GOURMET CYCLE TOUR
Unwind in Prince Albert with some gourmet cooking and adventurous calorie burning!
Escape Cycle Tours and African Relish invite you to get on your bicycle and head for Prince Albert in the Great Karoo. Come and unwind with some creative cooking and cycling up the mighty Swartberg Pass and down into The Hell. Spend a few days on a culinary adventure while you work off the extra calories on your bike.
DAY 1
Depart Johannesburg for Prince Albert, relax, as this is a 10 hour journey & the start of your tour.
Arrive at African Relish for welcome drinks and refreshments. Check in.
19:00: Wine tasting & welcome dinner at African Relish 
DAY 2
06:45: Meet at African Relish for coffee & delicious homemade rusks.
07:00: Cycle to Weltevrede Fig Farm(26km)
Enjoy a country brunch at Weltevrede Farm & a tour of the fig orchards.
Return to Prince Albert with transporter or cycle back.
14:00: Cooking session 1 Demonstration of knife skills, Kitchen orientation and background introduction to South African culinary culture.
18:30 Ghost walk and village ramble - Ailsa Tudhope, historian and story teller, takes you on a journey back in time with tales of ghosts and village rogues from the past.
Dinner at African Relish
Distance: 26 – 52kms
DAY 3
07:00 Coffee & rusks at African Relish then depart with transporter up Swartberg Pass.
Unrack bikes & cycle along the road to The Hell (16km).
Enjoy a gourmet breakfast in the veld at Kliphuisvlei!!
Travel to (The Hell) Gamkaskloof in transporter, enjoy lunch under the trees and & an educational about Die Hel.
After lunch return to top of Swartberg Pass & cycle down into Prince Albert
Dinner at African Relish
Distance: 16 – 32kms
DAY 4
05:30: Meet at African Relish for a light breakfast.
Cycle to De Rust via Prince Albert Valley & Meiringspoort Pass. We stop for tea and crumpets at Klaarstroom. Refreshing swim at the spectacular waterfall with soaring cliff walls and rock formations that line the 25 km tarred road which winds along the floor of the gorge, crossing the Groot River 25 times. The road through the poort is a remarkable engineering feat, but the overwhelming features of a cycle through Meiringspoort are the wonders of nature. The folds of the Table Mountain sandstone strata tower above the road, constantly changing colour as you move through sunlight and shade. Hardy plants, including indigenous pelargoniums, cling to the precarious rock faces while birds, baboons and smaller fauna abound in the protected kloofs and crevices. Among the most scenic spots is the Skelm tumbling into a dark pool which, legend has it, is bottomless. (In 1938 it stopped flowing for the first time in human memory).A beautiful mermaid was said to live in the pool at the foot of the waterfall. During the 1996 floods a story circulated that she had been washed out of the pool, down the Groot and Oliphants rivers and out to sea. She had been caught in a fisherman's net and taken to the CP Nel Museum in Oudtshoorn, where she was preserved in spirits! The Museum was overwhelmed with telephone calls and visitors keen to see the mermaid!
Lunch in De Rust 
Return to Prince Albert in transporter
Dinner at African Relish
Distance: 30 – 85 kms
DAY 5
07:00 Early morning cycle around Prince Albert.
Breakfast at African Relish, olive oil tasting then at leisure to explore the many interesting shops in Prince Albert.
13:00 Light lunch at African Relish
Cooking session 2. Preparation of some Karoo classics. We get creative in the kitchen while we innovate and create some new ‘classics’ with a modern twist.
Cooking session 3. Desserts and demonstrations.
17:00 - Gather at African Relish for Astronomy talk and star gazing
20:00 - Dinner at African Relish where we enjoy the fruits of the day’s culinary endeavours and star gazing into the night.
Dinner at African Relish
Distance: +- 30 kms
DAY 6
05:00 - depart for onward journey with packed breakfasts!
We look forward to welcoming you to the magical Karoo and feel certain that you will leave us feeling refreshed and revitalised.
