There's more to life than cycling and wine

Well, it’s not all cycling – there will always be wine. 

We have managed a bit of hiking while we have been here – last week we went to La Motte – a wine estate near Franschhoek – and hiked their 5km trail. The climb was enough to raise the heart rate and afford us some great views over the valley.

We stopped for wine tasting on our way back to the car but they seemed too busy to bother with us and after we sat with empty glasses for 15 minutes we left them to it. Our next stop was a nearby winery which was advertising a Rosé at a price that would have made Jimmy C happy. Despite the sign at the entrance gate which claimed they were open, we found when we reached their tasting room – along a mile of dirt road – that they were not.

Third time lucky – we stopped at the Lynx winery to find that they were open and welcoming and had a couple of drinkable wines. It’s a very small operation - they only produce 85,000 bottles each year - but while we were there we watched a contractor with a truck based bottling machine which was turning out 3000 bottles an hour – very simple effective operation and so much cheaper for the winery.

We have also managed to keep up our yoga classes – both with the private routine which Sharon helped us with in Edinburgh and with a local teacher - Carelene -who has just opened her own studio in Paarl.