Category: 60-70 Km - RFW

Cafés near Oundle

11/6/2023

There are two nice cafés just to the south of Oundle; Kingfisher Café and Boxwood Café. Kingfisher is in the Barnwell Country Park, while Boxwood is behind the Barn Garden Centre one Km further south. Both have nice outdoor and indoor spaces.
Kingfisher has a lovely terrace overlooking a small lake and is usually a family favourite. Find out about it here.
Boxwood is modern and usually full of adults; here's their webpage.

There are a couple of loops from the clubhouse below, one that's 86km long, is on Strava here, and a shorter one of 67km here.

kingfisher_cafe_67km_loop.gpx
File Size:	113 kb
File Type:	gpx

kingfisher_café_in_oundle_86km_loop.gpx
File Size:	135 kb
File Type:	gpx

Cafe Ventoux, Tugby

9/4/2023

Café Ventoux in Tugby is a real cyclists 'honey pot', where you'll always find plenty of customers in lycra.

The first route takes us out to the North-West via Houghton, before coming back up and round from the North; here's the Strava link.

café_ventoux_73km_nw.gpx
File Size:	121 kb
File Type:	gpx

And this second route goes North East and round Rutland Water, arriving at Cafe Ventoux after 55 km.

cafe_ventoux_via_rutland_74km.gpx
File Size:	119 kb
File Type:	gpx

And here's a shorter route that also goes North-West and is a loop of 60km.

nw_loop_to_tugby_60km.gpx
File Size:	96 kb
File Type:	gpx

Go West! (to Tur Langton)

19/3/2023

This route goes to one of our favorite cafes, Mint and Ginger in Tur Langton. It goes West to Shearsby before looping back to the café at some 42 km into the 62 km ride.

Alternatively you can carry on to Rural Relaxing in Medbourne at 54 km.

karoo-tur_langton_west_62km__1_.gpx
File Size:	58 kb
File Type:	gpx

Sibbertoft Glider Club

12/3/2023

This place has a different vibe from most cafes, and with a working aerodrome there is usually plenty to see. The route takes an unusual path to get to Oxendon, just so that we can use a few rarely-ridden roads near the clubhouse :)

The route is 67km long, with the café stop just about half way round.

The route is also workable to visit Waterloo Farm near Oxendon, but you'd have to reverse it to get to the stop about 3/4 of the way around.

karoo-sibbertoft.gpx
File Size:	74 kb
File Type:	gpx

Wadenhoe via Deene

5/3/2023

Here's one way to get to Wadenhoe without going through Oundle. It includes about 1 km of bridleway, so think about your bike and the ground conditions, but it makes a change.
The route is 69 km, with the King's Head at Wadenhoe coming up after 36 km, or Café Oak at Geddington after 56 km.

karoo-wadenhoe_-_geddington.gpx
File Size:	62 kb
File Type:	gpx

Launde from the East

26/2/2023

Launde. The word to strike fear into any whose post-café form is not great. With it's 18% gradient straight from the stop, it is not to be taken lightly, but it is a lovely place to stop in any weather, so we do it anyway!
This route approaches from the East after rolling around the valley, through Wing and then heading to Braunston. It's not so long at 60km, with Launde coming up after 40km, so fine for a winter ride.

karoo-launde_60km.gpx
File Size:	68 kb
File Type:	gpx

Medbourne Winter Warmer

5/2/2023

Here's a short route that packs in the hills to keep us warm, and get us ready for the summer to come! There are over 700m of climbing in these 61kms, so bring your lightest self and bike! Once we reach Rural Relaxing (after 52km) you can do just that, as there's a short 20 min ride back to the clubhouse.

karoo-medbourne_hilly_loop_61km.gpx
File Size:	60 kb
File Type:	gpx

Wadenhoe/Geddington

22/1/2023

This 67km loop runs round the north of Corby, then on a quick run to Oundle (good for a chain gang) before turning to Wadenhoe for the Kings Head. If you don't stop there, the route continues round to Geddington, so Café Oak is also an option.

Strava link to the route is here.

oundle_-_wadenhoe_-_geddington.gpx
File Size:	112 kb
File Type:	gpx

Mint and Ginger in Tur Langton

15/1/2023

Mint and Ginger is a lovely courtyard café on the edge of Tur Langton, and very cycle friendly.

Here are three routes that can take us there; the first goes South from the clubhouse, around Market Harborough and back up to Tur Langton, a loop totaling 67km. The second is more direct and Westerly, going via Gumley and Kibworth. The third is a variant on the first, a loop totaling 63km, shown on the right.

tur_langton_west_55km.gpx
File Size:	92 kb
File Type:	gpx

tur_langton_south_67km.gpx
File Size:	113 kb
File Type:	gpx

karoo-clockwise_tur_langton_63_km.gpx
File Size:	63 kb
File Type:	gpx

Launde Abbey Clockwise

4/12/2022

There are three clockwise loops here of 39, 42 and 51 km to take us to Launde Abbey Café, where the coffee break is tempered by thoughts of the sharp climb immediately after leaving the stop! The return from Launde is 20 Km.

The first part of the two longer routes are also useful if you are looking for a short ride to Mint and Ginger in Tur Langton, which comes up after 16km/10miles.

karoo-launde_abbey_clockwise_62km.gpx
File Size:	55 kb
File Type:	gpx

karoo-launde_abbey_clockwise_71km.gpx
File Size:	74 kb
File Type:	gpx

Here's a link to the longest route in Strava.

karoo-launde_abbey_clockwise_59km.gpx
File Size:	61 kb
File Type:	gpx

Tur Langton

23/10/2022

Here's a variation on some other rides posted in this list (search for Tur Langton), with the Mint and Ginger coffee stop appearing at 45km into a 62km ride.

karoo-tur_langton_west_62km.gpx
File Size:	58 kb
File Type:	gpx

West loop returning to Geddington

18/9/2022

The routes here start off West from the club, go anti-clockwise around Market Harborough and end up at Geddington for a café stop. The shorter 60km route is ideal for a shorter winter ride, the longer one is preferred for summer.

The image on the rights shows the different lines for each route.

60 km 2021-10-31_rfw_sunday_geddington_60_km.gpx
File Size:	56 kb
File Type:	gpx

65 km 2020-10-23_rfw_sunday_geddington_65_km.gpx
File Size:	63 kb
File Type:	gpx

Brigstock - 'Flat'

14/8/2022

Here's a summer route that is (relatively) flat, ideal for the 2022 heatwave. It gets the bigger hills out of the way early, allowing us to enjoy the sunshine without too much toil. 70km with the café appearing after about 50.

karoo-brigstock_70km.gpx
File Size:	58 kb
File Type:	gpx

Spokes in Harringworth

26/6/2022

Spokes is a pop-up summer cycling cafe in Harringworth (longest viaduct in the UK). There are a number of routes that go near there, and it's only 13km back to the club.

karoo-spokes_harringworth_69km.gpx
File Size:	58 kb
File Type:	gpx

Go West! (and back to Medbourne)

29/5/2022

Medbourne is close to the club, so this route passes near it, goes West in a clockwise direction and returns for coffee to the Rural Retreats venue.

The loop is about 64 km, with the café coming up at 54 km.

karoo-medbourne_west.gpx
File Size:	61 kb
File Type:	gpx

Wandering Route to Tur Langton

13/3/2022

Sometimes you don't need to go for distance! This route wanders around some of the roads nearby that we usually ride past, and targets Mint and Ginger at Tur Langton for the coffee stop.

karoo-wander_to_tur_langton_61km__1_.gpx
File Size:	48 kb
File Type:	gpx

Oundle 63km

6/3/2022

This route goes anti-clockwise, via Geddington, Brigstock and Lyveden to Oundle. There are a couple of cafes in the centre of Oundle, including our favourite, Brew Babu.

karoo-brigstock_-_oundle.gpx
File Size:	61 kb
File Type:	gpx

Rutland Water East

6/2/2022

Here are a couple of routes that visit the East end of Rutland Water. The longer route targets the Harbour Café on the North Shore, while the shorter route stops at Wing Hall. Both routes hit their café stops after 40km, so are good for a winter run out.

At time of writing though, the Harbour Café has closed down; we hope it opens again soon.

karoo-rutland_water_harbour_cafe_70km.gpx
File Size:	72 kb
File Type:	gpx

karoo-rutland_water_and_wing_59km.gpx
File Size:	58 kb
File Type:	gpx

Elsie's Tearooms in Nassington

17/10/2021

Quirky and retro, nice cake but somewhat iffy coffee if (like me) you prefer espresso!

The route also goes through King's Cliffe, where the Bakery has a cafe :)

Here's the route on Strava, nearly 70km.

course_elsies_nassington.gpx
File Size:	172 kb
File Type:	gpx

Spanhoe Lodge Cafe

29/8/2021

Heading East from the clubhouse towards the area near Fotheringhay, this route stops at Spanhoe Lodge after 50km for the usual refreshments; before returning along the valley.

karoo-spanhoe_lodge_67km.gpx
File Size:	58 kb
File Type:	gpx

Strava route can be found here.