Why this ride
A named mountain-road corridor with sustained elevation change and pass scenery. It links naturally to Swartberg landscapes.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Meiringspoort
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 228 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 10
- 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: 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.
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
Sep-Apr
Scenic road chapters
Meiringspoort Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 10 km this is Meiringspoort Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 10 km
- Named road
- Meiringspoort Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. De Rust
De Rust means the rest, and the village earns the name by being a pleasant place to stop before or after a day in the Swartberg. It lies in the Little Karoo between Oudtshoorn and the mouth of the Meiringspoort gorge, a small settlement of about three and a half thousand people, with a single main street of low whitewashed houses, shady trees and gardens, and the long wall of the Swartberg mountains standing dark to the north. The land around is dry, with farms along the river and fields of lucerne laid out like green patches on the red earth.
Read the complete De Rust write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
De Rust sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Meiringspoort.
2. Meiringspoort
Few roads in South Africa cross the same river as many times as this one. Meiringspoort is a gorge cut by the Groot River through the Swartberg range, and the N12 follows it for about twenty-five kilometres, crossing the stream some twenty-five times on low bridges and causeways, with cliffs that rise on both sides in tilted, twisted layers of red and grey rock. The road was built in the 1880s by Thomas Bain, and the gorge takes its name from a farmer called Petrus Meiring, who lived in the area in the early nineteenth century.
Read the complete Meiringspoort write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Meiringspoort comes up 116 km in. Next is Prince Albert.
3. Prince Albert
Prince Albert sits at the foot of the Swartberg mountains on the edge of the Great Karoo, a small, whitewashed town with Cape Dutch gables, irrigation furrows running down the main street, and an air of having been forgotten on purpose. Water from the mountains is the secret. It runs through the town in channels, feeds orchards and olive groves, and turns a patch of desert into a place that grows apricots, figs, grapes and olives on a surprising scale. Nobody comes here for speed, and the town is very good at that.
Read the complete Prince Albert write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
228 km in you reach Prince Albert.
Recorded source links
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Meiringspoort Road · 18 km
- Swartberg Pass starting at Oudtshoorn · 71 km
- Swartberg Pass · 71 km
- Route 62 · part 4 · 1144 km