias anchored here after rounding the Cape, making the first known European landing on this part of Africa, and the town's museum complex keeps a full-size replica of his caravel. A famous old milkwood tree in the town, known as the Post Office Tree, recalls the tradition that sailors left letters in a shoe hung from its branches.

   Read the complete Mossel Bay write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Mossel Bay is where the day begins. Next is Wilderness.

2. 2. Wilderness

   Wilderness is a quiet beach village on the Garden Route that has quietly kept out of the way of the bigger towns on either side. It sits where the Touw River and a string of freshwater lakes meet the Indian Ocean, about twelve kilometres east of George, at the foot of the forested Outeniqua mountains. The coastline here is a mixture of long sandy beach, tidal lagoon, lake and indigenous forest, and it forms part of the Garden Route National Park, so the development is limited and the birdlife is rich. Kingfishers, fish eagles and herons are common around the lakes, and the Knysna loerie, a bright green forest bird with a crimson flash in its wings, can be spotted in the trees.

   Read the complete Wilderness write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Wilderness comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Knysna.

3. 3. 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

   about 108 km into the recorded legs you reach Knysna. Next is Plettenberg Bay.

4. 4. Plettenberg Bay

   The Portuguese called this bend of the coast Bahia Formosa, the beautiful bay, and nobody has seriously disagreed since. Plettenberg Bay, or Plett as everyone calls it, sits near the eastern end of South Africa's Garden Route, with a curved beach below forested hills and the dark rocky peninsula of Robberg standing out to sea. The Dutch governor Joachim van Plettenberg gave the town its present name in 1778, and the place grew through timber, whaling and later tourism.

   Read the complete Plettenberg Bay write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Plettenberg Bay closes the day.