Sometimes South Africans tend to rely a little too much on their cars. Well, I certainly do. That’s why it was so much fun to discover a different way to get around an otherwise familiar weekend destination: the Stellenbosch Wine Route.
Bikes ‘n Wine was set up by two UCT students sick of doing the usual awful student jobs. Their idea was to start an eco-friendly tour of the Stellenbosch Wine Route using only the train and bicycles. They offer three tours – the 9km Vineyard Meander, the 14km Platinum Package, and the 21km Adventure Ride – their most popular and affordable tour, which visits four wineries.
Considering I’ve not climbed aboard my bike in several months, I was a little concerned about cycling this distance, but I was assured that the Adventure Ride route was by no means technical. So early one Saturday in spring, i met up with Van, our guide (also a UCT student), and a group of German and Dutch interns at Eco Cafe in Long Street.
Bagels and lattes in hand, we trotted down to the Cape Town station to catch the Metro Rail train – the first time I’d caught the train in more than 15 years (shocking, I know). The new Cape Town station is awesome – really smart, clean and beautiful – until you get to the platforms, which are the same ugly old concrete affairs they always have been.
A return ticket to Stellenbosch costs R25 (it’s included in the tour price) but the ride takes well over 45 minutes, with many stops along the way. However, it is really nice to be able to sit and chat without worrying about maniac traffic on the N2 or N1 and whether you might get arrested for drunk driving on the way home.
From the little rural platform in Stellenbosch, it was a two-minute walk to the shed where the bikes are stored and Van soon had us kitted out with sturdy Giant mountain bikes, regulation helmets and water bottles. Then, like a gaggle of wobbly, wheeled geese, we followed him down the dirt path beside the railway line to our first stop, which was only 500 metres away: Welmoed.
At this juncture, I’d like to remind everyone that it’s illegal to ride a bicycle on a public road in a drunken state. However, considering that we weren’t riding on any public roads (unless you count wine farm driveways, which technically I don’t think you can) I felt quite justified in swallowing instead of spitting, and to tell the truth, the wines at Welmoed are well worth swallowing.
From Welmoed, it was a mere five minute cycle along flat dirt track to Spier. Feeling slightly frisky from starting on the wine by 09h30, I began to think that this so called Adventure Ride was going to be a doddle.
Tasting the brand new Cap Classique at Spier only boosted my mood further, so that the longer, meandering woodland trail to Van Rhyn Brandy distillery posed no problems. The only reason I straggled somewhat was in order to take photographs of various picturesque scenes beside the Eerste Rivier.
Van Rhyn may have proved my undoing. I’m not accustomed to brandy, especially the good kind. I’m not sure if it was the 10-year old or the 12-year-old that was chiefly responsible, but both were so good that I missed the pedals on my way out of the parking lot. Van took a look at his charges and wisely decided to get some lunch into us before we attempted what he called ‘The Hill’.
After pizza and bobotie at Barrique, as well as a cleansing ale in the form of an excellent artisanal beer brewed on the property, we approached The Hill. Van carefully divided it into sections to keep morale up. I’m proud to say I never got off and pushed. I did end up with a mysterious bruise on my leg, however, which I have no memory of acquiring. Such are the risks of drunken cycling.
There was one last tasting left, but astonishingly, I’d almost exhausted my appetite for wine and was more excited about the downhill back to the bicycle shed. A couple of us shot off down it with no regard for direction so that Van had to keep whistling us back onto the right track. A pause to admire the magnificent view, then a dash to get to the four ‘o clock train on time.
Back at the shed, we handed over our bikes and helmets and were each given a bottle of wine as a memento. My wine appetite returned just in time to drink it that evening. Guess I’ll just have to go back and buy more 🙂
For more information on Bikes ‘n Wines tours visit www.bikesnwines.com or join the Bikes ‘n Wines group on Facebook.
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