Cederberg circuit accommodation?

[DMJ]

My mate and I are bike packing the 250km Cederberg Circuit, over 3 days (approx. 80 km per day) in mid July 2023.

Can anyone pls recommend *catered* accommodation en route?

Most places seem to be self-catering.

On day 1 in particular we need catered accommodation about 80km to 100km from Citrusdal.

Thanks in advance.

[tinmug]

Apart from the dorps – Citrusdal and Clanwilliam – catering en route will be scarce. You can probably pre-arrange for meals at Cederberg Oasis. Possibly Mount Ceder too. 

[Chrisjanopsyfiets]

You can pre arrange meals at Kromrivier. Other than that very few options.

 

[100Tours]

The pdf map on the website is a good place to start - they have marked a few places as catering.

[Lynskey]

Oasis has a restaurant. So do quite a few places. Decide where you going to stop each night and then find food. Clanwilliam has many places. So does Citrusdal. Op die berg has a fantastic coffee shop but closed on weekends. Plan your route first.

[MilkManMike]

Is there a specific reason your choosing mid July? Weather conditions can be pretty wild that time of year.

[dirtypot]

I stayed at Gecko Creek and they made food there if you pre arrange it.  Great place to stay too - very remote.  Used that as my starting point and then grabbed breakfast at Oasis as I went past.  Got a pie in Op-Die-Berg and that was enough for the whole trip.  But I guess its different if you're doing it over multiple days.  

[Stephan]

Your accommodation options once you get into the Cederberg are the following: 

Jamaka Organic Farm (well stocked farm shop where you can get snacks, drinks, etc.)
Cape Nature Algeria camp (very poorly stocked shop at reception, basically they sell ice and a few cooldrinks if you are lucky)

Driehoek (limited supply of snacks and general supplies that people need when they camp there, but to get to Driehoek you have to detour off the main road)

Sanddrift (decent supply of snacks, ships, nuts, etc. and drinks at their small shop)

Kromriver (fully stocked shop and restaurant - your best option)

Oasis (restaurant and bar - second best option)

Nuwerus (just a place to sleep, no food)

Mount Ceder (excellent restaurant and limited supply of some snacks and drinks - my personal preference in terms of overnight stop on night 2 of the circuit) 

Next stop heading south from Mount Ceder is the shops at Op-Die-Berg. 

[splat]

We looked at doing this over 3 days, but eventually canned the idea as we struggled to find 2 places that had accommodation AND food because we didn't want to schlepp all of that.
I am sure that there are options as many people have done this.

[dave303e]

surely a few freeze dried meals and a jetboil will do the trick?

[Eddy Gordo]

We also looked at doing a 2 or 3 day trip out there 2 years ago. We opted to stay at kromriver and just cycled out from there. We had a blast!

We always stop at mount cedar on the way out and enjoy our short stop there.

[Stephan]

If you want to go light and don't carry supper, then my personal favorite route option is:

Start at Kunje Guest Farm (call them and pre-arrange parking, they are very nice).

Day 1 - Kunje > Citrusdal > into the berg over Nieuwoudts Pass > sleep at Jamaka (the shop has more than enough food and beer, so you dont need to carry anything).

Day 2 - Jamaka > up Uitkyk Pass > rest stop at Sanddrift wines / Kromriver / Oasis > sleep at Mount Ceder. 

Day 3 - Mount Ceder back to Kunje (if you want to, call the owner of Houdenbek Farm and ask his permission to take the shortcut through his farm to connect back to the R303 where the shoulder starts).

Alternatively, if you want to follow the whole route, then start in Citrusdal, go all the way down to Clanwilliam and come back up the dirt road, sleep at Jamaka. Day 2 is the same, but day 3 is a very long one and you have to do Middelberg Pass at the end of three days with tired legs. 

[splat]

1 hour ago, dave303e said:

surely a few freeze dried meals and a jetboil will do the trick?

This is Mamils on Tour. The terms Glamping and Slack Packing come to mind.
Its not Bear Grylls Bootcamp!
There needs to be beer and wine and steak 😂

[dave303e]

13 minutes ago, splat said:

This is Mamils on Tour. The terms Glamping and Slack Packing come to mind.
Its not Bear Grylls Bootcamp!
There needs to be beer and wine and steak 😂

fair enough. I watched a mamil hike a papsak up mafadi once, 3 reasons- He had a good night sleep(everyone around his snoring not so much), he enjoyed some wine and he had a pillow for the evening once he blew the empty papsak up...

 

[Anthem24]

The wind can be a bugger on those long southern straight stretches apparently. I feel fortunate that we got to do it the other way, before Uitkyk Pass and Pakhuis Pass were tarred. Algeria - Sandrift - Eselbank -  Wuppertal - Heuningvlei - Pakhuis Pass - Clanwilliam and along the back road to Algeria. More interesting, I think. We had a back-up vehicle but the local community in Wuppertal or Eselbank had some accommodation options back then.  

[Jackb]

Stephan and I did this trip in, I think it was late Sept/Oct 2021. I can't remember the exact month but one of those 2 and we experienced rain on day 1 and alot more on day 2, day 3 was hot as hell, but the experience of doing it was something else. Yes the road isn't perfect but you find a line and keep going. The corrugations will only make you stronger. The section after Zooridge Guest Farm towards Op die Berg  were possibly the worst known to man and hopefully they have graded that road since then. We were a party of 8. If you want restaurant food you maze well go by car. It takes the experience out of it. That's my view. A lekker fire brings gees and memories are shared. 

I've cycled trough Europe, around Southern Ireland and nothing beats bikepacking in our country. I would love it if I could make a living from it. We have such a awesome county to explore. 

Some great sites are www.bicyclesouth.co.za (have contributed planned routes by folks) or www.bikepacking.com

Cheers