Coffeeneuring – Black and Tabby Runs

Juneathon Day 22 – 30

The final stretch! Day 22 was my usual Tuesday cycle commute of 5.59 miles. Beautiful weather for it, but my legs always complain after a day of standing up.

Day 23 – hours tai chi lesson. Still haven’t managed to do the complete form with needing a prompt from our teacher. One more week …

Day 24 – a day trip to Oxford to take the in-laws to visit their granddaughter. Forgot to start my Garmin so I didn’t measure it, but we walked for a fair few miles (and ate some lovely vegan food along the way!).

Day 25 – 5.59 mile cycle commute again.

Day 26 – Walk of 0.98 miles (how annoying!) near the highest hill in Wiltshire, spotting more orchids and then at least another mile around Avebury.

Day 27 – a 3 mile walk around the village in the rain.

Day 28 – 3.77 mile run with my run buddy

Day 29 – 5.59 mile cycle commute again for me today.

Day 30 – made it to the final day! To end with a flourish I finally managed (once) to get through the complete form in my tai chi lesson on my own with no prompts. As an encore, I cycled into town for a bonus 9.3 mile ride.

I had to collect a parcel, so merrily set off with my trusted panniers* on my bike confident in my load carrying capabilities. The nice man in the office found my parcel, and handed over a massive box (which I knew only contained a few, small items). Wielding all the charm I could muster, I persuaded him to let me open the box, take out the contents (which fitted easily into my panniers) and then hand back the empty box for him to recycle. Result!

I cycled on into town and made it a practice “Coffeeneuring” ride.

*Technically they’re my husband’s trusty panniers, but they’re on my bike now so, possession … 9/10ths of the law etc.

Coffeeneuring 2019 – completed!

Yay! Another Coffeeneuring challenge completed. I love that this challenge gets me out on my bike every year, with no pressure on distance ridden or “ramping up the miles”.

To sum up:-

16th October 2019. Ride to tai chi, calling in at Allington Farm Shop cafe in my way home. 7 miles ridden.
17th October 2019. Riding back from Chippenham after dropping my car at the garage, via Coffee #1. 4.5 miles ridden.
29th October 2019. Grounded in Corsham for their excellent dark chocolate brownie. 5.5 miles cycled.
5th November 2019. Ride in Berlin sightseeing. 11.5 miles ridden.
7th November 2019. “Bowie” tour of Berlin by bicycle. 8.5 miles ridden.
12th November 2019. Double win! Coffee with friend in Corsham at Grounded, and then qualifying drink in Previous. 5 miles cycled.
18th November 2019. Pound Arts Centre Cafe, Corsham. 5.5 miles ridden.

I started this year’s challenge having just been extremely unexpectedly made redundant. I was really upset and down about this, and the couple of jobs I found that I was perfect for (in my mind!) I wasn’t even invited for interview. These rides, along with the runs that I slowly started taking (physio permitting!) gave me a chance to think about what I wanted from a job, and how I could earn some money.

By the end of Coffeeneuring I had remembered a long held dream to run a vegan cafe. I was considering taking some “food hygiene” courses as an introduction when a good friend of mine told me that the Pound Arts Centre cafe needed someone to work a couple of days a week. It’s a veggie / vegan cafe and so sounded ideal, but with my confidence pretty low I had no idea if I could actually do it.

My final Coffeeneuring ride was to go and have a good look at the cafe, to see what was on the menu, to see how it was run, and to see if the people working there seemed nice* (an important consideration!) I ended up going in for a chat with the manager, and extremely quickly was signed up for a couple of sessions to see how it went. I then found myself dropped in the deep end and was working there by myself on two very busy days just before Christmas.

I’m going back again on Monday, hopefully when it’s quieter, for some more training. I’m still unsure whether this is the new career for me, but being stubborn I’ll stick it out for a bit longer. In the meantime, all cyclists are welcome! The Arts Centre has bike racks outside, very good coffee with a great selection of cakes. (How am I doing on drumming up trade??!)

*The people working in the Art centre are all lovely, and have been soooo tolerant of my mistakes. Thankfully.

Coffeeneuring 2019 #7

Final ride of the Coffeeneur challenge 2019, unless I wanted to go for “8 is great”. Spoiler alert – I wanted to, but it was raining, so I didn’t.

The short story is that I rode back into Corsham on 18th November 2019, and had a really good coffee and vegan apricot flapjack at the Pound Arts Centre Cafe.

Pound Arts Centre, in an old Victorian school building

5.6 miles ridden, finally felt more confident on the road, although I still made the wrong glove choice. Also – a decision was made, which I will explain in my summing up post …

Coffeeneuring 2019 #6

Back in the UK, my 6th Coffeeneuring ride still had an International feel, as I rode to meet my Canadian friend. (I should point out, obviously I didn’t ride to Canada, she was over visiting her family). We met at “Grounded” in Corsham, which eagle-eyed readers will remember I visited as ride number 3 this year.

We had a lovely chat, and I again treated myself to the vegan dark chocolate brownie. This brownie is so good, as we ordered I said if they didn’t have any we’d go somewhere else and I wasn’t joking.

As we said goodbye, I realised that if I popped in somewhere for another drink, then this ride could still count as a Coffeeneuring trip.

Heading on down the High Street, I parked my bike up and walked back to Previous. This is a lovely little shop, with a tiny cafe upstairs.

I bought a birthday present for a friend and then hopped upstairs for an Almond milk latte. This was very good, and almost kept me warm when I got soaked on my ride back home.

5 miles cycled, 2 hot drinks drunk, 1 lovely catch up, and 1 Coffeeneur drenched on the ride home.

Coffeeneuring 2019 #5

Still in Berlin, I had promised my husband we could go on a “Bowie” tour of Berlin (as he is such an avid fan). We hired Donkey bikes again, and accidentally ended up with the exact same bikes as the day before (they all have names!) Much hilarity was caused when I finally realised my bike had gears – no wonder yesterday’s ride felt like hard work!

Husband had done his research, and expertly piloted us around areas of the city from Bowie’s time of living there in the 1970s with Iggy Pop. Some of these places are mentioned in the lyrics of his later song “Where are we now”, such as Potzdammer Platz and the biggest department store in Europe, KaDeWe. We found the recording studios “Hansa Records” in the pouring rain, which was rather a low point for me (but the opposite for Mr B&T!)

Outside the apartment that Bowie shared with Iggy Pop

I insisted on an early coffee stop (just to make sure it would be a Coffeeneuring ride – priorities, right?) at a denns biomarkt for an organic coffee and a snack that was marked as Vegan but I’m still not really sure what it was (slightly sweet, flaky pastry ish).

Organic soya latte and “Splitterbrotchen”

I had been worried about cycling around a city, and an unfamiliar foreign city at that, but I was surprised to find that drivers were very aware of cyclists and no one seemed to mind if you hopped onto the pavement for a short section if it was safer. I just wish such tolerance could be exported back to the UK!

Rather a soggy day, but 8.5 miles ridden around Berlin, a strong coffee with an unidentifiable snack, and one happy husband!

Coffeeneuring 2019 #4

International coffeeneuring this time (or should that be Kaffeneuring?) A short trip to Berlin coupled with husband’s aversion to walking, plus a flat city that is used to cyclists meant that I was easily persuaded to explore on 2 wheels.

We used one of the many, clever apps available these days to hire “donkey” bikes. We chose these mainly because they had a handy holder for a phone on the front handlebars, meaning we could use Google Maps to safely navigate us around the city.

We had (accidentally) managed to arrive in the week before the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. This meant that the city was full of displays and exhibits and interesting ‘stuff’ to look at. It was maybe a little ironic that as part of the forthcoming celebrations a massive stage blocked the iconic Brandenburg Gate.

Inside the dome of the Reichstag building

Brandenburg Gate -blocked again 30 years on!

Total ride was 11.5 miles, 1 good strong soya latte was drunk (we found the Einstein chain of coffee shops had soya milk), and many tourist sites visited.

Coffeeneuring 2019 #3

My third Coffeeneuring trip this year, no cake so far, but my hopes were high for Grounded in Corsham. This lovely cafe does offer a Vegan cooked breakfast which was my fallback treat in case of cake-failure.

A fairy speedy ride out to our closest small town, and having remembered a bike lock this time I didn’t have to bother any window cleaners to keep my bike safe, unlike last time (see here!)

Wanted my Trek closer than the official bike rack

I headed inside, ordered my coffee and with baited breathe asked if they had any vegan cakes. “Oh – only the dark chocolate brownie”. ONLY??? It was amazingly good, and because it was dark chocolate not too sweet.

I ate it all too quickly, and then decided I’d better put some effort into the ride home to burn it off!

5.5 miles ridden to Grounded in Corsham.

Coffeeneuring 2019 #2

Still enthused about this year’s Coffeeneuring challenge, when my car was booked into the garage for its annual service and MOT I decided to squeeze my bike into the boot and then cycle home (via a cafe) whilst I waited.

First part of the plan worked like a charm. After dropping off the car I cycled down into town towards one of my favourite coffee shops, Coffee#1 on Chippenham’s High Street. This cafe has really friendly staff, a range of dairy-free milks and offers a very fine vegan chocolate tiffin-style cake. Optimistic of not having to make do with a packet of crisps this time, I was practically salivating at the thought of this treat as I cycled up the High Street*.

At this point – I had a sudden horrible thought. I’d remembered my bike, I’d picked up my helmet, I had cash to spend – but I’d forgotten to pick up a bike lock. Chippenham is hardly the crime capital of North Wiltshire, but I still wouldn’t leave my lovely Trek there, unlocked and out of my sight. Somewhat less enthusiastically (in fact, I nearly turned around and headed straight for home) I carried on, thinking I might be able to order a takeaway coffee whilst keeping my eyes on my bike propped up against the window. Or wheel my bike inside. Or just shout my order in from the doorway. Or .. or … or ask the lovely window cleaner who was hard at work cleaning the cafe’s front windows. Bless him, he said of course he’d watch my bike whilst I ran inside to use the toilet and buy my coffeeneuring reward.

My chocolate treat was in sight! I propped my bike against a table, out of his way, and dashed inside, only to have my hopes dashed when I was told they hadn’t received any cakes that morning. They did at least have soya milk, so it wasn’t a totally wasted trip, but I’m starting to worry that the theme of my rides this year might be NO CAKE!

Little bit chilly for sitting outside but needs must

Total ride was 4.5 miles, drink was a soya latte, cafe was Coffee#1, window cleaner was a top bloke.

Coffee from Coffee#1 on Chippenham High Street — Scenic 😉 Still no vegan cake

* For anyone local, this was before 9:30am so the High Street was still open to traffic. You didn’t think I was cycling through a pedestrianised zone, did you??!

Coffeeneuring 2019 #1

Coffeeneuring 2019 begins!

The days are getting shorter, the weather is colder, I feel like hibernating, it can only mean one thing – It’s time for Coffeeneuring! (Explanation of what Coffeeneuring is given here, but briefly it’s a challenge over 7 weeks or so to get out on your bike and simply go for a coffee (other suitable drinks are available). 7 weeks, 7 rides, 7 different cafes).

Starting this year as keen as a keen thing, I decided to cycle to tai chi, and then call in at the local farm shop cafe to see if they’ve managed any vegan cakes yet. Or at least, a non-angry way of telling customers that they are very sorry, but they don’t have any cakes suitable for a vegans diet (which would be a change to last year’s experience here!)

In my mind, I would cycle effortlessly to town. I would float into class all pink cheeked from the fresh air, and remove my helmet with a hair toss worthy of a shampoo advert. The reality was an incredibly muddy slog in, then an inability to find anywhere to park my bike resulting in it having to be chained to a small tree and a hasty scramble up the stairs to avoid being late. Taking my trainers off I realised I was splashed with mud nearly up to my knees. Those who remember “The Royle Family” will appreciate I could hear, in the voice of Jim Royce, “serene, my @rse!”

Never mind, I enjoyed the lesson and retrieving my bike I headed out to Allington Farm Shop. This is a lovely, and very popular cafe (with bike racks) and I took the last table between a group of mummies chatting about their husbands and a pair of silver haired ladies gossiping about friends. Yes, the cafe had soya milk, but yet again my enquiry about the possibility of a vegan cake was met with a very short “no”. Ah well, Biscoff biscuit and a packet of crisps it was, then back home through the mud again for a change of trousers.

Coffeeneuring 2019 #1 completed! October 16th 2019, 7 miles

Veganeuring 2018 #7

After wimping out of riding this morning because it was sleeting, once the sun peeped out very briefly I thought I’d better get on with it.

Back to Corsham via the Post Office, and then into Previous. This is a new shop, selling vintage stuff, cards, gifts and so on, with a small cafe upstairs.

Photo of Previous in Corsham — Really cute little building

I headed straight for the cafe, keen to see if it had improved under its new owners. Last time I came here, I was with my family for a quick lunch. We order soup and sandwiches- nothing complicated- but waited about 30 minutes for it to finally appear. If you’ve ever seen the Victoria Wood sketch, featuring Julie Walters, as a very old, very slow waitress, you’ll appreciate our hilarity as our waitress finally brought the food saying “One soup… and … another … soup”. *

Today service was much quicker, and they even had my favourite Almond milk for my mocha. On enquiring about vegan cake I was told they always have 1 vegan option and 1 gluten free option which is great. We both searched all the labels and found the flapjack was marked as Vegan. Like the granola bar from Grounded this was pretty solid, but still pretty good.

Small but perfectly formed cafe

It was still cold when I came out, but the warmth of knowing I’d finished this year’s Coffeeneuring challenge kept me going all the way home.

Just under 5 miles cycled, almond milk mocha and solid flapjack consumed, warm happy glow achieved.

Recap to come!

* If you haven’t seen it, go google it. It’s worth it!