I did a route check one week before attempting the FKT. Still, it wasn't enough time spent on it to know it perfectly, but it was crucial to understand what it meant.
To get to the starting point, you have almost an 800m climb. I jogged up there, starting from the Stadium where I left my car (7km in total). There are different options though, if you have someone assisting you, to reduce the climb and mileage and to get closer. From the finish line, you will have a 1000m down climb and you have different options also here, depending on where you want to go. I went down to the Stadium where I left my car (6km in total). This is just to give you a perspective if you want to try the route.
The route is named Hoefyster in Afrikaans, which translates to Horseshoe, as the shape of the valley resembles that.
Starting from Botmaskop and navigating your way to Stellenboschberg, you move through extremely technical and sometimes exposed terrain. Most of the route is off track and presents sections with loose rocky terrain mixed with vegetation (fynbos), lots of rock hopping and some scrambling.
I found the second part (the last 10km) more difficult to navigate in order to move fast, as the terrain is really loose and there is more vegetation. You also have a long and technical climb up to Haelkop, which I understand why it's considered the "Achilles" of the traverse.
To me, so far, it is one of the most difficult challenges I have ever done. Moving sort of fast on this type of terrain is really hard.
The weather was nice, with a clear sky and very little breeze, but after a while I began to feel the Sun, as the route is mostly exposed. Luckily there is water in the section between the 15km mark (past Bergriver neck) and the 22km mark (where you leave the panorama trail), so I could refill my water bottles.
I'm beyond happy to have managed to set the new FKT!