New cycle cafe stop Clitheroe

Wasn't too sure where to put this but realised a certain bunch of forumites not to mention club riders might find it an excellent cake stop.
http://www.thegreenjersey.co.uk/fancy-a-brew
Not the fastest site in the world but who cares, it's a cafe for cyclists, anyone tried it yet? Sounds very friendly, there is a person I have in mind who organises the odd forum ride on here might be interested
Please feel free to move this Shaun if you feel it's in the wrong place, just thought it would get a bit more attention here.

Bizarre opening hours on Sunday, the most popular cycling day.

I wonder who that could be ...?

TBH - we are not exactly short of cafes in that area - we have good ones at Waddington, Chipping, Dunsop Bridge and Slaidburn, to name but 4. I tend to detour round Clitheroe on my rides, but the bike shop would certainly be handy for emergency repairs ...

... except on Sundays after 2:00 pm which might well be when we needed them most!

I don't blame them wanting an afternoon off - they probably want some time to ride their own bikes - but as 400bhp pointed out, that could have been one of their busiest times of the week! I'd have thought it would be better to open all day Sunday and shut mid-week?

At first sight you would think so but the majority of cyclists out on a long Sunday ride are club cyclists and the majority in my experience tend to get to cafes between 10.30 and 12.00 with a few spilling over into the afternoon, and these tend to be CTC out on there all day rides.
Mega impressed they got Graham Obree there on the opening night.

Anyway - we are nitpicking.

Looks a great place, must try it out. Already looked at a route-just over 40 miles for me.

A few years ago, I was talking to a fit mate about local CTC rides. He'd been on a couple with his sister but got frustrated with the low average speeds, and how long and how frequent the cafe stops were. He said they were lovely people, but he felt like he was hanging about for them all the time. I remember thinking that they wouldn't suit me either. At the time, I was averaging 15-16 mph on my hilly training rides.

A few years on, and now I find myself organising forum rides that are probably slower than a lot of CTC rides, and spend at least as long on the cafe stops ...

Well, he is doing the rounds at the moment, signing copies of his new training book. Perhaps they timed the grand opening to coincide with him being in the area?

I'd prefer to do slow rides from choice though, not because I'm actually riding as fast as I can!

I'm sure that Steve and Helen accommodate your cake needs on the Rutland rides! I'm hoping to time a summer visit to my family in the Midlands to coincide with one of them. (I've never been to Rutland and would love to check out our smallest county!)

Oh yes.. Steve & Helen are great - they are very accommodating with both my slowness and food needs!

Don't believe a word she says Colin, that was then, this is now - a mile muncher, I tell you give her the directions and she might ride from here to Clitheroe just for the cake. Oh, I didn't mean she likes a lot of cake, I meant she likes cake and......I'm digging a hole here and I think I'll climb in just to be safe

Am laughing... Cycling is all about the cake

cheers for this TF! Shame the shop is in the middle of Clitheroe and not right on any rural roads - although they do suggest it as a starting point for rides which makes sense. I will drop in if up there...

The caff around there I would really like to visit is in Hope's new factory in Barnoldswick - but I think it is only for staff and guests & not open to the general public. Anyway it would be closed at weekends...

Hi Colin, I'm a stranger to this part of the forum but I'm coming up to Lancashire next month and would be grateful if you could in fact name the cafés you'd recommend in the four villages. Best wishes, Ian from Northampton.

Hi Ian.

No problem (links with more details):

• Country Kitchen Cafe, Waddington
• Riverbank Tea Rooms, Slaidburn
• Puddleducks Cafe, Dunsop Bridge
• The Cobbled Corner Cafe, Chipping

Thanks, Colin. Looks like café heaven for me on one or two days. Then football heaven if Cobblers beat Accrington on the Saturday afternoon. No chance, I know! Cheers, Ian from Northampton (92nd in the Football League).

Cycling heaven too, Ian - it is a seriously nice area to ride a bike. Here's a few of my photos to whet your appetite ...









If you would like some help to devise a route, tell me how many miles you'd like to do, whether or not you enjoy climbs, and if you would drive to the start, or if not - where you would be cycling from. Routes could be devised which could be anywhere in the range from moderately undulating to seriously hilly.

Thanks, Colin. The area looks glorious. But we'll only be pootling about in March. Back in 2010, I cycled LEJoG and, when we were at a b'n'b just south of Preston (Eccleston), I suggested to my companion that our route for the next day - to Kendal - should be via Dunsop Bridge and the Trough of Bowland. My idea, for the whole journey, was that I might not be passing that way again and we should see it. This idea had worked until that point. We crossed Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Exmoor; the Quantocks; the Forest of Dean; and Long Mynd. He took one look at a page torn from a road atlas (no contours or anything) and flatly refused. Up the A6 it was! So I've hankered after Dunsop Bridge since then. Well, The Fridays are coming to the area for a midnight Manchester to Morecambe ride via Ribchester in June and I've signed up for that! (See the thread at http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/fnrttc-provisional-2012-dates.85912/page-14) With luck, the climb up from Ribchester will be done in the dawn! Next month is strictly a pootle - my wife and I, two pensioners on Bromptons, both keen on cafés! Cheers, Ian

Have fun Ian.

Oh, BTW - make sure you lock your bikes up at those cafe stops. Northern thieving scrotes know where we cyclists hang out so bike thefts from outside cafes are not unknown even in those quiet rural locations!

Thanks for this. I have just set up these in a Google My Place Map, for future reference

I haven't been to Puddleducks yet, but they are highly regarded by Globalti who is a regular visitor there. I will organise a forum ride later in the year which calls in there after a trip over the Trough of Bowland.