There's nothing like being free. Just ask Jan de Jonker. In 1691 he was freed from the shackles of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) - all settler farmers were once theirs. And he set up home in an exquisite valley about 65km from the Cape of Good Hope castle.
Almost 315 years later, Jonkershoek still makes you feel free - especially when you're free-wheeling down a dirt road, surrounded by towering bergs, in the fresh winter air.
The valley is tucked away in the Boland mountains between Banhoek, Somerset West, Grabouw and, of course, Stellenbosch, which it seeps into. And beneath the forested peaks and kloofs you'll find a sliver of pristine fynbos - the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve.
The Cape has natural wonder in abundance, but much of it requires serious strides. Half a dozen hikes scramble out of the valley. But Jonkershoek also offers lazier options. With tea thrown in.
About 8km from the centre of the Bosch you run into a set of gates. Looping through the valley is a 10km circular route and you have a choice: will it be a country drive, a gentle trot or a gentle mountain bike ride? The cycle really is easy and is perfect for kids - or starting your training from scratch for next year's Cape Epic.
Racing through the valley, too, is a gurgling stream, which is the source of the Eerste River - the first river encountered by early Dutch settlers after leaving Cape Town. It's this brandy-coloured water that's always made Jonkershoek famous - for the trout that breed in dams and hatcheries below, founded in 1893 by the British colonial government.
The road criss-crosses over the stream, obliging you to get down and dip your lips into the cold. If you bought water of this quality in a shop you'd pay top dollar. (But it's free, you see.)
The valley is full of mammals once the cars and bikes have headed home - like leopard, honey badger, klipspringer and mongoose. But they're publicity-shy and seldom seen. Off the main beaten tracks you're far more likely to spot or stand on berg adders, puff adders, boomslangs or Cape Cobras, so passop.
The reserve is only one part of valley life, though. Immediately outside the gates is a pretty as a picture coffee shop. It was once a little Cape Dutch church, but now it spills out on to a lawn where you can sip your cuppa.
A little further back down towards the town there's the municipal picnic spot, which is pretty, but frequently overrun with oxygen thieves sucking too many Carling Black Labels and screaming to the bass-heavy doof-doof pumping from their shiny-magged, souped-up cars, trying to set new World Littering Records (as it was on Tuesday).
Moving swiftly on: there's Oude Nektar, the home of Neil Ellis Wines, set on a beautiful dam.
And at the foot of the valley is Lanzerac (named after a village in south-west France) and its 29-star hotel - one of the most pristine wine estates you'll ever set foot on.
But the best thing about the valley is the eye-candy setting.
Down one side of the valley is a magnificent grove and a sprinkling of old oaks. The first were planted in the valley in 1817 - kept alive, despite their official "alien" status, because of their historic pedigree.
The road snaking up the valley to the reserve is lined with a foot-path, which is safe to ride a bike on. And there are beautiful sights in every direction. The soft, golden late-afternoon winter sunshine will give your camera plenty to whoop about.
But the valley is easy to forget about - tucked away, as it is, on the road up into a mountainous dead-end. Take your gran, take your bike, take a book of poetry or take all three. And remember what it's like to be free.
- Notes on Jan de Jonker taken from Beard Shavers's Bush - Place Names in the Cape, by Ed Coombe and Peter Slingsby.
Fact file
The Jonkershoek Nature Reserve incorporates the smaller Assegaaibosch Nature Reserve and is part of the massive Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve.
- Hikes: Swartboskloof - 18km; Panorama - 17.1km; Tweede Waterval - 8km; the much easier, circular Swartboskloof-Sosyskloof - 6.9km or 5.3km. Permits required.
- Jonkershoek Nature Reserve circular drive/ride/walk: R10 a car, R6 per person and R30 to fish in the Kleinplaats dam. Tel: 021 866 1560.
- Jonkershoek Teetuin restaurant: run by Ansie and Jannie du Plessis - 021 866 1550.
- Jonkershoek municipal picnic site. Open 8am-8pm in summer and 9am-5pm in winter. Adults R10 each and R4 for your car. Plenty of braai spots.
- This article was originally published on page 9 of The Cape Argus on August 11, 2005