Having grown up in Johannesburg, coming back to South Africa may seem like coming home. But my growing love affair with this beautiful country has little to do with being born here. This is an entirely new relationship, taking root in an completely different part of the country, that I never knew as a child.

I left SA as a 22 year-old to live in Canada. It was a 2-year experiment, that has continued for 35 years. The first few trips back was always about “coming home” to see family. We’d always do the same things and see the same people, which was exactly what my husband at the time wanted out of the trips to S.A.

In 2022, in the mad year of starting to race bikes, I bought an entry to Wines 2 Whales, a 3-day stage race in the Western Cape. My lovely friend and patient teammate Sandra came from Hawaii to play bikes with me in South Africa.

I had been to Cape Town for a short visit before, but had never been to Stellenbosch, Hermanus or Franschoek before. When I grew up here during the apartheid era, Indian people didn’t go to these places, inhabited exclusively by white people as dictated by the law. And truth be told, my family was never by the means to take any sort of vacation anyway. We had a pool in the backyard and that was our favourite way to spend all our holidays. Perhaps it was not so much our favourite way, as it was the only way we knew, but we loved the time we spent together, in and out of the pool all summer long.

Coming to SA in 2022 did not resemble coming home in any way, shape or form. I was going to places I’d never been, and while I did have some lovely family time on that trip, the main focus was riding my bike and playing tourist.

We landed in Cape Town and then spent a few days in Stellenbosch before the race. The race started at the Lourensford Wine Estate in Somerset West. On the first day we rode to Oak Valley Wine Estate in Grabouw. We crossed over the Gantouw Pass, which I’d only ever read about in my history text books. The race ended in Hermanus, taking us through the stunningly beautiful Hemel en Aarde Valley, Afrikaans for Heaven and Earth.

Sandra and I spent a couple of nights in Hermanus watching whales breaching over and over and over again. The whales, the beautiful coast line and the sunsets from the cliffs were all part of the endless delights Hermanus had to offer. From there we went to Franschhoek to visit a friend. We rode bikes and visited wineries and I continued to be awe struck by the wonder of it all. It was all new to me and I delighted in seeing this part of the country, so vastly different in a hundred ways from where I grew up in SA.

Sandra headed back to Maui, and I made my way to Stellenbosch for some more riding. I didn’t mean to fall in love -really I didn’t. I had a little Airbnb at the end of town with a beautiful outside space and an uninterrupted sunset view. I had access to more trails than I could ever ride. Lovely people took me out to show me new routes and one day I paid a guide for a tour in a new area. Turns out he was a local superstar, but he was lovely and patient. Little does he know I still cheer him on from Squamish at every race I see him doing in SA.

The riding was great, but it didn’t end there. The town is charming with so many great coffee shops and a wine bar on every corner. It broke my heart to leave Stellenbosch at the end of that trip and I left thinking about how I could make my way back here.

And here I am 2 years later, back in the Western Cape. Friends coming to race the Cape Epic was the main impetus for this trip. My ongoing distaste for winter in the northern hemisphere, and the need to train for the BC Bike Race this summer, were the other two factors that sealed the deal. Full disclosure: very little persuasion was needed.

This entire trip was planned around mountain biking and training. I booked accommodations in Tokai because there was a welcoming women’s group that rode there. My next spot was Durbanville which afforded me access to trails at Bloemendal and Meerendal, both within pedaling distance from my my accommodation.

After Durbanville, I’ve come back to Stellenbosch where I will spend the most time. Driving here and seeing the mountains come into view, felt like coming home. How can that be? I’ve only ever spent 2 weeks here.

My affinity for this town defies comprehension. It’s all brand new to me but there’s also so many familiar threads. The red dirt on my shoes reminds me of my childhood as do the high keyholes in doors with traditional keys. Here, no one stumbles over my name. It’s easy on the tongue for them here not like in North America where I have to repeat it twice and everyone says it differently. The cooing doves sing the same song and there are hundreds of birds I’ve not seen or heard before. The grocery store is filled with familiar brands that I remember from my childhood. Some things, like the Grapetiser, are still wonderful, and others are disappointing. I am unclear whether the quality has diminished or whether my adult palate has changed, or as I like to think of it, become more refined.

Jonkershoek is a nature reserve in Stellenbosch and is where some of the best mountain bike trails can be found. It’s also a hiking and trail running Mecca with endless miles of adventure. I would tell you that this is my favourite place in all of SA, but then I discovered the Botmaskop reserve. This is the not uncommon in Stellenbosch, there’s always a new wonder to discover. You think you’ve found your favourite cortado, and around the corner someone else is pulling an even better espresso. My favourites right now are a tie between Luc’s on Dorp Street and Balanced Roastery at the entrance to Jonkershoek.

I can’t explain my mad love affair with the Western Cape, and Stellenbosch in particular. As I grow older, I am realising that you don’t always need to understand things to appreciate them. So I will bask in every moment that I have here in this wonderful place that has wrapped its arms around me and welcomed me home.