In Praise of the Cycling Cafe

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As autumn heads towards winter and the weather gets colder and wetter, many of us need an extra little incentive to get them out the door and on the bike. Often that comes in the form of a steaming cup of coffee or mug of hot chocolate and a plate of something tasty, whether it’s cheese on toast or a home-made cake.

Fortunately, we are blessed with some wonderful cafés that seem to be strategically placed to meet the needs of a cold and weary cyclist. We’ve listed a few of our favourites below:

  1. Honesty Café, Lambourn – The first of two Honesty cafés to make our list. The Lambourn shop has really friendly staff, excellent coffee and hot chocolate, and the freshly prepared food is very tasty, with a great range of soups, sandwiches and cakes.
    Location: 17 High Street, Lambourn, RG17 8XL
    Opening Hours: 0800 – 1600 Monday to Sunday
    Website:  http://www.coffeeshops.honestygroup.co.uk/honesty-lambourn/

  2. Honesty Café, Inkpen Common – Tucked away beside the Crown and Garter pub, it is a lovely place to relax and sample their range of cakes, biscuits, tarts, pastries and preserves.  You can also buy the breads made at the Honesty Bakery.  They serve breakfasts from 8.30 until 10.30 Monday to Sunday and light lunches from 12pm. Cycle parking is provided in front of the pub.
    Location: Great Common Road, Inkpen Common, RG17 9QR
    Opening Hours: 0800 – 1600 Monday to Sunday
    Website: http://www.coffeeshops.honestygroup.co.uk/honesty-inkpen/

  3. The Tea Cosy, Hurstbourne Tarrant – The only café outside West Berkshire to make our list. This hidden gem is tucked behind the car dealership on the north side of the village. As the name would suggest, tea is served in a pot with a knitted cosy and while their sandwiches and hot food are lovely, it’s the cakes that really stand out. Just the ticket before getting back in the saddle for the long climb to Faccombe. Please note that they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
    Location: The Dene | Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hurstbourne Tarrant, SP11 0AS
    Opening Hours: 0930 – 1700 Wednesday to Sunday
    Website: https://www.facebook.com/theteacosyhurstbourne/

  4. Saddleback Farm Shop, Brightwalton – Situated just off the Wantage Road, it has an excellent café at the back of the shop serving hot and cold meals and a good selection of home-made cakes. With beautiful views over the North Wessex Downs, this makes a great pit stop for bike rides north of Newbury.
    Location: California Farm, Brightwalton, RG20 7HR
    Opening Hours: 0830 – 1700 Monday to Saturday; 1000 – 1530 Sunday
    Website: http://www.saddlebackfarmshop.co.uk/kitchen/tea-room/

  5. Hampstead Norreys Community Shop & Café – Hidden in a little courtyard next to the church, this provides a warm welcome for weary cyclists. Serving delicious foods for breakfast and lunch, they also offer deli items, locally made cakes, tea and barista coffee. As well as being home-made, lots of the ingredients are home grown too. The only downside is that they close at 12pm on Sundays!
    Location: Church Street, The Manor Courtyard, Hampstead, Norreys, RG18 0TD
    Opening Hours: 0800 – 1900 Monday to Friday; 0830 – 1600 Saturday; 0900 – 1200 Sunday
    Website: http://www.hncs.co.uk/cafe/

  6. Blackbird Café, Chapel Row – Situated next to the Bladebone Inn, the owners bake daily to stock their cosy little café full of yummy cakes and goodies. Their breakfasts and lunches are good too and are made using local, seasonal ingredients. Just remember that they are closed on Sundays and Mondays.
    Location: Chapel Row, Bucklebury, RG7 6PD
    Opening Hours: 0830 – 1430 Tuesday to Friday;  0900 – 1430 Saturday
    Website: http://www.theblackbirdcafe.co.uk

We realise that this is far from an exhaustive list, so if we’ve missed any cafés that you would like to recommend, then please get in touch on Facebook or Twitter and let us know.

Campaign to Maintain Kennet & Avon Towpath

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Here at Spokes, we’ve become increasingly concerned about the sustained lack of maintenance of the Kennet and Avon Towpath, particularly the rural stretches out towards Marsh Benham and to the east of Colthrop. Despite forming part of National Cycle Network Route 4, the path has been left to degrade to such an extent that we now consider it to be inherently unsafe.

When the path was originally constructed it was 1.5 – 2m wide for most of its length, even in the more rural areas. However, the grass has encroached to such an extent that it is now less than 0.3m wide in places, with a pronounced lip on either side. This makes it virtually unusable by anyone on a bike, since it is very easy for a wheel to catch the lip and unseat the rider. We have spoken to several people who indicated that they or a member of their party had fallen off on these sections.

The path also suffers from poor drainage. Given that it is nothing more than a rut in the grassy bank, it is not surprising that it fills with water whenever it rains. This conceals the true extent of the hazard and leaves a muddy, slippery mess as it dries, which makes it even more difficult to navigate on a bike. What’s more, there are several sections where large notches have been eroded in the bank and cut into the path.  If you are not looking for them, then it would be very easy to ride into one and fall straight into the canal.

This is completely unacceptable. If this was a road, it would not be allowed to fall into such disrepair. Cyclists should expect similar maintenance standards of maintenance to be applied to ensure their safety on these sections of the National Cycle Network, which is popular with leisure cyclists and families.

We are aware that developer contributions have just been made available from the Newbury Racecourse development to improve the section of the towpath between Newbury and Thatcham, which is very welcome and we look forward to these sections being repaired and upgraded.  However, this should not be allowed to distract from maintenance liabilities on the other sections of route.

We appreciate that funding and resources may be tight, but the Canal and River Trust still have a duty of care to the users of their towpath, including cyclists. We have contacted the Waterway Manager for the Kennet & Avon to highlight the problem and to ask that they take urgent action. We have also suggested that they could pool resources with Sustrans and West Berkshire Council. The Council has been very responsive with Cllr Ardagh-Walter inviting the Waterway Manager to the next meeting of the Cycle Forum in December and suggesting that we could undertake a more detailed audit of the route to help the Trust.

If you would like to add your voice to the campaign, we would suggest that you contact the Canal & River Trust directly by emailing: enquiries.kennetavon@canalrivertrust.org.uk

Dr Bike – Free Bike Checks in Newbury on 28 October

Posted on by Secretary

two people fixing bikes

Are your brakes making funny noises? Are your gears a bit clunky and don’t change when you want to? Do you wish you could mend a puncture? Then bring your bike to Newbury Town Hall between 9.30am and 2.30pm on Saturday 28 October and we’ll check it over, make adjustments and teach you how to maintain your bike.

While most of us recognise the need to keep our cars maintained in order to keep them running efficiently and pass their MOTs, we are often not so good about keeping on top of our bike maintenance. We are always spotting people out on bikes that have a variety of maintenance issues from minor niggles to more serious problems that could be putting their safety at risk.

Thankfully, bikes (with a few notable exceptions) are fairly simple machines and the most common maintenance tasks can easily be carried out with a minimum of tools. Our Cytech accredited cycle mechanics will be available to show you how to check your bikes for faults, make adjustments where required and advise on any repairs that needs to be carried out.

Remember that all Spokes members get 10% off parts at several local bike shops, so if you do need any repairs, then you can be sure of getting good value for money while supporting a local business.

A4 Cycle Route (Phase 1) Consultation

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West Berkshire Council is in the process of developing plans for a new cycle route along the A4 from Newbury all the way to the district boundary in Calcot. This will form part of the new National Cycle Network Route 422, which will link Newbury and Thatcham to Reading, Wokingham, Bracknell and Ascot. The scheme has received funding through the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and will be one of the biggest cycling schemes in the county since NCN Route 4.

Given the length of the scheme, it will be rolled out in phases. The Council has just gone out to consultation on phase one. This will see improvements on London Road and Benham Hill, from the junction with Faraday Road right up to the Wye Vale Garden Centre roundabout.

The scheme will create safe space for cyclists on the road and will include the following changes:

  • cycle lanes on both sides of road where width allows
  • making better use of available road space by removing hatching and right turn lanes where it is appropriate to do so
  • removing traffic islands to get rid of ‘pinch points’ for cyclists
  • installing advanced stop lines at signalised junctions
  • new dropped kerbs to help cyclists get on and off the route

There will also be improvements to off-carriageway facilities. This recognises the fact that not all cyclists have the confidence to mix with traffic and there are areas where accessibility is currently restricted for those in wheelchairs, mobility scooters and with pushchairs.

The following improvements are proposed:

  • widening and resurfacing sections of pavement, and converting them to shared paths
  • giving cyclists priority across the entrance to the B&Q / Dunelm Mill retail park
  • removing unnecessary road signs, and relocating street furniture
  • creating wider pedestrian islands to improve crossing points for all users

It is also proposed to introduce new double yellow lines, in areas where there is a problem with cars parking and blocking footways. There will be separate consultations to follow for these restrictions as they require Traffic Regulation Orders.

You can send your comments or objections to this proposal to the Highways Project Team, no later than 22 October 2017.

National Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy Published

Posted on by Secretary

Department for Transport Logo

The Department for Transport published its National Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy today. This aims to:

  • Double cycling in terms of the estimated total number of cycle stages made each year, from 0.8 billion stages in 2013 to 1.6 billion stages in 2025.
  • Increase walking activity to 300 stages per person per year in 2025, and
  • Increase the percentage of children aged 5 to 10 that usually walk to school from 49% in 2014 to 55% in 2025.

The target for cycling is eye-catching until you start doing some international comparisons. Even if we achieve our cycling target, then just under 4% of trips will be made by bike in 2025. This is low compared to levels that are already seen now in other European countries, e.g. 5% in France and Italy, 9% in mountainous Switzerland and Austria, 19% in Denmark and 26% in the Netherlands.

Our view is that the target is distinctly unambitious – the ‘Get Britain Cycling’ inquiry report, which was published in 2013 and strongly backed by MPs of all parties, businesses and the media – called for targets to boost cycle use to roughly German levels (10% of trips) by 2025 and to near-Dutch levels (25%) by 2050.

A headline grabbing £1.2 billion is being allocated to help deliver these aims over the next five years, with a breakdown as follows

  • £50 million to provide Bikeability training for a further 1.3 million children
  • £101 million to improve cycling infrastructure
  • £85 million to make improvements to 200 sections of roads for cyclists
  • £80 million for safety and awareness training for cyclists, extra secure cycle storage, bike repair, maintenance courses and road safety measures
  • £389.5 million for councils to invest in walking and cycling schemes
  • £476.4 million from local growth funding to support walking and cycling
  • £5 million on improving cycle facilities at railway stations

This sounds great until you realise that it is just a tiny fraction of the overall transport budget (approximately 1.3%). In London alone, Sadiq Khan has committed £770 million to improving cycling facilities in the capital city during his term in office – that’s a rate of £17 per person per year compared to just over £5 per person per year that will be spent on the rest of England’s populace. Also, much of this funding is already available through existing or committed transport spending, which is allocated as unringfenced grant funding to councils and Local Enterprise Partnerships and may therefore be siphoned off to be spent on other priorities.

It is interested to note that some of the main transport pressure groups appear to have been largely bought off by the promise of funding for their pet projects:

Despite there being little improvement in the content and ambition of the strategy compared to the draft version, the responses from these organisation has been distinctly muted this time compared to their original responses and even heaping praise on the Government saying how much they are looking forward to working with them to deliver the strategy. This is disappointing to say the least.

The strategy promotes Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs), aimed at enabling local authorities to develop their own plans. However these are voluntary, and even for those local authorities that are interested and willing to prepare them, the lack of clear, high-quality cycling design guidance remains a major concern. The strategy suggests that there will at some point be a ‘refresh’ of LTN 2/08 ‘Cycle Infrastructure Design’, which provides design guidance for those involved in developing new cycling schemes. Given the length of time that has elapsed between the consultation on the draft strategy and the publication of the final version, this is disappointing.  The UK has a history of building some mediocre cycling infrastructure that is some way below the best practice examples seen in leading cycling nations such as the Netherlands and Denmark.

While it is great to see the Government finally publish a strategy that articulates a national approach to promoting cycling and walking, Spokes is disappointed that they have not been more ambitious in their aims and funding commitments and that opportunities to promote best practice design standards have not been taken.