Route guides · 02
Franschhoek Pass when the cloud sits low
The R45 above Franschhoek climbs about nine kilometres to a summit near 700 metres. In a south-easter the top can be in cloud while the village below sits in sunshine, and that gap catches good drivers out several times a season.
How the weather arrives
Weather on this pass comes over the shoulder, not up the valley. You can stand in Franschhoek's main road in still, warm air and see nothing wrong, then meet the cloud base three kilometres into the climb as a grey wall across the road. In winter, with a north-wester pushing in, the same thing happens with rain that arrives sideways.
Our rule is to look at the Middagkrans ridge before committing. If the top third of the mountain is hidden and the cloud edge looks ragged rather than flat, the pass will be in it within the hour. A flat, high base usually sits there all day and is driveable with lights on and speed down.
Reading the road surface
The tar on the pass is good, and that is part of the trap. Good tar with a film of mist on it has far less grip than it looks like it has, particularly in the first ten minutes of wetting when dust and rubber lift off the surface. The cambered right-handers on the upper third are where people find this out.
Watch the gutters and the rock face. Water running across the road from the cut slope leaves a clean strip of wet tar that you can see from fifty metres if you are looking for it. Where the gutter is choked with leaf litter after a storm, expect standing water on the inside line and keep wide of it.
Brakes, gears and the descent
Descending towards the Theewaterskloof side, the gradient is relentless rather than severe. Hold second or third, let the engine do the work, and reserve the brakes for actual slowing. A loaded seven-seater that comes down in top gear on the brakes alone will be smelling of hot pads by the bottom, and the pedal will go long exactly when you need it.
If you drive something with paddle shifters or a manual mode you have never used, this is the road on which to learn. Most modern automatics will hold a low gear downhill without complaint, and the difference in brake temperature between an engine-braked descent and a coasting one is not subtle.
Turning back without drama
There is no shame in a U-turn. There are four or five places on the lower half of the pass where a car can turn safely using a pull-off, and none at all on the tightest section, so make the decision early. If visibility drops below roughly fifty metres, we turn around and drive the long way around through Villiersdorp rather than press on.
Do it properly when you do it. Indicate, pull fully into the gravel, let anything behind you pass, and only then turn. Half a car still in the lane in cloud is how a slow day becomes an expensive one.
What to carry
A dry cloth for the inside of the glass, because demisting a cold windscreen in a car with a weak blower takes longer than you think. A warm layer: the summit can be ten degrees cooler than the village, and if you stop you will feel it. Fuel above a quarter tank, since the nearest reliable pumps are back down in Franschhoek or over on the Villiersdorp side.
Leave the drone and the tripod at home unless you have somewhere legal to stand. The viewpoints are narrow, the pull-offs are small, and a car parked badly on this pass is a genuine hazard to everyone coming around the bend behind it.
In short
- Check the ridge before you commit: ragged cloud edge means the pass will be in it within the hour.
- Hold second or third on the descent; brake in firm short applications rather than riding the pedal.
- Below about fifty metres of visibility, turn back on the lower half and go around via Villiersdorp.