Coffee and Cake Ride - Siskins Cafe Whinlatter

Coffee and Cake Ride 
Siskins Cafe, Whinlatter

Our latest quest to find Cumbria's Best Coffee and Cake Stop in the World took us on a ride alongside Crummock Water to Buttermere, from here where we headed over Newlands into Braithwaite and up the Whinlatter Pass where we stopped for a rest at Siskins Cafe. 

It was a lovely morning on Sunday as we headed out on the bikes, who's have thought when we set off that the heavens would fall upon us later in the afternoon - but the only obstacles we needed to overcome in the beautiful morning Cumbrian Weather was Cumbrian traffic... Sheep. The road to Buttermere is always full of our wooly friends and this morning was no different. 

Crummock Water is always lovely, and with the weather so calm and quiet it made quite the backdrop for a photo with my lovely bike. 

We headed up Newlands next, where Owen and I both completed a personal challenge, I managed to beat my best time to the top from Buttermere in just over 11 minutes and Owen for the first time got up without stopping. All these cake rides must finally be be doing us some good! From the top of Newlands we headed down towards Braithwaite, the road was very slick in places with some of the inclement weather we've been having, it didn't stop me pushing on (I got to 44mph at one point) but it did lead to squeaky bum moment as I slid sideways towards a wall. My smugness for reaching such a good speed soon disappeared as I tried to remember if I'd packed spare pants! 

Wall avoided, we headed through Braithwaite and up the Whinlatter Pass to the visitors centre. We pulled off to pass into the car park and headed to the cafe for a well earned rest and bite to eat before heading home.

Coffee and Cake Review - Siskins Cafe, Whinlatter Visitors Centre:

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1 - Seat Comfort: There was a range of seating available in the cafe, and at the time of the morning we arrived we had the whole place to chose from. As we were hot and sweaty from a bit of climbing we opted to sit outside... bad choice, it was a bit breezy so we went back inside fairly swiftly. Chairs are functional here, but not the cosiest on hard working cycling bottoms. Although I did award an extra point for spotting a man with tools walking around levelling chairs and table legs... as an Engineer I really appreciated that. 

2 - Bike Friendliness: Full marks, this spot really caters for cyclists. Situated on the C2C, Fred Whitton Route and home to it's own trail centre it is probably not a surprise but not only are there bike racks and places to lock up bikes but the staff are great too. We had a good chat with the folks behind the counter about our morning efforts and were duly rewarded with good cake and coffee portions. The kind of portions I'm sure Chris Froome gets after his jolly's in France. 




3 / 4 - Cakes & Cake Choice: Great Choice, Great Cakes. I'm not sure I can say anymore, they had a Victoria Sponge, a Coffee and Walnut Cake and a choice of Scones - there was plenty more on offer, but to be honest they had me at hello. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, I opted for the Coffee and Walnut Cake and Owen had a Chocolate Brownie thing. Both were lovely, just what tired legs needed to get us back on the road. 






5 - Coffee / Tea: I had an Americano, which was good, Owen had an Espresso. Both good, just what the doctor ordered. 



Overall Rating: Overall we've given Siskins 4 chain rings, get there early though, it gets really busy at lunch time and if you're there with family you don't want to be queued up for a long time with grump kids.

If you have any suggestions of any coffee and cake stops we should make let us know, we are always willing participants!

Paddy and Owen