Swellendam is the third-oldest town in South Africa, and it wears its age with an easy dignity. The Dutch East India Company established a magistracy here in 1743, and the settlement grew up under the Langeberg mountains, which stand along the north side of the town like a blue wall. In 1795, discontented local farmers declared a short-lived republic, with their own flag and officials, which lasted only a few months before the British arrived. The old Drostdy, the magistrate's residence and offices, is now a museum, its thatched roof and white gables intact.
Walking the main street, you pass lines of old oak trees and whitewashed houses with Cape Dutch gables, many of them guesthouses, galleries and cafés. The Dutch Reformed church, with its grand tower, dominates the centre, and nearby is the Bontebok National Park, a small reserve created to save a rare antelope from extinction. In spring, the fields glow yellow with canola, and the air smells of cut grass and woodsmoke.
For a rider, Swellendam is the start of the Tradouw Pass run, one of the loveliest short rides in the Western Cape. It sits on the N2, the long highway that links Cape Town with the Garden Route, so traffic in the town can be dense, with trucks and holiday cars, and turning off toward the mountains is a relief. Heading north from the town on the R324, the road runs through farmland and then climbs into the folds of the Langeberg. The weather can change fast, with cold fronts and rain in winter and strong winds in summer.
The town has a population of about fourteen thousand, so it has fuel stations, restaurants, banks and workshops, and many places to stay, from farm cottages to old town houses. Try the farm stalls and cafés for a slice of koeksister, a sweet twisted pastry, or a hearty plate of lamb, and take your time in the late afternoon, when the mountains turn orange. Montagu, forty kilometres north-west, and Barrydale, in the other direction, are smaller towns reached by quieter roads.