gravel roads

White's Road meanders gently down from Wilderness Heights - a quiet, country road where Welsh ponies on the local stud farm add to the almost English charm.  This lovely drive is also popular with cyclists and walkers. 

The road has gentle gradients, seldom exceeding 1:12 and offers magnificent views of the Touw River Gorge, the Serpentine River, Island Lake, the estuary, Wilderness beach and village as well as Dolphin Point.

The road is peppered with corners, many which are very sharp, but if you comply with the speed limit, all will be well. Please note that there is a hight restriction halfway along the pass, so don't go and drive this road ina high roof campervan, bus or truck. The lower 2 km close to the village is tarred, but the quality of the tarring is uneven and bumpy - to the point that you will probably find the gravel a more pleasant surface to drive on.

The Winkelhaak Road is a 37 km gravel farm road which meanders through the Koue Bokkeveld north of Ceres between the many rivers, dams and lakes of this farming area, specialising in onions and potatoes. The scenery is richly diverse with the dominance of the rugged mountain-scape being omnipresent.

IMPORTANT NOTICE - The farmers have now locked five key gates along this route making it impossible to drive this beautiful route.

This lovely gravel pass runs along the east/west axis through the mountains between the farming areas along the R365 in the west, with the Kransvleikloof Pass to the east, near N7 close to Clanwilliam in the Sandveld region of the West Coast. The region is well known for the production of potatoes and in this kloof, with its own micro-climate, many farms also produce citrus products, similar to the Olifants River valley a few kilometers further to the east.

This steep, high altitude gravel pass is situated between the N9 route and the village of Nieu-Bethesda, where artist Helen Martins turned her Karoo home into a fantastical landscape, with concrete and ground-glass sculptures of owls, camels and angels. The town was established in 1875 and is dominated by the peak known as Kompasberg (Compass Mountain) which is the 6th highest mountain in the Eastern Cape and forms part of the Sneeuberg range. The town is very secluded and as such has become something of a retreat for artists and writers.

This gravel road pass should be viewed in conjunction with the Mokobulaan Pass as they follow each other from south to north towards Lydenburg. It rises 296 vertical meters over 7,62 km to summit at 1251m producing an average gradient of 1:26. There are however, some very steep sections at 1:4. The start of the pass can be located on the R593 about midway between Machadodorp and Montrose.