After arriving in Stellenbosch and piecing our bikes back together, Dan quickly found Jonkershoek (Yonkers-hook) Road to be the perfect route for a satisfying family ride. It's a nice rolling, rural road that is mostly uphill on the way out--although it's gradual and thus hard to notice how uphill it is until you coast most of the way home. The road ends at the Jonkershoek mountain-bike trail that costs R25 to get in. We have a rule about not paying to ride, so we've not yet been in. Regardless, there's a beautiful tea garden just before the gates and it's a gorgeous place to have cakes and cappuccinos. We've been up the road at least three times now as a family, and have eaten cakes twice. I'm pretty sure the cakes make our net calorie loss negative (hehe), but they sure are delicious, and who's counting anyway?
The road first takes you through some very upscale parts of Stellenbosch. These houses are gorgeous, and I suspect you have to make some major bank to live in them. Then you reach the farms. White horses, vineyards, and then lush green forests. Coming from Albuquerque, green is more a feeling than a color. It's refreshing, life-giving, invigorating, and so much more. A river runs alongside the road, and while I can't remember the name of it, it's the same one that runs through Stellenbosch. Biking alongside running water… I know it's not that strange, but coming from Albuquerque… You know.
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| See the horse?? |
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| Don't mind the power cables |
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| Have I mentioned how delighted people are to see Dan hauling the boys in the kid trailer? This is a thing of pure wonder and happiness to all South Africans. People stare. People giggle. People are delighted. It's like a trailer of happiness bringing joy to all. Haha.. No, I'm being totally serious. Our boys get some major college girl love in this contraption, too. |
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| Micah and Kendra--Dan is scheming up all kinds of ways to get up this mountain to do some climbing. Consider the Western Cape thoroughly scouted. ;) |
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| The Jonkershoek Tea Garden |
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| Oh yeah! |
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| Move over Betty Crocker, because whoever does the baking in this country is wicked-good. I need to re-learn how to bake here. The cakes are unbelievable. |
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| Eland thoroughly agrees |
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| Me too |
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| Climbing the tree like brother Auggie |
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| More cake |
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| Auggie is very happy when the worlds of cakes and tree-climbing intersect. |
I love riding past this vineyard. The photos don't do it justice in the slightest--Jenni, have you booked your tickets yet? ;) Riding past the rows of grapevines is like riding past rows of cornstalks in Illinois. You get this feeling of movement as the row you can currently see down is immediately obscured giving view to the next and the next and the next. The surreal part of it here is the fact that you're passing grapevines, not corn. The vineyard is surrounded by these majestic wrought-iron gates that actually line the entire length of the property along Jonkershoek Road, not just the entrance. The entrance is a thing of beauty, but I'll have to get a photo another time--I forgot today.
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