Cup of a tea and a slice...

 

I remember when I used to stop at cafes, in the far off days before lockdown spooked us all?

I got to thinking about this the other day when on the TV news I heard how the whole of the South of England was to be relegated to tier three. The presenter listed the counties one by one.  Sounded like the football league table.

There’s a great idea here, for an international best seller disaster novel:  Extinction of the Human Race. 

First signs -  the cafe’s go out of business, snuff it like canaries in coal mines.

I haven’t been in a cafe now for months, even though some are open.

Instead, I comfort myself with memories and wonder will we ever back to normal?

The Eureka café on the Wirral tops of my list because that was first proper cyclists’ café I visited in my early cycling days. I looked them up on Facebook and was encouraged to see

they were still serving teas and refreshments.  They’re open until this coming Wednesday, December twenty third, then closed for the Christmas period, reopening on Wednesday, January 6.

The Eureka, a well-known cyclists’ Mecca, is to be found seven miles out of Birkenhead, direction North Wales and Chester, Cheshire and Shropshire.

Each Sunday on this route groups of cyclists go forth for a day’s riding. And later that same afternoon and evening, return with as many as 80 or 100 miles in their legs. And always there would be a stop at the Eureka for elevenses on the way out and more of the same to boost flagging muscles on the way back. Others from farther afield, they'd stop for lunch.

In my day, the bikes sported names like Harry Quinn, Eddie Soens, SoensSport, Quinn Brothers, Jim Soens, Soens Brothers, Fothergill – all Liverpool craftsmen the youngsters would later discover.   And of a different order to the mass produced models my friends and I rode.

But happily, we were not made to feel like outsiders when we bravely stepped inside the café with its steamed up windows and heady atmosphere from all the sweating bodies crammed in that tiny place. 

These elite bike riders made room for us inside the café. They were all smiles and banter, taking the piss out of each other. One called out to us, “Orright, la.  Wer've (sic) yer been?”  There were shouts of pint of tea and two slices; tea cake with butter and jam.

They made us feel at home.

But sometimes we stopped at the other cyclists’ café, four miles further down the road, just across the Welsh border. This was Whiteheads Café in Queensferry. I had my lamp batteries nicked there.

If the Eureka was the preferred haunt of the time triallists, or Testers, Whiteheads was the roadman’s watering hole. There was probably a good deal of cross pollination, but that’s how it appeared to the young novice.

Those riding deep into North Wales might stop at the CTC recommended Glasfryn farmhouse, Pentrefoelas on the A5, for a magnificent  roast beef dinner with gravy, followed by apple pie and custard!

Far too heavy a meal in the middle of a 120-mile round trip from Liverpool, over the Denbigh Moors, but worth the struggle afterwards! Wasn’t easy hauling yourself over the Cerrigs, then the Bwlch out of Ruthin on the way home!

If we rode east to Derbyshire, we’d stop at the Poplar Café – a transport cafe - close by where the M6 was being constructed, just past Warrington. Or if riding north to the Trough of Bowland via Preston, a stop at Greasy Annie’s just past Ormskirk after 18 miles was a must.

Getting into Greasy Annie’s in the winter was a task.

Two narrow doors made getting in and out very difficult in cold winter months.   Wearing layers of sweaters topped with an army combat jacket could see you wedged tightly in the door frame. 

There are several cafes worth a mention on the North Downs in Surrey, where I live now.

The Barn café at Newslands Corner, the Pilgrim in Box Hill station near Box Hill, Ryka’s – a motor cycle riders’ hangout right at the foot of Box Hill.

At the top of Box is the National Trust café, and a few kilometres further on, along the Prudential road race route is Destination Bike, top bike shop serving wonderful coffee and cake.

A few miles further east, there is Fanny’s Farm Shop, on the Downs above Reigate.

A cup of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge will do very nicely, ta.

Perhaps next summer, vaccine permitting.

Either that or I’ll get the primus stove out for a roadside brew with a home made bacon buttie. 

Take care.