Why this ride
A remote mixed-surface corridor with strong terrain and adventure-riding value. It links naturally to Cape Floral Region Protected Areas vicinity.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Swartberg Pass starting at Oudtshoorn
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 71 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 33
- 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
Sep-Apr
Scenic road chapters
Swartberg Pass
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 14 km this is Swartberg Pass, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 14 km
- Named road
- Swartberg Pass
- Pass
- Swartberg Pass
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
Oudtshoorn sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Swartberg Pass.
2. Swartberg Pass
Swartberg Pass is gravel, and that is exactly why people love it. It crosses the Swartberg range between Oudtshoorn and Prince Albert, rising to about 1,585 metres at the summit, and it was built between 1881 and 1888 by Thomas Bain with convict labour, who cut and packed the stone walls and zigzags by hand. Today it is a national heritage site, one of the finest examples of pass-building in the country, with dry-stone retaining walls that look more like medieval masonry than road engineering.
Read the complete Swartberg Pass write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Swartberg Pass comes up 22 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
71 km in you reach Prince Albert.
Recorded source links
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Swartberg Pass · 71 km
- Meiringspoort · 63 km
- Meiringspoort Road · 18 km
- Route 62 · short arc · 1298 km