Bikepacking / Bike Touring

[capediver]

2 hours ago, DJR said:

Below is a bit I wrote about a decade ago for an article on the Hell (Just in case someone wonders who Oom Koos was):

The road into Gamkaskloof is completely different from the Swartberg Pass and was only completed in the 1962, basically by 1 man, an Ellis Chalmers bulldozer and a small team of workers. When tenders were invited to build this road, there was very little interest and those tenders received were so expensive that the provincial roads department almost scrapped the idea. One of the local divisional council grader drivers, Oom Koos Van Zyl, said he could do it if they gave him a proper bulldozer and there and then it was decided to do the job in-house. In a very short time, about a year and a half, he single handedly bulldozed the Hell Road from the Swartberg Pass turn off into the kloof, and for very little money, R30 000 to be precise. He got paid only his normal meagre salary throughout. About halfway along the Hell road is a massive boulder called Oom Koos Se Klip, right on the very edge of the road. It is said that this was the only obstacle that got the better of him and his bulldozer, which is why the road winds slightly around it and not straight through it! The exact location of the route was determined by the geology of the surrounding mountains. It simply avoided hard rock that would need blasting and stuck strictly to rock that could be bulldozed. The last bit, the Elands Pass descent into the valley, I think, is the real monument to his bravery and ingenuity. It must have taken huge balls to drive a dozer from the top down that mountain cliff. A bulldozer has incredible power and traction on level ground, but very little on a steep side slope. Going over the cliff edge must have been a very real and present danger every step of the way. The 3,5 km long Elands Pass drops 500 m in altitude, it has 51 bends, 5 of which are full 270 degree hairpin bends. Now you know why the Hell Road has no beautiful hand built stone walls! Bulldozers might be efficient, but they are not made for stylish elegant construction. It is very different from the Swartberg Pass, but with a rugged beauty of its own!

For the number crunchers: The total distance is 37 km, with 201 bends, curves or corners, yes, that is 18 per kilometre. Not straight! It contains 8 separate mountain passes and the Hollanders would see the bits in between as mountain passes as well! So, not flat! It crosses 5 streams with shallow rocky drifts and no bridges. These become impassable after flash floods. As with the Swartberg Pass, snow and ice often close it in winter, but usually only for a few days at a time. The official name of this route is the Otto Du Plessis road (administrator of the Cape Province at the time), but they should rather have called it The Road That Oom Koos Built!

Excellent description there, DJR, and great info...The Eland's Pass is EPIC!!! One day I will return to complete my plan...ride out ALL the way! But yes, truly magnificent...however, that 30k's from the summit to the T-junction with the Swartberg Pass is surely underrated...I did look at the route profile when planning but it gives no idea of the grind that it is to get that 30km done! It took me 3 and half hours to do 15ks!!!!  OK, I am loaded and stop often to film...but it did me in and I passed that murasie @ KP15 as the sun started to set and kept going for about another 2k's then realized I would never make it to the T-junction at a decent time so I turned back and set up in the relative comfort of the murasie...best decision! Otherworldly experience!

[Prince Albert Cycles]

3 hours ago, DJR said:

Below is a bit I wrote about a decade ago for an article on the Hell (Just in case someone wonders who Oom Koos was):

The road into Gamkaskloof is completely different from the Swartberg Pass and was only completed in the 1962, basically by 1 man, an Ellis Chalmers bulldozer and a small team of workers. When tenders were invited to build this road, there was very little interest and those tenders received were so expensive that the provincial roads department almost scrapped the idea. One of the local divisional council grader drivers, Oom Koos Van Zyl, said he could do it if they gave him a proper bulldozer and there and then it was decided to do the job in-house. In a very short time, about a year and a half, he single handedly bulldozed the Hell Road from the Swartberg Pass turn off into the kloof, and for very little money, R30 000 to be precise. He got paid only his normal meagre salary throughout. About halfway along the Hell road is a massive boulder called Oom Koos Se Klip, right on the very edge of the road. It is said that this was the only obstacle that got the better of him and his bulldozer, which is why the road winds slightly around it and not straight through it! The exact location of the route was determined by the geology of the surrounding mountains. It simply avoided hard rock that would need blasting and stuck strictly to rock that could be bulldozed. The last bit, the Elands Pass descent into the valley, I think, is the real monument to his bravery and ingenuity. It must have taken huge balls to drive a dozer from the top down that mountain cliff. A bulldozer has incredible power and traction on level ground, but very little on a steep side slope. Going over the cliff edge must have been a very real and present danger every step of the way. The 3,5 km long Elands Pass drops 500 m in altitude, it has 51 bends, 5 of which are full 270 degree hairpin bends. Now you know why the Hell Road has no beautiful hand built stone walls! Bulldozers might be efficient, but they are not made for stylish elegant construction. It is very different from the Swartberg Pass, but with a rugged beauty of its own!

For the number crunchers: The total distance is 37 km, with 201 bends, curves or corners, yes, that is 18 per kilometre. Not straight! It contains 8 separate mountain passes and the Hollanders would see the bits in between as mountain passes as well! So, not flat! It crosses 5 streams with shallow rocky drifts and no bridges. These become impassable after flash floods. As with the Swartberg Pass, snow and ice often close it in winter, but usually only for a few days at a time. The official name of this route is the Otto Du Plessis road (administrator of the Cape Province at the time), but they should rather have called it The Road That Oom Koos Built!

Pragtig

[NC_lurker]

@capediver thoroughly enjoying your videos, thanks for the efforts.

I had the pleasure of overnighting in de Hel way back in about 2006 as part of the 2 day Hell & Back MTB race. Day 2 started at the base of Elands pass! Luckily we'd overnighted a few km up the valley so had a bit of a warm up ride - can't remember where we camped unfortunately.

Definitely need to make a plan to get back in....

Just a thought, you should rather be posting your trips on a dedicated "CapeDiver adventures" thread than piggybacking on this one. I'm sure @Matt wouldn't mind moving your stuff over...

[capediver]

2 hours ago, NC_lurker said:

@capediver thoroughly enjoying your videos, thanks for the efforts.

I had the pleasure of overnighting in de Hel way back in about 2006 as part of the 2 day Hell & Back MTB race. Day 2 started at the base of Elands pass! Luckily we'd overnighted a few km up the valley so had a bit of a warm up ride - can't remember where we camped unfortunately.

Definitely need to make a plan to get back in....

Just a thought, you should rather be posting your trips on a dedicated "CapeDiver adventures" thread than piggybacking on this one. I'm sure @Matt wouldn't mind moving your stuff over...

You may have camped at Middellande, just before BoPlaas Cottages in the east...speaking with Owen there, I saw a fantastic, huge, private campsite and he told me Arno from PA Cycles has done big camp outs there.

It is a special place but I will think hard about going back...Die Leer had me a-quiver prior to actually doing it...but in the end, it was really OK.....and Eland's Pass is a push, that's a given...I've done many of those!!!

It was that climb out from the top of Eland's Pass to Swartberg Pass which has me re-thinking a return, but in hindsight this may just be a psychological thing as I really thought "OK I got down the ladder, and across the flooded river, tuff guy!.. now it's just a quick up and down and out! " NO! So I reckon if I hadn't gotten stuck, that section would have just been pffftttt! Anyway, time heals all things quick, just leaves bigger scars sometimes!!!

PS a few weeks home and already seeds for the next trip have been planted...NAMAQUALAND!!!!!!

 

PPS: My own page....sjoe...that would mean a lot more adventures I'll have to go on!!! yippie!🤣 Your enthusiasm for capabilities is heartening!!!

Edited Sunday at 12:12 PM by capediver
Spelling

[NC_lurker]

46 minutes ago, capediver said:

It is a special place but I will think hard about going back...Die Leer had me a-quiver prior to actually doing it...but in the end, it was really OK.....and Eland's Pass is a push, that's a given...I've done many of those!!!

It was that climb out from the top of Eland's Pass to Swartberg Pass which has me re-thinking a return, but in hindsight this may just be a psychological thing as I really thought "OK I got down the ladder, and across the flooded river, tuff guy!.. now it's just a quick up and down and out! " NO! So I reckon if I hadn't gotten stuck, that section would have just been pffftttt! Anyway, time heals all things quick, just leaves bigger scars sometimes!!!

PS a few weeks home and already seeds for the next trip have been planted...NAMAQUALAND!!!!!!

Yeah I remember it being a long tough ride out of de Hel to the top of Swartberg! For me, your decision to overnight on the way out is such a refreshing take on things. Definitely all about the journey 👍

Keen to see what you're thinking about Namaqualand, flower season could be awesome. 

[100Tours]

3 hours ago, capediver said:

You may have camped at Middellande, just before BoPlaas Cottages in the east...speaking with Owen there, I saw a fantastic, huge, private campsite and he told me Arno from PA Cycles has done big camp outs there.

It is a special place but I will think hard about going back...Die Leer had me a-quiver prior to actually doing it...but in the end, it was really OK.....and Eland's Pass is a push, that's a given...I've done many of those!!!

It was that climb out from the top of Eland's Pass to Swartberg Pass which has me re-thinking a return, but in hindsight this may just be a psychological thing as I really thought "OK I got down the ladder, and across the flooded river, tuff guy!.. now it's just a quick up and down and out! " NO! So I reckon if I hadn't gotten stuck, that section would have just been pffftttt! Anyway, time heals all things quick, just leaves bigger scars sometimes!!!

PS a few weeks home and already seeds for the next trip have been planted...NAMAQUALAND!!!!!!

 

PPS: My own page....sjoe...that would mean a lot more adventures I'll have to go on!!! yippie!🤣 Your enthusiasm for capabilities is heartening!!!

I am looking out for the post on Namaqualand when it's ready...

I have a hankering to do this in the flower season, from Springbok down into Langebaan maybe. There's apparently a sea of sand to get through in the Namaqua national park past the Spoegrivier caves (if you choose that route), but once you get down to the Groenriviermond it should be plain sailing. There were a few footpaths that might get you past the sandy sea on the satellite images, and I'm guessing you're ok if you stick to a MTB. The sand road along the coast to the south is sublime.

Then where though. Maybe up into the Cedarberg?  I'm keen to see what you come up with

[capediver]

1 hour ago, 100Tours said:

I am looking out for the post on Namaqualand when it's ready...

I have a hankering to do this in the flower season, from Springbok down into Langebaan maybe. There's apparently a sea of sand to get through in the Namaqua national park past the Spoegrivier caves (if you choose that route), but once you get down to the Groenriviermond it should be plain sailing. There were a few footpaths that might get you past the sandy sea on the satellite images, and I'm guessing you're ok if you stick to a MTB. The sand road along the coast to the south is sublime.

Then where though. Maybe up into the Cedarberg?  I'm keen to see what you come up with

So I'm looking at 2, one looping out of Springbok over to Kleinsee along the R355, down a little to Rooiklippes Reserve, then inland again and crossing the N7 then back up to SBok

Another is a simple loop starting at Hondeklip, then N along the coast road to Kleinsee back inland a little along the R355 then turning off and heading S again thru the Namaqua Natl Park

 

 

Sections of these loops can be found in the SAND series from Johan Wahl...https://bikepacking.com/routes/sand-s2/

and here at BicycleSouth:

https://bicyclesouth.co.za/2018/08/bikepacking-the-namaqualand/

 

 

I haven't checked in detail yet so not sure about road conditions, access overnights etc etc...just breezing around Maps and checking online....

Spent some time up in that area but mostly offshore diving diamonds back in the day from Port Jolly/Nolloth!

Edited Sunday at 05:29 PM by capediver
Added info

[capediver]

Day 8, final day...starting early and grinding the last 15kms to the Swartberg Pass, stopping for chocolate cake at the Toll House near the Swartberg Pass summit, howling winds, reveling in the sudden exposure to more than just a few people after 8 days on the road! It really was downhill from then, after more coffee and roosterkoek at Kobus Se Gat, back to base in Calitzdorp and time for reflection...what an experience!

Total Distance: 249km's includes a few runs up and down to check the river levels!

Total Ascent: 4,897m

Highest Elevation: 1603m (Swartberg Pass)

The original plan was to turn left at the Swartberg Pass T-Junction and drop into Prince Albert to visit Arno at PA Cycles and stay with an old dive mate, Howard @ Karoo Views....sorry guys...so that's still going to have to be done!!

Thanks for accommodating me, Kevin and Colleen @ Gasteria Grange, Fritz and Jonel @ Op-Die-Plaas, Francois, Abraham, Maria, Piet and Owen @ BoPlaas Cottages, Piet and Marinette @ Fonteinplaas, and those I met on the road as well as the rowdy the gang of riders on tour from JHB at Kobus Se Gat!

 

 

 

 

 

I'll post a gear review and denouement later!

 

Lekka!

 

Edited Sunday at 08:02 PM by capediver
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[capediver]

 

This is a "short" recap of the route I eventually took...slightly different to the original plan and despite getting trapped by a flooded causeway, thoroughly enjoyable!