On-Hold - North-West Recce Trip

[iandvl]

Trip on hold currently - concerns were raised, so getting some clarification first.

I posted this on the Whatsapp group as well, but I've decided to do something about it for once. It's the first trip I'm putting together, so hopefully it works...

We all know Breedtsnek as a nice scenic drive between Rustenburg and Magaliesberg. It's a dirt road pass which, if maintenance occurred, would be a breeze to drive. In fact, back in the day, you'd regularly see VW Polos and other platkarre on it... However, with the lack of maintenance, along with the heavy rains we have had in the area in the past year or two, means it is no longer an "easy" drive for some vehicles. It's a breeze in a Patrol, so I'm not going to punt the Breedtsnek in a Patrol thing.... I drive the pass regularly, and I've seen more deterioration every time I've done it. Which means it perhaps one day will make a forum outing... But not yet...

The Southern slopes of the pass consist of relatively run off sections where some of the concrete water pipes are exposed. I recorded a video of this years ago. It's a boring video, but should give you an idea... It's here:

The Northern slopes of the pass consist of rocky sections (with run offs now), and some (minor) cross axel bits. Video is here:

Now, getting back to my plan... I had to plan a trip recently for a bunch of acquaintances here in Brits / Harties area who have not driven the pass before. I opted to stay off tar roads as much as possible, and was mucking around on BaseCamp for quite a bit plotting routes, as those dirt roads will confuse the heck out of anyone... And I noticed that there is a second "4x4 only" roads over the Magaliesberg next to Breedtsnek. And discussions with various people indicate that this is an "open" road...

My decision ? I want to do a recce mission on that road... But I will need a few vehicles, as I have absolutely no idea what to expect. I also cannot promising that it will be exciting or challenging, as I've not driven it before. Elevation profiles (and even the Google satellite images) make it look fairly tame. But I don't normally trust that as I've seen regular cases where what seems to have been tame is actually entirely absolutely different when you're on the ground...

In short, here is a picture of the pass (highlighted in red), and my proposed route (highlighted in green).

This is the Google Maps imagery of the route with the routes highlighted.

And the same image without the routes (just for comparison efforts).

Finally, an elevation profile of the route (running from South - the bottom of the satellite imagery - to North - the top). As I mentioned, it doesn't look too rough, but...

In summary ? I want to do this on Sunday 15th July. Idea would be to meet up early in Magaliesberg, head out to Breedtsnek and do the alternate route. If it's a laugh, we drive back the same way. If it takes a bit of a while, we head back on tar on the old Rustenburg road, stop for a beer or lunch in Harties, and head homewards from there. So if anyone is interested in scouting a newish route, please let me know.

[iandvl]

Oh - I forgot. This is a zip file containing the GPX files - in case anyone wants to dig into them in BaseCamp.

breedtsnek.zip

(7.07 KiB) Downloaded 172 times

[Peter Connan]

I am keen.

[offroadbiker]

Well Magalies is basically my back yard so I probably dont have a choice.

[Nissan KingCab]

Let me be the bearer of bad news.

I'm one of those crazy MTB cyclists you spoke of in the WhatsApp group.
In the past the Magalies Monster MTB race went up that same route you laid out in your post and as far as I know that route is on private land. In the race you have to go through gates to access that road.
The second part is that once at the top there would be some road building involved to get back to the dirt road (Breedts Nek) as there is only a single track left of what might have been a road.

We often go to Mountain Sanctuary Park and from the shop at the bottom of Breedts Nek to the gate of Mountain Sanctuary it's all fenced on the right hand side of the road (mountain side).

It would probably be beter to contact the owners and arrage with them if you want to take a group up that road.

[Kagiso II]

When ?
How long ? 1 day? weekend?

[Wilkie]

15th wont work for me ......doing 3 provinces....

[iandvl]

Let me be the bearer of bad news.

I'm one of those crazy MTB cyclists you spoke of in the WhatsApp group.
In the past the Magalies Monster MTB race went up that same route you laid out in your post and as far as I know that route is on private land. In the race you have to go through gates to access that road.
The second part is that once at the top there would be some road building involved to get back to the dirt road (Breedts Nek) as there is only a single track left of what might have been a road.

We often go to Mountain Sanctuary Park and from the shop at the bottom of Breedts Nek to the gate of Mountain Sanctuary it's all fenced on the right hand side of the road (mountain side).

It would probably be beter to contact the owners and arrage with them if you want to take a group up that road.

Danie,

My whatsapp cyclist comment was more related to the buses complete with support vehicles behind them on the roads around Maropeng as well as the fact that I don'tt want to register on a cycling forum to ask a single question. I don't mind cyclists at all, and I have no issue sharing the road with them, but then they should stick to the rules. Anyways, cycling is always a contentious issue on a forum such as this. Let us leave it there. If anybody took offence, my profuse apologies...

There are no fences at that section where the track branches off to the right on the pass (ie: the first sharp left-hand bend on the Southern slope). I also have it from several reliable sources that the road is "open", although they can give me no idea on the state of the track. There are also very frequently people on that section of land collecting water from the fountain / wood / similar. There are no warnings or indications on T4A regarding the road being closed, or of gates or anything. Neither can I find any indication of this anywhere else. And I've been looking quite hard for details on this. That said, I'm unsure - hence my comments and questions.

I honestly don't want to trespass or anything, so I think let's start at the beginning and see if we need permission first.

I'll haul out my 1:50,000 maps and identify the farm and portion, pull the title deed and see who owns it. If it is communal land, I guess we are good to go. If not, let us see if we can get permission from the owner. This will have to happen before I finalise anything. So we can consider this expedition "on hold" until I've worked out the details. I'll update the first post for now.

Regarding road building, that is one of the things that worry me. Firstly, I double checked the elevation profile. It's not 100% accurate, as Google Earth does not have all elevations and similar. And I cannot find Garmin topographical maps... There are also several areas that worry me quite a bit, as I am not sure what state the track is in. I've highlighted them below.

In any case, let me track down ownership and similar, and I'll take it from there.

[iandvl]

When ?
How long ? 1 day? weekend?

Oom Mac - it will be a day trip.

[graham1]

Ian I can try and get a colleague to try do a deeds search as well.

I wonder if maybe we do need to dust off the mountain bikes and/or hiking boots and do a recce first? We'll carry a white flag with us to wave if the farmer starts shooting at us