Why this ride
From Montagu it runs 500 km to Oudtshoorn; allow about 6 h 52 of riding. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Route 62 South Africa: Montagu to Oudtshoorn
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 500 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 52
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Montagu
Montagu sits where the Little Karoo begins, in a fold of the Langeberg mountains, and the way you reach it is part of the charm. From the west, the road runs through Cogmanskloof, a narrow gorge with a short tunnel, and then the valley opens into a landscape of orchards, vineyards and red rock. The little town, with about fifteen thousand people, lines up along Long Street with Cape Dutch and Victorian houses, many carefully restored, and it has been a favourite weekend stop for people from Cape Town for decades.
Read the complete Montagu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Montagu is where the day begins. Next is Barrydale.
2. Barrydale
The R62 through Barrydale is a road of long distances and small surprises. The town is a modest place, sitting in the Little Karoo between the Langeberg and the Swartberg ranges, a few tidy streets, a main road, and a population of a few thousand. It was founded as a farming settlement, and its economy still depends on fruit, olives, sheep and now, increasingly, on travellers on Route 62 who stop for a meal and some air.
Read the complete Barrydale write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barrydale comes up about 143 km into the recorded legs. Next is Oudtshoorn.
3. Oudtshoorn
Oudtshoorn owes its elegant sandstone buildings to the feathers of a very large and bad-tempered bird. In the years before the First World War, ostrich feathers were fashionable in Europe and America, and farmers in the Little Karoo made fortunes supplying them. Merchants built grand houses known as feather palaces, with fine stonework and ornate interiors, and some of them still stand. The boom collapsed around 1914, when fashion changed and the war disrupted trade, but ostrich farming continues, now for meat, leather and tourism.
Read the complete Oudtshoorn 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 500 km.
Leg by leg
Montagu to Barrydale
Montagu → Barrydale is 143 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Barrydale to Oudtshoorn
Barrydale → Oudtshoorn is 358 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
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