We've done cafés, how about ice cream vans...

[ColinJ]

I've seen quite a few threads where we list our favourite cycling cafes. How about mobile sources of refreshments for needy cyclists?

Here are a few that I've used:

Blackstone Edge above Littleborough  (A58/B6138) - there is usually an ice cream van at the lay-by by the reservoir.

Spring Wood picnic centre above Whalley (A671/B6246) - ice cream van at the entrance.

Buckstones (A640/B6114) - hot and cold food and drinks van at the top of the climb up from Denshaw.

Between Dunsop Bridge and the Trough of Bowland - hot and cold food and drinks van.

Between Hebden Bridge and Oxenhope (A6033) - there are often ice cream vans in lay-bys either side of the summit.

Where are your local vans located?

 

[Globalti]

I've seen quite a few threads where we list our favourite cycling cafes. How about mobile sources of refreshments for needy cyclists?

Here are a few that I've used:

Blackstone Edge above Littleborough (A58/B6138) - there is usually an ice cream van at the lay-by by the reservoir.

Spring Wood picnic centre above Whalley (A671/B6246) - ice cream van at the entrance.

Buckstones (A640/B6114) - hot and cold food and drinks van at the top of the climb up from Denshaw.

Between Dunsop Bridge and the Trough of Bowland - hot and cold food and drinks van.

Between Hebden Bridge and Oxenhope (A6033) - there are often ice cream vans in lay-bys either side of the summit.

Where are your local vans located?

There's another in that area just by the bridge between Whitewell and Dunsop bridge.

 

[Spinney]

Devil's Bridge, just outside Kirkby Lonsdale (usually an ice-cream van AND a burger van - and lots of motorbikes on a Sunday).

Often one on the Ingleton-Hawes road, where the road from Horton joins it.

 

[dodgy]

I can't understand why a cyclist would need/want to use a burger van? In a car I can sort of understand it, if one is on your route and you're hungry. But cyclists generally plan ahead with routes etc? I always plan a good cafe on my longer 70+ rides, I wouldn't dream of calling at a burger van unless I'm made a nav error and I was absolutely at the point of bonking!

Where do the people who work in these things wash their hands, especially after going to the toilet? In fact, where do they go to the toilet?

 

[rich p]

If I ever here Greensleeves again I'll rip my ears off

 

[rich p]

Actually, my buddy did bonk and bought a reviving ice-cream from the van in the car park just outseide Postbridge on Dartmoor.

 

[Dayvo]

Any frozen food section at the supermarket is my favourite ice-cream 'parlour'!

 

[Spinney]

I can't understand why a cyclist would need/want to use a burger van? In a car I can sort of understand it, if one is on your route and you're hungry. But cyclists generally plan ahead with routes etc? I always plan a good cafe on my longer 70+ rides, I wouldn't dream of calling at a burger van unless I'm made a nav error and I was absolutely at the point of bonking!

Not all my rides are planned to the letter!
I came across one in the Brecons, and really fancied a bag of chips and a cuppa. So I had a bag of chips and a cuppa...

 

[dodgy]

Not all my rides are planned to the letter!
I came across one in the Brecons, and really fancied a bag of chips and a cuppa. So I had a bag of chips and a cuppa...

Mine aren't always either, but I've never found a burger van yet that warrants a return visit, let alone a mention! Now a good cafe, that's different. They might specialise in great coffee, or some good home made cakes, perhaps a great all-day breakfast - even better, they might do all those things!

Burger/chip vans, you pretty much know what to expect of them.

 

[ColinJ]

I can't understand why a cyclist would need/want to use a burger van? In a car I can sort of understand it, if one is on your route and you're hungry. But cyclists generally plan ahead with routes etc? I always plan a good cafe on my longer 70+ rides, I wouldn't dream of calling at a burger van unless I'm made a nav error and I was absolutely at the point of bonking!

I know what you are saying. Normally, I don't stop at such outlets myself but there are times when they can be a salvation. The one I mentioned near the Trough of Bowland saved me on a CycleChat forum ride a couple of years ago. The weather turned really nasty and I got soaked through and really cold. I had a nice hot mug of tea and a bar of chocolate and I was good to go after that.

I am much more likely to buy a can of coke or an ice cream on a hot day. On such a day, I might fancy something cold at the top of a hill where I can admire the view for a while and stretch my back off the bike.

 

[Headgardener]

Never had a burger from one of these outlets but I am fond of a bacon butty (yum yum) and a cup of coffee, and can recomend two that I have used in the past. The first one is on the A36 just before the junction with the A303 and the second is just before the village of Burbage on the A338. I might add that I did not cycle to these two locations, I visited them while travelling to Minehead and Birmingham by car.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

A good old-fashioned cider lolly at the van at Surprise View car park is the perfect reward for putting that little extra effort into the climb from Hathersage

Burger/chip vans, you pretty much know what to expect of them.

Actuially, some years ago I was surprised. A van load of us, all veggie or vegan, just wanted a coffee stop and were too tight to go the the Little Chef so went to the greasy spoon static caravan in the nearby layby, after all, they surely wouldn't put lard in black coffee!

Had a really nice albeit oily meal that we never expected, up on the wall inside was all the usual menu and also a big neon A2 sheet of card with a marker-scrawled vegetarian menu, had something like hash browns with beans and Veggie sausages, but it was very welcome after a long day

So long ago I can't remember where it was exactly, sure it was on the A1 somewhere near Cambs/Peterborough or somewhere in that (very vague) region

Sometimes, you can get the unexpected....not very often though.