Why this ride
A named mountain-road corridor with sustained elevation change and pass scenery. It links naturally to Drakensberg escarpment.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Long Tom Pass
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 64 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 08
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
Editorial context
Coordinates are curated start-via-end route seeds. They are not a surveyed centreline or navigation geometry. Run road snapping, topology checks, access checks and a live-status review before publication.
Access context
Do not auto-publish. Snap to a routable road network, verify current closures, legal motorcycle access, surface, permits, border controls and local safety information.
Seasonal context
May-Sep
Scenic road chapters
Long Tom Pass and Panorama Link
17 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
- Named road
- Long Tom Pass and Panorama Link
- Pass
- Long Tom Pass
Long Tom Pass and Panorama Link
For 17 km this is Long Tom Pass and Panorama Link, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 17 km
- Named road
- Long Tom Pass and Panorama Link
- Pass
- Long Tom Pass
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Lydenburg
The name Lydenburg means town of suffering, and there is real history behind it. In the 1840s, Voortrekker families settled at Ohrigstad, in the lowveld, but malaria drove them out, and in 1849 they moved up to higher, healthier ground and founded a new town, which they named in memory of what they had endured. Today Lydenburg sits at around 1,400 metres in the Mpumalanga highveld, a quiet market town of about twenty thousand people, with a wide main street, tree-lined avenues and a feel of farming country, where cattle and timber matter more than tourists.
Read the complete Lydenburg write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lydenburg sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Long Tom Pass.
2. Long Tom Pass
Anyone who loves old guns has heard of Long Tom. In the Anglo-Boer War of 1900, the Boers dragged a few of these huge French-made siege cannon, with barrels long enough to throw shells across valleys, up and down the escarpment to slow the British advance, and the pass takes its name from them. A replica gun stands beside the road near the summit, pointing out over the hills, and it is worth a pause and a photograph before you carry on.
Read the complete Long Tom Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Long Tom Pass comes up 17 km in. Next is Sabie.
3. Sabie
Sabie is a forestry town in the hills of Mpumalanga, where the Lowveld climbs into the Drakensberg escarpment and mist rolls through the pine plantations almost every morning. The surrounding area holds one of the largest man-made forests in the world, planted over the last century with pine and eucalyptus, and the sweet resin smell lingers in the air. Water pours off the escarpment everywhere, and the town is the base for a string of waterfalls: Mac Mac, Lone Creek, Bridal Veil and Horseshoe all lie within a short ride.
Read the complete Sabie write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
64 km in you reach Sabie.
Recorded source links
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Long Tom Pass and Panorama Link · 58 km
- Panorama Route and Blyde River Canyon · 171 km
- Panorama Route (59 km) · 82 km
- Panorama Route · 122 km · 122 km