On the Road in the Winelands

“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? — it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” – Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Christmas time approached, the countdown began, kids munched away the chocolates in their advent calendars, and I said hello to two weeks of freedom. Holidays! Having fourteen days to suddenly do as you please – no work, no meetings, no deadlines – can be overwhelming. You want to get the most out of the days, to not miss a moment.

As offices closed and families gathered around lit up plastic trees and stuffed themselves with mama’s trifle, I decided the best idea was to jump in a car with friends and family and head on straight down the highway out of town.

Road trips – they’re the epitome of freedom. In a plane you miss all the good stuff. But on the road it’s all at your fingertips. You can stop off at all the places along the way – the farmstalls, wine farms (definitely my favourite), the fields of hay barrels and sheep and cows, different B&Bs and hotels and backpackers and guesthouses and game lodges, the ostriches, the hawks on electricity wires, the crows in the sky… You get to meet weird locals and foreigners with stories to tell.

We started on the coast – headed out from Cape Town on the N2 and along Clarence Drive, one of the most picturesque drives in the Western Cape. The road meanders around the mountain with the waves lapping up against the cliff on the other side. Out the window you can spot seals, whales, speedboats, kayakers, people fishing off the rocks and the horizon in the distance with Simonstown and Kalk Bay on the other side of the wide False Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

We pulled into Pringle Bay in the Cape Overberg for some shut eye and down time. Such is holiday life – beach days, sundowners and stargazing on the balcony and cheesy pizzas at the local bar-restaurant Perigators. Whatever our hearts desired.

On Christmas Day we drove on past Betty’s Bay and Kleinmond to the Botrivier Hotel for Christmas lunch – home cooked and wholesome, grandma’s kitchen style. Botrivier is a small village also in the Overberg, in the foothills of the Houw Hoek Mountains, en route to Hermanus. The hotel is friendly and unpretentious with comfy accommodation options if you plan to hang around longer.

Just a stroll away is the Beaumont Wine Farm, home to the region’s oldest wine cellar, which dates back to the 1700s. We did a wine tasting and bought a few bottles for the trouble. Beaumont is a family-run estate and has an intimate feel about it. They sell hand-crafted, classically-styled wines at the cellar and homemade produce. You can overnight in their farm accommodation and during your time experience one of the oldest working water-mills in the Overberg, meander through vineyards on foot or horseback, see the abundant bird life, or take a hike in the fynbos trails of the Green Mountain Eco Route.

We jumped back in our laden car and travelled on to McGregor, a small village in the mountains of the Western Cape. It’s known for being a bit of a hippy, new age town with its artists and carpenters, cob houses and permaculture courses, and so on. I stayed in the hippiest joint of all – Temenos, a spiritual retreat where loud talking and excessive drinking (two things I do very well) are frowned upon.

It’s a playground really, a country retreat with intricate gardens that go on forever, sacred spaces starring giant Buddhas and other deities and beautiful peacocks trailing around majestically. Every religion and belief sect is featured so that neither one is preferred. Whether religious or not, Temenos is meant to be a place to escape the city to, the stress and noise, for some navel-gazing and contemplation. It’s kind of perfect around the end of a year and beginning of a new one.

After a hypnotising aromatherapy full body massage with one of the local masseuses, we swam in the pool (it can get pretty hot in the countryside this time of year) and spent some time in the huge library, brushing up on our Jungian knowledge. You can’t help but relax in McGregor, slow down to a snail’s pace and just be. The main street is dotted with a few delis, restaurants and antique stores. The roads are wide and the street lamps old and from another time. We dined at night at Tibaldi’s Restaurant – which is annexed to Temenos. And spoke too loudly and drank too much. But hey…

The next day we headed into the mountains on the Boesmanskloof Trail. It’s so rugged and wild out there, in the heart of the Riviersonderend Mountains surrounded with mountain peaks of the Langeberge and Galgeberg. The heat is intense but the reward is a beautiful oasis of a rock pool and waterfall. We hiked about 8 kms and then turned back like happy little campers.

It’s always a bizarre realisation to me to have travelled this country so extensively, to have lived here my whole life, but to still be finding places that I’ve never seen or heard of. You could probably live in South Africa for a lifetime and not even see all it has to offer. But you can try… and I recommend you include the areas mentioned here.

Hot, sweaty and Cape Town bound, we drove on and stopped in at Gabriëlskloof Wine Estate. I’ve knocked back a bottle or two of theirs before so it was nice to see where it actually comes from. The estate is seemingly in the middle of nowhere, away from the pack of wine farms that dot Stellenbosch and Franschhoek like spots on a dalmatian. Tucked away among rolling valleys, just an hour from Cape Town along the N2, you could call it the secret gem of the Bot River wine route. We sat outside and devoured gourmet burgers, as little blonde girls in pink tutu-like princess dresses ran around the pools in the garden.

The countryside never fails to disappoint. As we entered Cape Town again it felt like we’d been away for weeks but only a few days had passed. Wine farms, mountain pools, massages and good food… Wish I was there now.

Keen for a road trip of your own?

Route 62 is another popular road trip destination. It meanders its way between Cape Town and Oudtshoorn and is the inland alternative to the Garden Route, passing through the Karoo’s many little towns on its way.

We can help you plan the perfect self-drive tour that incorporates several destinations in the Cape Winelands and Overberg or further. Simply contact us to find out more and to book your trip. Read here for more about winelands tours and here for a list of great accommodation options in the area.