Weekly Roundup

He's not a Clarion, but he is the owner of the Food Gallery at Marlborough


Firstly, a bit of a catch-up with news of the club outing on 20th September 2015, which launched our new monthly Sunday rides. Some of you might have noticed Howard's communique in the comments box accompanying the previous blog post, but for those who didn't, here it is:

A brief note about our first monthly Autumn/Winter 60 mile Sunday club ride.

Back by popular demand was what has become known as the Marlborough Ride. This is a 62 mile circuit with a fair bit of climbing, although most of it occurs before the coffee stop at Marlborough. The climbing includes the notorious Clyffe Pypard (I had to stop half way up, but did manage to get going again) to the not so difficult Hackpen Hill. 

A special mention to the Food Gallery in the High Street at Marlborough, which serves a mean snack. Excellent, if not a little bereft of gluten free offers.

And on to Alton Barnes, Etchilhampton and back via Calne and Sutton Benger. 

Five riders took part; Howard, Andy Parker, Alice, Karine and Tim H.

Weather good and a successful start to this new series.

The Jolly Nice Cafe

Howard has also filed the following report regarding Saturday's excursion to the Jolly Nice Cafe at Frampton Mansell:

Once again the weather was very kind, sunny and no wind and the turn out reflected this. I am not sure exactly how many riders there were, counting cyclists is like counting cats, but it was somewhere around 16 in total. Two groups formed, as ever, with the main body heading out on the longer journey. 

This was a new route thanks to Steve K, and to make things even more exciting he included a new café destination. It is always difficult to co-ordinate the two groups to arrive at the same time in the same place. Steve K assured me that there would be no problems with the route, that it was a straight forward ride and that they would arrive at the tea stop by 11.30. The longer group had 20 miles to do. The shorter group decided on 15 miles and every one set off happily, or happy.

The shorter group arrived at the Jolly Nice Café at almost exactly 11.30 having judged the timing just right. We were all served and seated by the time the longer group arrived some 20 minutes later. At this stage it has to be said that, to me, Steve K’s longer route looked good. But, I heard that there had been some grumbles (cyclists eh?) out on the road. To me that can only mean one thing, Steve had judged things correctly and will be encouraged by the powers that be to design even more courses to even more new cafés.

After the break we all set off together, but very soon the large bunch broke up in to smaller groups as riders settled to a pace that they were comfortable with. I have no message from the other groups as to what they did but our group of three completed another 19, very pleasant miles. This group welcomed among its members Atherton Gray who cycled with MCCC for the first time and hopefully, not for the last.

I guess Jolly Nice is a café, but in many ways it is somewhat unusual. Ordering refreshment was a little haphazard and hot drinks were all served in disposable cups and cakes presented, not on a plate but in a paper bag. More of a shop approach really. Disregarding the waste of resources, the garden where we sat was very roomy and the cake especially, very tasty. My coffee was okay too. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of this emporium is the provision of a yurt to sit in if the weather takes a turn for the worse. This makes this café a possible year round stopping opportunity and plugs a geographical gap in our list of refreshment stops. We will visit again, I tell you! 

Malmesbury Abbey now has a cycling-friendly cafe

Malmesbury Abbey Cafe is well known for its reasonably priced hot drinks, cake and so I'm told, the best bacon rolls in town. There is now a new manageress who is keen to encourage cyclists and she has no objection to them bringing their bikes inside. I've presented her with one of our National Clarion, 'Cyclists Welcome' stickers.