Bottelary Hills MTB Trails

[leona]

Views are amazing from everywhere! If you (general people reading this) go and do the red for the first time, you come to the bottom of a bit of singletrack and can turn left or right. Roght is signed that it adds a few km. def go right, there's a switchback descent then climb. It's very cool. I've ridden there on my own mostly. Through summer there were always plenty of workers out plus quite a few houses around so I've always felt safe.

The only bad thig is so far you have to ride for a waterpoint. Yesterday we rode from Devon valley onto the red route and it takes 2 1/2 hours at least to get to the tap. Fine now but in summer it was far! Met the lady who's garden tap it is yesterday so got the chance to thank her for opening it up to us.

Edited June 9, 2014 by leona

[straatvark]

Views are amazing from everywhere! If you (general people reading this) go and do the red for the first time, you come to the bottom of a bit of singletrack and can turn left or right. Roght is signed that it adds a few km. def go right, there's a switchback descent then climb. It's very cool. I've ridden there on my own mostly. Through summer there were always plenty of workers out plus quite a few houses around so I've always felt safe.

The only bad thig is so far you have to ride for a waterpoint. Yesterday we rode from Devon valley onto the red route and it takes 2 1/2 hours at least to get to the tap. Fine now but in summer it was far! Met the lady who's garden tap it is yesterday so got the chance to thank her for opening it up to us.

 

Also ran dry in the summer on my first full loop. One of the farm kids can make lots of money on weekends with a cooler, some ice and coke cans. Especially at a viewpoint.

[deanbean]

Views are amazing from everywhere! If you (general people reading this) go and do the red for the first time, you come to the bottom of a bit of singletrack and can turn left or right. Roght is signed that it adds a few km. def go right, there's a switchback descent then climb. It's very cool. I've ridden there on my own mostly. Through summer there were always plenty of workers out plus quite a few houses around so I've always felt safe.

The only bad thig is so far you have to ride for a waterpoint. Yesterday we rode from Devon valley onto the red route and it takes 2 1/2 hours at least to get to the tap. Fine now but in summer it was far! Met the lady who's garden tap it is yesterday so got the chance to thank her for opening it up to us.

 

Also ran dry in the summer on my first full loop. One of the farm kids can make lots of money on weekends with a cooler, some ice and coke cans. Especially at a viewpoint.

That tap has saved me too. I'll be back in December, and now that Schapenberg is off limits, I'll have to ride the Hills.

[dirtman]

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.

[dirtman]

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

[boristheblade]

any news regarding the half year permits?

[Hellwarp]

Will be available from 1st July.

[Max Headroom]

Views are amazing from everywhere! If you (general people reading this) go and do the red for the first time, you come to the bottom of a bit of singletrack and can turn left or right. Roght is signed that it adds a few km. def go right, there's a switchback descent then climb. It's very cool. I've ridden there on my own mostly. Through summer there were always plenty of workers out plus quite a few houses around so I've always felt safe.

The only bad thig is so far you have to ride for a waterpoint. Yesterday we rode from Devon valley onto the red route and it takes 2 1/2 hours at least to get to the tap. Fine now but in summer it was far! Met the lady who's garden tap it is yesterday so got the chance to thank her for opening it up to us.

 

Where is the Tap ?

[Dicky DQ]

Must admit I have never needed a water-point myself, 2 bottles seem to do the trick for about a 3-4 hr ride up there.

[dirtman]

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.

[Hellwarp]

2014 Half-year permits are now available. See website for more info http://bottelaryhillsmtb.co.za/?p=1509

[vaalkol]

Did the new short cut ST on the red route yesterday. Excellent addition to the ever-growing ST collection at Bot Hills. Still a bit loose which made those tight uphill switchbacks even more challenging. Flat bit of jeep track at the top was MUDDY. Thanks to efforts of Dirtman, Hellwarp & co we now have access as permit holders to basically uninterrupted ST from the yellow turn-off up to the end of green at Hazendal! (7 sections in all, I reckon)

[Hellwarp]

We have one or two "stay away" weekends every year thanks to the weather, this one is one of them. We've had a pretty good run of saturday weather but for the sake of the trails give them a break this weekend. Routes will take at least 2 days to recover after the predicted rain.

[leona]

Difficut to describe where the tap is.. The sign is really faded now. Maybe someone with the skills can mark a map and post it?

 

[dirtman]

Difficut to describe where the tap is.. The sign is really faded now. Maybe someone with the skills can mark a map and post it?

 

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.

Edited July 5, 2014 by dirtman

[dirtman]

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.