Planning Our First Cycling Mini-Tour

As we know, COVID19 unexpectedly consumed the world and made us “homebound” for many months. Before we knew it, we were approaching the end of the year – not a very eventful year in terms of adventure. As soon as restrictions started easing up we decided to tackle our very first self planned bicycle tour in the Western Cape! Doing a trip close to home offers a safety net when things go wrong and gives us access to a support network if needed.

Our plan is to travel around 400km in 4 days with our bicycles, panniers, and a sense of adventure regardless of the weather. A full review of the trip will be provided in due time, but for now, a sneak peek of our plans.

The trip will begin and end in Paarl, in the heart of the Cape Winelands.

Our first 100km of cycling on day one will be past farms and vineyard, through the beautiful town of Malmesbury, finally ending in Hopefield.

The following day, we plan to reach Paternoster to enjoy a few hours of daylight by the sea, spending the evening in the famous Paternoster hotel.

Upon our return, we plan to travel through the Langebaan entrance into the West Coast National Park to experience the incredible blooming flowers, by bike this time instead of a vehicle. That evening we plan to stay over in Darling, home of our favourite winery, Darling cellar.

The final day of our trip will be spent back though Malmesbury on the wide shoulder of the R45 all the way to Paarl.

We expect to cycle past many wine farms (and enjoy as many as we can), enjoy the sea, meet people and exchange stories and of course log a few Geocaches along the way.