If you going to the eastern cape (my home town area ) there are a few places you should get to if you like gravel and really remote roads. Die Hel and the Baviaans, 7 passes and Prince Alfred, in the southern cape are check list rides. Everyone does them. Much more remote and more technical are:
Katberg pass near Fort Beaufort but I hear they fixed the road a bit in the past year
Spring Valley road from fort beaufort or Adelaide to Tarakstad. Over 100 km of gravel with no one in sight
Zuurberg pass from addo to Cradock. Very rocky and sharp so don't let your tyres down too low. There is a back packers run by a biker at the base of the pass
Cathcart to Hogsback road
You wont see crowds of weekend warrior bikers on these roads, nor the inevitable 4x4 crowd you see on the southern cape routes you mentioned.
Ive got pics of all these roads, including the southern cape ones, but the EC ones win hands down in my opinion.
A word of warning. The clay roads in the eastern cape are extremely slippery when wet, so if it rains, rather wait. It never rains long. the same applies to many of the roads in the Karoo.
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