Paarl Adventure Trails – Laborie Wine Estate

Best suited for: Beginner, Intermediate and Experienced riders

What we love about it: Laborie is a stately piece of land with immaculate Cape Dutch buildings dating back to 1800. The farm itself is one of the oldest wine farms in South Africa, established in the late 1600s. It’s nestled against the base of the Paarl Mountain and offers luxury guest rooms, quality dining and wine tasting. The current owners of Laborie are keen mountain bikers, which is what led to the building of trails on their land as well as the establishment of the venue as one the four main trailheads for the Paarl Adventure Trails network. If you’re super fit and strong, you could try and ride the whole network in two days, but it will likely take you longer. That’s why it’s been segmented around the Paarl Mountain so that you can sample a bit of each section in 2-4 hour chunks.

The trails:

The trails at Laborie include:Laborie Twister: 1.2km XCO trail with lots of features
Laborie Drop: 1.8km ‘down-country trail)
Laborie Up: 1.45km climb

There’s not a lot of distance at Laborie but that’s because there’s plenty of distance on the Paarl Adventure Trails network and Laborie is one of the trailheads. What you do get though is a steady climb up the side of Paarl Mountain and a ridiculously stimulating descent back down! There’s a new 2.5km XCO trail being built currently, which will be launched at the end of February 2022. These trails aren’t ideal for beginners (there are other trails around Paarl for beginners), but perfect for confident, strong riders.

 As with the rest of the Paarl Adventure Trails network, the singletrack at Laborie has been very well built so that you always feel a good level of control, even at speed. The climbing is generally done gradually with switchbacks that are thoughtfully designed, while the twisty, bermed descents are super fun and just reward.