Touring in South Africa by bicycle

Editor's note: Judy Cureton of Cape Girardeau has cycled across the nation, and in other countries as well. Earlier this year, she was the only American to join a cycling tour in South Africa. This is her story of the trip.

By Judy Cureton

In the middle of February this year, I boarded a long flight to Capetown, South Africa.

This is a very modern city, with the fascinating Table Mountain in the background. I met three other bicyclists who had been there touring down the Garden Route for a couple of weeks. For the first week my English friend and I toured Capetown and the Cape Peninsula in a rental car.

The weather was warm and sunny as we went to the top of Table Mountain to look out at the beautiful view. We then took the ferry to Robbin Island to tour the prison where Nelson Mandela and many others were held during apartheid. That was a very moving experience, as the tours were led by former prisoners.

Another day, we drove down Cape Peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. The scenery was wonderful, and the baboons in the parking lot at Cape Point are great fun to watch. Just be sure you don't have any food with you. They will "demand" you give it to them.

Of course a visit to Capetown isn't complete without the shopping at the Victoria and Albert Waterfront and at Greenmarket Square.

After several days in Capetown, the four of us rode bikes to the town of Stellenbosch. This is a delightful small college city in the heart of the wine-growing district. The majestic mountains and well-manicured vineyards reminded me of central California. We had some pleasant bike rides and some wonderful meals here during the three or four days before our official tour began.

The "official" tour was a bicycle tour sponsored by an English touring organization. There were 29 riders and we had two support vehicles. After a day of riding around the vineyards of Stellenbosch, we rode out toward the town of Franschhoek, a small mountain town settled by Huguenots. We had rain that morning and climbed two mountain passes, but the sun came out in the afternoon.

For the next few days, the terrain became more desert and the towns became smaller. The whole area reminded me of southern California with the desert surrounded by mountains and the sea coast. This was fresh in my mind as just last fall I rode my bicycle down the West Coast from Canada to Mexico, and rode through this type of terrain in southern California.

After several days riding, we came to the coast and the Indian Ocean. From our overnight beach cabins we took a one day to ride to the southernmost tip of Africa, where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet. After this, there were a couple more days of riding along the coast, with the deep blue ocean on one side and mountains on the other -- a spectacular ride -- and we arrived in Capetown.

Our accommodations were all first-rate, the food delicious and the summer weather nice and hot.

On the next to last day, several of us rode in a very popular and huge ride there called the Cape Argus Ride. It draws 35,000 cyclists and goes down the Cape Peninsula. But that's another story.

The whole tour finally ended, but it was with difficulty that I said goodbye to South Africa and the delightful people there.