Cape Town danger areas

[ChrisF]

22 minutes ago, RossTopher said:

looking for a slightly new road route to get out to Paarl/Franschoek.

Coming from cape gate side, is waarburgh road safe nowadays? I remember reading about an incident but seems like it was about YEARS ago.

 

i was thinking of the stretch of waarburgh or sandringham, either side of the n1 to get me to teh Giraffe House/Old Paarl road.

cars on bottelery in the last while have been hectic, and want to avoid passing fisantekraal early in the morning.

thanks

 

My preferred route, from Bellville :

- Bottelary

- Krommeree (traffic wise the tricky bit, but very short)

- Stellenbosch, Hellshoogte

-Pniel and then Franschhoek.

 

Same route back, or I turn left in Stellenbosch toward Somerset West.  At the Strawberry farm I turn and then come back via Kuilsriver.  (current roadworks not so nice).

 

 

 

I used to go via Klapmuts, but that section from Klapmuts until you join the road the Franschhoek is not nice in traffic ....  most vehicles are nice, but too many trucks that dont slow down.

[RossTopher]

13 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

My preferred route, from Bellville :

- Bottelary

- Krommeree (traffic wise the tricky bit, but very short)

- Stellenbosch, Hellshoogte

-Pniel and then Franschhoek.

 

Same route back, or I turn left in Stellenbosch toward Somerset West.  At the Strawberry farm I turn and then come back via Kuilsriver.  (current roadworks not so nice).

 

 

 

I used to go via Klapmuts, but that section from Klapmuts until you join the road the Franschhoek is not nice in traffic ....  most vehicles are nice, but too many trucks that dont slow down.

Cheers Chris, indeed those routes are how we normally go too. Generally the safest.
I was wanting to mix things up a bit, but peace of mind trumps change.

[Danger Dassie]

26 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

My preferred route, from Bellville :

- Bottelary

- Krommeree (traffic wise the tricky bit, but very short)

- Stellenbosch, Hellshoogte

-Pniel and then Franschhoek.

 

Same route back, or I turn left in Stellenbosch toward Somerset West.  At the Strawberry farm I turn and then come back via Kuilsriver.  (current roadworks not so nice).

 

 

 

I used to go via Klapmuts, but that section from Klapmuts until you join the road the Franschhoek is not nice in traffic ....  most vehicles are nice, but too many trucks that dont slow down.

How are Bottelary and Pniel areas now?

[ChrisF]

4 minutes ago, Danger Dassie said:

How are Bottelary and Pniel areas now?

 

I have mostly good experiences along these routes.

 

The turn to Kraaifontein has the odd gap jumper ....

[ChrisF]

4 hours ago, RossTopher said:

Cheers Chris, indeed those routes are how we normally go too. Generally the safest.
I was wanting to mix things up a bit, but peace of mind trumps change.

 

I have chansed the bit from Vierlanden to Klipheuwel ... with a 6'8" fellow Hubber .... nice to see the road clear ... 😋

 

From Klipheuwel so many routes to take.

 

 

 

 

Totally different route, just to mix it up -

 

Bottelary - Klapmuts - Agter Paarl Windmeul - coffee stop at Toeka. Back via Klipheuwel - Philladelphia - Adderley.

Edited November 10, 2023 by ChrisF

[Hairy]

I just want to add, if you guys are out on those back roads, please use a flashing red light .... based on what I have been seeing on the back roads, you can spot a cyclist from far away with a flashing red light in the middle of the day, but they do not stand out as easily with no light at all.

A small thing that makes a huge difference to your safety on the roads.

[milky4130]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:34 PM, RossTopher said:

looking for a slightly new road route to get out to Paarl/Franschoek.

Coming from cape gate side, is waarburgh road safe nowadays? I remember reading about an incident but seems like it was about YEARS ago.

 

i was thinking of the stretch of waarburgh or sandringham, either side of the n1 to get me to teh Giraffe House/Old Paarl road.

cars on bottelery in the last while have been hectic, and want to avoid passing fisantekraal early in the morning.

thanks

either should be fine, I've done it a couples of times in the past 12 months, most recent one was solo 3 weeks ago.

https://www.strava.com/activities/10083935436

[RossTopher]

7 hours ago, milky4130 said:

either should be fine, I've done it a couples of times in the past 12 months, most recent one was solo 3 weeks ago.

https://www.strava.com/activities/10083935436

Excellent, thank you. 

 

Mind if I steal that route, looks ideal

[milky4130]

8 hours ago, RossTopher said:

Excellent, thank you. 

 

Mind if I steal that route, looks ideal

Be my guest.

[Skubarra]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:34 PM, RossTopher said:

looking for a slightly new road route to get out to Paarl/Franschoek.

Coming from cape gate side, is waarburgh road safe nowadays? I remember reading about an incident but seems like it was about YEARS ago.

 

i was thinking of the stretch of waarburgh or sandringham, either side of the n1 to get me to teh Giraffe House/Old Paarl road.

cars on bottelery in the last while have been hectic, and want to avoid passing fisantekraal early in the morning.

thanks

There were a number of incidents, not just one.... That said I cycled waarburgh this morning - no problems...

What makes that road treacherous imo is that it appears like an distant country road but in reality its just the N1 and a few 100 meters that separates it from a big township. In your case you would avoid Fisantekraal but now pass close to Bloekombos/Wallacedene.

Also the road is very quiet so if you do run into trouble there don't expect any help or even someone to notice. I think its ok to cycle if you are vigilant but be prepared to turn around if you see characters hanging around.

Sandringham feels a bit creepy to me as it is even closer to Bloekombos but I am not aware of any incidents that happened there.

[jeanke6]

Hello Cape Town MTB community,

I'm Jan (Belgium living in the Netherlands) and will be staying in Cape Town (near V&A waterfront) later this week and next week. I will bring my MTB and would be happy to hear where are safe places to ride, and also safe ways to ride to the spot. I heard good things about Tokai for example, but I'm not sure what would be the best route to ride there.

I normally use a combination of Strava and Komoot to plan my routes but those do not take safely into account. With the reported crimes, it would be great to get advice from locals. Maybe you could links/gpx from activities that you can recommend. For example, I made this one to Tokai: https://www.strava.com/routes/3162040241926561616 Is this a good plan?

I'm also very much looking forward to joining groups and locals, so I will also start a topic in that specific area.

Very much looking forward but also quite concerned about the crimes.

[Chrisjanopsyfiets]

1 hour ago, jeanke6 said:

Hello Cape Town MTB community,

I'm Jan (Belgium living in the Netherlands) and will be staying in Cape Town (near V&A waterfront) later this week and next week. I will bring my MTB and would be happy to hear where are safe places to ride, and also safe ways to ride to the spot. I heard good things about Tokai for example, but I'm not sure what would be the best route to ride there.

I normally use a combination of Strava and Komoot to plan my routes but those do not take safely into account. With the reported crimes, it would be great to get advice from locals. Maybe you could links/gpx from activities that you can recommend. For example, I made this one to Tokai: https://www.strava.com/routes/3162040241926561616 Is this a good plan?

I'm also very much looking forward to joining groups and locals, so I will also start a topic in that specific area.

Very much looking forward but also quite concerned about the crimes.

Jonkershoek in Stellenbosch….very safe. But you need to drive there and back to go and ride…. Well worth it though

[jeanke6]

I forgot to mention I don't have a car. I heard great things about Stellenbosch but unless I could join someone to go there, I'm afraid this won't be an option for me.

[Barry]

2 hours ago, jeanke6 said:

Hello Cape Town MTB community,

I'm Jan (Belgium living in the Netherlands) and will be staying in Cape Town (near V&A waterfront) later this week and next week. I will bring my MTB and would be happy to hear where are safe places to ride, and also safe ways to ride to the spot. I heard good things about Tokai for example, but I'm not sure what would be the best route to ride there.

I normally use a combination of Strava and Komoot to plan my routes but those do not take safely into account. With the reported crimes, it would be great to get advice from locals. Maybe you could links/gpx from activities that you can recommend. For example, I made this one to Tokai: https://www.strava.com/routes/3162040241926561616 Is this a good plan?

I'm also very much looking forward to joining groups and locals, so I will also start a topic in that specific area.

Very much looking forward but also quite concerned about the crimes.

V&A is much the center of town and without a car not much springs to mind. Tokai is a bit far without a car. 

[ChrisF]

ROAD -

Maybe out past Seapoint towards Houtbay ?  Maybe even Chapmanspeak (wind permitting) ?

 

What are your distances you want to, or can ride ?

 

About 100km if you go out to Houtbay, Chapmanspeak, then at Noordhoek turn towards Simonstown and follow the road around to Mistycliffs and then back.

 

 

MTB -

I recently road a section of Silvermine, my first time there.  NICE !!  BUT ... due to the heavy winter we had the roads and trails have taken a beating and there are some severe erosion, often shortly after blind turns.  Be ready to stop, or bail out, at any time !!

 

Locals such as @Zebra can give you a lot more info of routes on that side of Cape Town.

[DuncanCT]

@jeanke6 how many km's are you comfortable to ride in one session? If you make it up to the Tafelberg Road you can get to Newlands Forrest and Potentially Tokai but that is some propper distance.