Karoo Crossing route? Grabouw to Prince Albert

[Underachiever]

5 minutes ago, Joedirt92 said:

Our family comes from Kruisriver, so I know the area quite well.

I would suggest you go further on day 4 as previously mentioned, otherwise you have the drag to Kruisrivier + the three "kriega" climbs towards Swartberg pass + swartberg pass for day 5 (2000m climbing at least)

Day 4 can be extended to closer to the swartberg pass, and there arw a lot of acommodation options on the route

 

Cheers,

 

Johannes

 

Those kriega climbs!! elevation from groenfontein to the top of the pass is 1700m. eina!!!

Pity the OP cannot add a detour to Red Stone hills.  Or perhaps that is a good place to stay at day 4?

[DJR]

18 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

...............that is flippen cool. but a car ferry is quite an undertaking, and would it work with an empty dam?...............

I recall that they got an engineer to look at how to overcome the varying water level. There are 2 places where old roads are blocked by the dam. I think the plan was to use one closer to the dam wall where there would be more consistant water? Another alternative that was looked at was to construct a road further north and basically skirt the dam at its fullest. This got lots of headwind from Cape Nature.

(B.t.w. Not that it matters, but the Gamkapoort Dam is partly built on my ancestral farm, so, old historical connections to that place. The dam blocks 2 rivers, the Gamka, on the Prince Albert side, where my grandfather farmed, and the Dwyka, on the Laingsburg side.)

[Shebeen]

2 hours ago, DJR said:

I recall that they got an engineer to look at how to overcome the varying water level. There are 2 places where old roads are blocked by the dam. I think the plan was to use one closer to the dam wall where there would be more consistant water? Another alternative that was looked at was to construct a road further north and basically skirt the dam at its fullest. This got lots of headwind from Cape Nature.

(B.t.w. Not that it matters, but the Gamkapoort Dam is partly built on my ancestral farm, so, old historical connections to that place. The dam blocks 2 rivers, the Gamka, on the Prince Albert side, where my grandfather farmed, and the Dwyka, on the Laingsburg side.)

awesome....lovely part of the world

 

this is me trying to herd a flock of cats over the "been bone dry for 7 years" gamka in october 2021!

 

[100Tours]

3 hours ago, Underachiever said:

It would be nice to drive this by car as a family outing?  I assume you can drive all the way to the dam - seems there is a lodge/cottages at the dam. @100Tours  where is the gate you are referring to?

The gate is just over 4km in from the T-junction on the Northern end on seweweekspoort. There is an interkom and it opens on a motor.

 

 

[Stephan]

Wow, thanks to everyone for the amazing response! Lots and lots of new ideas and route planning to do now. 🙂 

[Underachiever]

51 minutes ago, Stephan said:

Wow, thanks to everyone for the amazing response! Lots and lots of new ideas and route planning to do now. 🙂 

Benky's Rhino route might give some tips from Villiersdorp to Calitz - might not all be public roads.  His ride is on Strava.

[Robbie Stewart]

13 hours ago, Underachiever said:

It would be nice to drive this by car

I flipped a car off one of those low bridges in 2010. I drove through in the morning and it was a spectacular drive. When I came back at night the road had been graded. I came around a bend and lost the back end and slid over the side of the bridge into the river. Luckily only my ego was hurt. Lost the car though. If you do drive, be safe. Those corners are deceptively sharp.

[DJR]

On 11/8/2023 at 5:59 PM, 100Tours said:

Bosluiskloof was an old Bain's pass built to access Prince Albert from Laingsburg. ............

The interesting part is that one can clearly see the influence of Thomas Bain in the construction of Bosluis Kloof, with the typical dry stone retaining walls so like that of his famous roadworks, but it was built by his brother in law. I think his name was Schmidt or Smit? Not that it matters, because beautiful will always be beautiful. (I wrote a history project on Thomas Bain when I was in Standard 5.........very long ago..........but it started a love for all those places that endured.)