On Friday afternoon, with the weather not quite sure what it wanted to do for the weekend, our group arrived at Stanford Hills and were checked in to the beautifully restored Manor House, which would be their home for the weekend.
After a light lunch at the Tasting Room on the property, it was time to kit up, and around 16:30, we took off for an orientation ride around the village of Stanford, making sure the bikes were good to go for tomorrows much longer ride up the Klien River Valley.
Along the way, we passed some of the historic buildings in town and then took onto the village Wandelpad, skirting along the edge of the Lagoon, before finding ourselves back in the centre of town, at the local watering hole, Table 13, where a round of lightly malted "recovery" shakes was in order.
Refreshed and relaxed it was time to head back up the hill to the accommodation, and get a shower in before dinner. Dinner was at a local favourite, Stanford Harvest, where we join in with the residents to enjoy great food, wine and song, as well as learn about the newly established Lawn Tennis Association, and we cant wait to be back in strawberry season to watch a few matches on what must be one of the most scenic tennis courts anywhere on earth.
After dinner, a couple of bottles of local wine, and a round of tequila the barman insisted we had ordered, it was time to settle in for the night back at the manor house, and get some rest in for the following days riding.
Saturday morning started tentatively, as it was raining, even though none had been forecast. but luckily the rain stopped within an hour, and just in time for our breakfast stop at Blugum Estate, where freshly baked croissants and creamy cappuccinos soon had us warmed up again. After breakfast, we took on some single track, and then got held up a little by a bit of flood damage, making what used to be a simple river crossing into a bit of an adventure, but soon enough we were on our way up the valley, and at our first cheese tasting stop at Stonehouse Cheese Farm.
From Stone House we headed across the farms, descending back down the valley, stopping for wine tastings along the way, and spending far longer than we should enjoying the local produce, meaning we only reached the endpoint for the day, at Birkenhead Brewery, around 15:15, when we had planned to be there at 13:00 already. We still managed to enjoy a final cheese platter and beer tasting, while we arrange a shuttle back to the accommodation, with just enough time for a quick shower, and then off to the Jetty for a sunset cruise on the lagoon, followed by delicious homemade pasta at La Trattoria, washed down with some more local wine, before calling it a night.
Although several options were on the table for cycling on Sunday morning, the South Easter had begun to blow in earnest, and the decision was made to rather lie in and enjoy a lazy breakfast before heading back to Cape Town.
If you are interested in doing a similar Cheese and Wine Tasting MTB weekend for a group of friends or family, please contact us to discuss options. A minimum group size of 4 is required, and we can accommodate non-riding partners as well.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
