I’ll Follow the Sun

Waking up to clear blue skies, dry roads and as warm a sun as we can possibly hope for at this time of year, it seemed the ideal day to take the bike out for a final ride before putting it away for winter.
Gambling that my friend’s cafe in Coniston would be open for takeaway drinks, that’s where I headed. More traffic than you might expect in a lockdown, and either a lot of locals bought a car in London, Manchester or Birmingham last week and then forgot their way around their home county OR we may just have the usual numptys who reckon it’s ok to come to the Lake District during lockdown.
Stunning views of the Langdales over Windermere as I headed into Ambleside, and I was pleasantly surprised that the roads to Coniston were mainly dry and leaf free. It was still pretty cold though, so when I found the cafe was open it seemed an ideal excuse to stop for a warming latte. Fran said she’d been closed since Wednesday but reckoned the sun could bring a few people out today so it was worth opening. And thus it proved to be - in the short time I was there a steady stream of customers were queueing up for coffees and cakes.
Suitably warmed and refreshed I carried on down the length of Coniston Water - more great views - and then home via Greenodd and Newby Bridge. A great ride and the added bonus was that the bike wasn’t even dirty at the end so no cleaning required before popping it in the garage. Maybe not lay it up just yet though - I’ve still got half a tank of fuel and if we get another nice day before the roads start being salted, then it would be nice to get out again.
In the interests of promoting a local business which needs our continued support, I’ve made sure the cafe details are clearly shown in the photo and recommend you go there for refreshments if you find yourself in Coniston. Not sure if there will be many more days when it will be open this year though, so you might have to save it until next year, when hopefully things get back to normal.