Highbury to the Cowshed Cafe in Biggleswade near Bedford.
- London Clarion Cycle Club
- Jul 12
- 2 min read
On Saturday 11.7.26 the London Clarion Cycle Club rode to the Cowshed Café in Biggleswade, a cyclist-owned café in Bedfordshire that is set up to provide a perfect destination or pit-stop for a group ride. After a satisfying lunch there we rode on to Bedford for drinks and took a train back to London.
The day started well with everyone arriving before the 7am start time. This was especially commendable from Pratheep who had only gone to bed in the early hours! The early start was very wise in the midst of a heatwave. Alex had stepped in to lead the ride and did a great job navigating Clive’s route. Everybody rode very well, keeping up a steady pace and it was easy to keep the group together throughout the ride. It was one of Pratheep’s longest rides to date and one of Tamara’s fastest.
We went through the lovely Broomfield Park and took some nice quiet roads on the way out of north London, perhaps aided by the early start. We made our way through the countryside of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and some towns. Welwyn was picturesque and Ickwell had many nice thatched roofs. We stopped for refreshments in Hitchin and David bought a round of beautifully cold ice coffees. We passed an RAF base at Henlow with a vintage warplane on display. This was the first of a few aviation connections as we later spotted a spitfire in the sky from Bedford and two giant airship hangers.
Our route passed close to a couple of sites of historical political interest. Shaw’s Corner is the resting place of George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, socialist thinker and activist. He was an early member of the Fabian Society but later renounced their gradualism in favour of more radical politics. Bedford was home to John Bunyan, 17th century nonconformist preacher and author of The Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan spent 12 years in prison in the persecution of dissenters following the Restoration.
We were given a warm welcome by the owners at the Cowshed Café, who were pleased to see a group that had cycled from London. The café has loads of bike parking and was screening the TdF (Tour De France) stage. We had a tasty lunch there and then took a scenic route to Bedford, with Priory County Park being a particular highlight. It was hot by now and we were glad of a breeze and the cover of trees. In Bedford we had a drink in a beer balcony overlooking the river before making our way to the train station for an easy, direct and spacious Thameslink train home.
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