Baakens Valley cycling

After attending a Mandela Bay Development Agency discussion on the Development Of A Conceptual Framework For The Baakens River Precinct And Linkages To The CBD And Port Of Port Elizabeth Marina Precinct on the 10th April 2014 at the MBDA offices, we were motivated to go and explore the Baakens Valley cycling.

On Saturday April 12th, a few member of the Alliance Française decided to go cycling through the beautiful Baakens Valley in Port Elizabeth. The weather was perfect for cycling; sunny and warm. A lack of preparation and the beauty we discovered hidden in the valley led to a change of plans and the 3 hour planned ride took 5 hours to complete.

As the city is still not cyclist friendly we had to cycle on inner residential roads and routes such as College Road and Westview Drive in order to connect to 3rd Ave. Newton Park in order to get to Glen Hurd Rd from where we decided to explore the valley.

The valley is great for mountain biking, and we found ourselves in the middle of the valley surrounded by nature’s wonderful landscapes. The ride goes upward and downward until you cross the river and suddenly changes into a challenging and steep upward push in order to find a pathway to cycle on. Remember to bring enough water with you or you may have to do like we did and ask someone living near one of the entrances of the park to offer you some water. Furthermore several of the crossing over the Baakens River required one to carry your bike on your shoulders. This together with steep and meandering pathways create adventure as you are almost constantly seeing a new landscape.

We found a couple of low lying spaces where people had gathered to celebrate a wedding, of families had met for a pick nick, or some has simply gone to have a good read.

Towards the end of the valley there way the welcoming restaurants at Bridge Street serving a well deserved homemade lemonade and a chance to catch a breath before slowly acclimatizing back to the harsh reality of the built urban landscape city.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality partnership with WESSA has managed to keep secure and clean this waterway and keep it somewhat free from construction while maintaining pedestrian and cycling ways for the community. The experience was wonderful, and we recommend it to all close enough to the city to enjoy a ride.