dirtman

You can put together a 50 km ride with ease if you ride the red, yellow and green routes at Bottelary Hills. Ascent will be more than 1000 meters.

The new section is open for riding, but we still need to berm the two bends, so take it easy. Also, as with any new section of trail, it needs compacting. Enjoy!

We are busy re-routing the red route just after the split from green coming up from the Hazendal side. There are two sections of vineyard roads that become very rutted every year in winter that we need to eliminate. The new route will include about 500 meters of new single track. If all goes well it will be open for riding by next weekend. The blue line on the map indicates the new route.

We are busy with a major signage upgrade that will be finished by the end of July. This will include a new and bigger sign to mark the location of the tap. In the meantime- see map for the location of the tap. It is located on the red route, about 2 kms after you turned left off the green after the big climb over Kaapzicht from the Hazendal side - or 200 meters after you turned right off the Fisher gravel road.

The new section of single track is open. Just be careful when riding it over the weekend as it needs compacting. Also be on the lookout for possible "green death" (algae). We have tried to remove most of it, but there might be a spot of two left with green death still lurking. If you are riding the red route from the Radish restaurant side, the entrance to the new single track is about 50 meters before you get to where the yellow route splits from the red route just after the long climb on red. There is a map attached to a pole that explains the different options (see below), as well as big temporary blue arrows on a yellow background that will guide you to the start.

Found below the small rocky drop-off on the green route. PM me the make and model.

New 2 km section of single track nearly completed. If weather allows, we will open it up next Friday.

Busy with 2 kms of new single track on the red route - Stellenbosch side of the hills. About 1 km of it will also form part of the short purple route that will be reopened. Will also give riders the option to cut out about 7 kms of the red route if they prefer and ride straight to the current red route single track on top of the hill before the kloof and forest sections. We hope to open it for riding in two weeks time.

Please note that the current entrance road to the trails from the Hazendal side has been closed with immediate effect due to the danger posed by construction vehicles using this road. A new entrance has been opened about 100 meters further down the Bottelary tar road. Please use this new link to the trails (indicated in blue on the map) and not the old link (indicated in pink). You will risk serious injury and even death if you continue using the old link road. Signage has been put up that will direct you to the new entrance. Hazendal new entrance.pdf

Hi Scott Thorns are not that big an issue anymore - most of the route options are well ridden in and you should be fine as long as you stay on the riding line. I cannnot guarantee you a thorn free ride however, as some sections of the route do follow vineyard paths where thorns are always a problem. Carry a spare tube and you should be ok - there are many riders riding the route non-tubeless. You must definately give the routes a try - just make sure you do both the red and green routes so that you can ride all the single track that's on offer. Just make sure you have a day-permit (see website for details).

We managed to complete the additions and adjustments to the “climbing” single track section on the green route (also part of the red route) much faster then anticipated and it is now open for riding – see the light blue sections on the map. The entrance to this section has been moved about 100 meters further up the jeep track. When you come down the fast jeep track on the left of the row of pine trees, do not turn left down at the bottom as you would have done in the past to get to the “old” entrance, but keep going straight and look for the signage on your left to direct you to the new entrance. The second new addition is easy to find – the old track has been closed and you will automatically be guided onto the new section. We hope this section will eliminate the wet and soggy parts on the uphill sections that appear every winter. Both sections need compacting - so take it easy for the first few days.

The easy route at Bottelary Hills is the ORANGE loop, starting from Radish Restaurant - 12 kms and about 190 meters of climbing . The yellow loop is also not too difficult, but you face a serious climb to get to it if you start from Radish, and then to get back to Radish again. Full details re the different route options can be found on http://bottelaryhillsmtb.co.za/

We're in the process of making some interesting additions and adjustments to the trails. The first addition starts just after you enter the single track in the forest right at the top of the red route - it is already open, but needs some compacting, so please go and ride it. One or two of the turns may also need some more work, so please take care. We are also working on the climbing single track on the green route - see pics below. This section still needs some work and is not open for riding - should be ready in about two weeks time, on condition that we receive more rain. .

Set of house keys found on the climbing single track on the green route. PM me for more details.

The fee is R450 for the year and does not get reduced on a pro-rata basis. We usually drop the price on the 1st of July for the remainder of the year. The reduced fee still needs to be decided upon, but should be around R300 as from the 1st of July.

Glad you enjoyed the ride. We wil put in more berms during the winter - just waiting for the rain to come. Will also start cutting next week on extentions to the singletrack in the forest as well as on additions to the climbing single track section on the green route to try and sort out the wet sections during winter on that part of the green route.

According to my wife I spend half of my life up in Bottelary Hills - most of the time alone. Never had any problems up to now. I do however agree that if you want to ride to the trails from Stellenbosch, go via Middelvlei, Asara Hotel or Overgaauw. The Asara and Overgaauw links will get you directly to the main red loop and also close to long green.

Long green takes you over the hill to join up with red at Wolfkloof - 1,5 kms and 100 metres of climbing to red. From there green and red run together and will take you through the forest single track. You can also follow red "back" to Wolfkloof and ride the switchback descents and climbs out of Wolfkloof and then follow green/red back to where short and long green split. Long green (without Wolfkloof) will add about 5 km to your ride. You can use the picnic benches - we have very friendly farmers (as long as you have a permit!)

Long green takes you over the hill to join up with red at Wolfkloof - 1,5 kms and 100 metres of climbing to red. From there green and red run together and will take you through the forest single track. You can also follow red "back" to Wolfkloof and ride the switchback descents and climbs out of Wolfkloof and then follow green/red back to where short and long green split. You can use the picnic benches - we have very friendly farmers (as long as you have a permit!)

The battle against rogue riders is an ongoing one. The situation has improved dramatically since we started with permit control over weekends and deployed marshals on the route to check for permits ( we were 3 roving marshals on the route today). Our current figures show that rogue riders make up around 5% to 7% of all riders on a specific day, compared with 40% and even higher about a year ago. It is unfortunately impossible to do permit control at all the entry points, but the roving marshals are a big deterrent. Also, if you see a rider without a permit, please stop the rider and ask him/her to turn back and leave the route. Lastly, I am aware of the rogue riders from the Zevenwacht side - they will be sorted out soon!

@ Mountain lion Please note that we have closed down the short purple route some time ago - you will see that the big arrow directing you to short purple has been removed. We are working on a new route for short purple that will include some fun single track as well - just need the required permission from the landowners and then enough rain.

Replaced 4 signs on green/red this morning. Riding yellow this weekend and will repair/replace signs where necessary. All signs on orange were in place this morning. Will sort MIddelvlei link out after all the grapes have been picked.

One of the farms on the red route (where one does the first big climb coming from Radish) does dirt-biking on their property (the owner and his family do dirt-biking). There is no alternative route we can follow to bypass this farm. We will take the matter up with the owner and see if it is possible to keep the dirt-bikes off certain sections of the farm roads. Other than this section, motorbikes should not be on any other section of the trails, other than the bikes and quads used by farmers as part of their daily activities. If you have encountered dirt-bikes on any other section of the route, please PM details to me.

Middelvlei don't sell day permits anymore (you can however start your ride from there), so you will need to buy a permit at Devon Valley Hotel. We are busy talking to another wine estate bordering the route on the Stellenbosch side to sell permits 24 hours per day - hoping to have an answer within the next few weeks.

If you need to switch on a light, you must be out.