New Wellington Winelands Cycling Tour

As guides with a passion for cycling, mountain biking and good wine we are continuously recceing new tours which combine cycling adventures with premium wine-tastings. Equipped with our new Momsen Mountain Bikes we headed to Wellington and soon discovered that this is the perfect place to take our guests off the beaten track.

Wellington offers breath-taking landscapes with vineyards on the slopes of the majestic Hawequas Mountain. Both Wellington and Worcester, situated on the other side of the mountain range, claim the iconic “W” high on top of the mountain to be a symbol of their town. Historically, more French settlers lived in Wellington than anywhere else in the Cape and the valley was initially called Val du Charron – meaning valley of the wagon-makers. In 1840, somewhat ironic, the town was renamed Wellington after the English Duke of Wellington who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

This town is often neglected by tour operators and tourists alike. This is totally unjustified bearing in mind the delicious Pinotage that is produced in this area. The climate of the town, which is known for being one of the hottest in the Western Cape, favours the top quality of the grapes. The absence of big tour groups and buses allows for a relaxed Wellington cycling meander on dirt roads between the various wine farms and makes this new AWOL Wellington winelands cycling tour a very enjoyable one.

Welvanpas is the starting point of a few Mountain Biking trails in the area with the degrees of difficulty ranging from a moderate 15km ride to 17 or 29km for more advanced riders. The trails start and end at Welvanpas, with the option to taste wine from their award-winning boutique wine range. We also come past Doolhof farm, a very nice spot for a first wine-tasting and a short stroll on the river walk. From here it’s a 7km ride to Bosman wine farm, perfect for a second wine tasting. Generally the area offers indefinite cycling options and you get a much more authentic feeling for real Western Cape small town life in this area due to its tranquility and friendly people welcoming you to their wine farms.

Us AWOL guides fell in love with Wellington after our Winelands cycling recce and we would love to show you first hand why this area is so special. This is definitely a tour for you to consider when planning a Wellington winelands cycling tour meander.