Route guides · 04
Bainskloof to Ceres and back
About 270 km door to door, seven hours with stops, and two very different passes. This is the day that tells you whether your car and your back are suited to long Cape touring.
The shape of the day
Stellenbosch to Paarl, up to Wellington, over Bainskloof on the R301, across to Wolseley, through Michell's Pass into Ceres, lunch, and home either the same way or down the N1 through the Du Toitskloof tunnel. Roughly 270 km. We budget seven hours including a proper sit-down stop, and we leave by eight.
Reversing the direction changes the day more than the distance suggests. Going out over Bainskloof while the kloof is still in shade is cool and pleasant; coming back over it at four in the afternoon, with the sun in the gaps and a tired driver, is work. If there is one car in the party with a nervous passenger, take the tunnel home.
Bainskloof: narrow, old, worth it
Bainskloof is a nineteenth-century mountain road that was never widened for modern traffic, and it shows. The carriageway is narrow, the stone parapet is low, and in places two wide vehicles meeting on a bend will both need to slow to a crawl. A wide double-cab bakkie with mirrors out feels enormous up there.
That is also why it is the best driving on this itinerary. Speeds are low, the surface is mostly sound, and the road follows the rock rather than cutting through it. Rockfall is the real hazard after rain: expect loose stone on the inside of bends and do not swing wide to avoid it into the oncoming lane.
Michell's Pass and the Ceres basin
Michell's Pass on the R46 is a quicker, more modern road and makes a useful contrast after Bainskloof. It carries freight and fruit trucks, so leave room. Through the pass the Ceres basin opens up suddenly, and in winter you can drop five or six degrees in the last three kilometres.
Ceres itself is a working fruit town with reliable fuel and somewhere decent to eat, which makes it a sensible turning point. Fill up there whether or not you think you need to; the alternative is arriving back in Wellington on fumes after a slow run.
Fuel, range and where to fill
On a run like this a mid-size petrol saloon driven sensibly will use somewhere around 8 to 9 litres per 100 km, which over 270 km is roughly 23 litres. Diesel in a similar car sits nearer 6.5 to 7. Climbing passes with a loaded boot pushes both figures up, and so does air conditioning on a hot day.
At indicative petrol prices in the low twenties of rand per litre, you are looking at somewhere around R500 to R600 in fuel for the day in a petrol car. Our fill points are Wellington before Bainskloof, Ceres at the turn, and Paarl on the way home. Three stations, all with somewhere to use a clean toilet, which matters more than people admit.
Comfort over seven hours
Hour four is where cars separate. Seats that felt supportive in the showroom start to feel flat under the thigh, and a backrest without adjustable lumbar support becomes an ache between the shoulder blades. If your car has only four-way seat adjustment, take a small rolled towel and put it in the small of your back before you leave, not after.
Noise matters as much as cushioning. Coarse-chip tar on the Wolseley stretch puts a steady drone into the cabin, and after two hours of it conversation becomes an effort and the driver tires faster. A car with double-glazed front glass and decent wheel-arch lining is worth real money on this kind of day.
In short
- Roughly 270 km and seven hours; leave by eight and take the tunnel home if anyone is tired.
- Expect loose stone on the inside of Bainskloof bends after rain, and do not swing wide to avoid it.
- Budget around R500 to R600 of petrol, indicative, and fill at Wellington, Ceres and Paarl.