Franschoek Trails

[Trashy]

19 minutes ago, Jbr said:

Quick question to those who know the area. Is it possible to ride from the bottom of Franschhoek pass (Viliersdorp side) to Han se Kop ?

I checked strava data, it seems some of the segments have been ridden recently, but they are recorded the other way around (from hans se kop towads FH pass).

It seems to be quite an adventure though... 120km with that kind of elevation definitely won't take 4 hours.

I'm open to suggestions for nices rides that side, I already did the little network east side of Berg River Dam. Not so keen on doing the road towards Boschendal but I could maybe drive that side and ride from there. Banhoek seems to be a bit small for a 3 hour ride (I don't want to be doing 10x the same loop), but there's probably a possibility to connect from banhoek to hels or something...

I'm looking at +/- 3 hour with a little bit of fun but that also feels like an adventure, if anyone has a nice route for me that I can just load on the garmin, would be great

 

Boschendal should have you covered and there are lots of super fun trails there.

If you start at Boschendal you can ride a loop on the Banhoek side of the road (and even connect with Banhoek if you feel like doing a quick loop there), then you can cross the tar road and do a relatively tough 30km (+-1000m elevation) loop all the way through to Plaisir. That can be made longer if you throw in a few sessions of the flow trail.

[Jbr]

Last time I did Boschendal I must have missed the fun part.. The adventure part was definitely there though

[Robbie Stewart]

1 hour ago, Jbr said:

Last time I did Boschendal I must have missed the fun part.. The adventure part was definitely there though

Start at Banhoek, cross over to Boschendal and then over to Plaisir. Start with fun, then have some adventure and finish with a bang on the flow line. What more does one need?

Or, Banhoek and up to Bartinney and over to Botma's Kop and around to Jonkers, or even in reverse. Although I'm not sure how kosher Botma's Kop is these days.

[Jbr]

3 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Start at Banhoek, cross over to Boschendal and then over to Plaisir. Start with fun, then have some adventure and finish with a bang on the flow line. What more does one need?

Or, Banhoek and up to Bartinney and over to Botma's Kop and around to Jonkers, or even in reverse. Although I'm not sure how kosher Botma's Kop is these days.

That's a pretty good idea, is it all on the same pass ? I think Banhoek and boschendal are ?

[Trashy]

33 minutes ago, Jbr said:

That's a pretty good idea, is it all on the same pass ? I think Banhoek and boschendal are ?

Boschendal, Banhoek and Plaisir are all same pass

[Jbr]

Perfect ! not sure how to navigate between banhoek & boschendal on the trails but I'll gladly get lost that side !

[Michael S]

Nice route at Banhoek that should keep you busy for just under 2h.

Good adventure feel and big fun to finish off. 

Single track climb all along the side of helshoogte pass to keep you off the road.
https://www.strava.com/routes/2810539858058107112

Very easily linked up with Boschendal, so perhaps a good start and end point for extra distance.

Trust me, you probably want to work in 2 laps of each trail at Banhoek anyways, so you can work in another hour or so.

 

[Hairy]

Give Franschhoek Cycles a call and see what the locals would advise

https://franschhoek-cycles.business.site/

[Jbr]

8 minutes ago, Michael S said:

Nice route at Banhoek that should keep you busy for just under 2h.

Good adventure feel and big fun to finish off. 

Single track climb all along the side of helshoogte pass to keep you off the road.
https://www.strava.com/routes/2810539858058107112

Very easily linked up with Boschendal, so perhaps a good start and end point for extra distance.

Trust me, you probably want to work in 2 laps of each trail at Banhoek anyways, so you can work in another hour or so.

 

That looks very much like a portion of val de vie stage 3. I was wondering if I'd do this OR rather turn earlier, smash banhoek early and then head over the other side to ride Plaisir's flow trail that I have never ridden... Guess I'll decide in the morning, but thanks for this route that I'll definitely consider !

[JohanLotter]

3 hours ago, Jbr said:

Quick question to those who know the area. Is it possible to ride from the bottom of Franschhoek pass (Viliersdorp side) to Han se Kop ?

I checked strava data, it seems some of the segments have been ridden recently, but they are recorded the other way around (from hans se kop towads FH pass).

It seems to be quite an adventure though... 120km with that kind of elevation definitely won't take 4 hours.

I'm open to suggestions for nices rides that side, I already did the little network east side of Berg River Dam. Not so keen on doing the road towards Boschendal but I could maybe drive that side and ride from there. Banhoek seems to be a bit small for a 3 hour ride (I don't want to be doing 10x the same loop), but there's probably a possibility to connect from banhoek to hels or something...

I'm looking at +/- 3 hour with a little bit of fun but that also feels like an adventure, if anyone has a nice route for me that I can just load on the garmin, would be great

 

The part between the Theewaterskloof Dam and Viljoens Pass is a hiking trail as far as I know. Here is more realistic route altough I do not know the route from Viljoens Pass to Han se Kop well: https://www.strava.com/routes/2939519109304482104

Feel free to message me if you have any questions about the Banhoek/Boschendal/Plaiser or Berg River dam trails.

[Trashy]

I'll be doing about 30km at Plaisir/Boschendal tomorrow morning if you want someone to show you around. Might be a bit slow for you though.

[milky4130]

50 minutes ago, Jbr said:

That looks very much like a portion of val de vie stage 3. I was wondering if I'd do this OR rather turn earlier, smash banhoek early and then head over the other side to ride Plaisir's flow trail that I have never ridden... Guess I'll decide in the morning, but thanks for this route that I'll definitely consider !

https://www.strava.com/activities/5720298433

Start & Finish at Boschendal, immediately cross the road to do Trails that side plus Plasir De Merle, tar ride back past Boschendal to Banhoek (Old Bethlehem Trails) return to Boschendal via jeep & single track, plus one knee deep river crossing close to the end.

[Trashy]

21 minutes ago, milky4130 said:

https://www.strava.com/activities/5720298433

Start & Finish at Boschendal, immediately cross the road to do Trails that side plus Plasir De Merle, tar ride back past Boschendal to Banhoek (Old Bethlehem Trails) return to Boschendal via jeep & single track, plus one knee deep river crossing close to the end.

That River near the end has a lot less water at the moment.

[Jbr]

23 minutes ago, milky4130 said:

https://www.strava.com/activities/5720298433

Start & Finish at Boschendal, immediately cross the road to do Trails that side plus Plasir De Merle, tar ride back past Boschendal to Banhoek (Old Bethlehem Trails) return to Boschendal via jeep & single track, plus one knee deep river crossing close to the end.

awesome thanks

[Robbie Stewart]

Session Banhoek and / or Plaisir for a smile that will linger for weeks. I am heading out that way myself on Saturday. I need some of that in my life at the moment.

I won't spoil the surprise for the Plaisir flow trail but it keeps me coming back for more. And more.

In fact, I appreciate Plaisir so much it was where I chose to ride again the first time back on the bike for me after breaking my ankle...

[Trashy]

31 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Session Banhoek and / or Plaisir for a smile that will linger for weeks. I am heading out that way myself on Saturday. I need some of that in my life at the moment.

I won't spoil the surprise for the Plaisir flow trail but it keeps me coming back for more. And more.

In fact, I appreciate Plaisir so much it was where I chose to ride again the first time back on the bike for me after breaking my ankle...

Good news then, when I rode there yesterday i saw that they've started work on the bottom half of the flow trail. What they've done already looks sick.

 

It does cross over the trail that takes you to the top though so not sure how that will work on busy days.