Cyclists love a cafe stop. Coffee and cake are the perfect treat on a ride – and we all have our favourite cafes. So I was shocked to learn that one of my chosen destinations, the Velolife cafe at Warren Row in Berkshire, was closing.

It’s not that I’m a regular visitor. It’s a 35 mile round trip from home, and I only completed the nine visits needed for a free coffee on my last visit before it closed. But there was something special about my rides to Warren Row. Typically, I’d arrive after cycling through the woods past the Dew Drop Inn and down Pudding Hill. On my first visit in July 2021, I was unsure of the route through the woods. Two years later, during the England v Australia Ashes cricket series in 2023, I listened enthralled to the drama of the Test Match Special commentary, as I blogged that summer:

‘On the Sunday of the Edgbaston test, I tuned in for the first time on a ride, and enjoyed the TMS team’s insights into the modern game as I pedalled along the lovely wooded lanes around Burchett’s Green, Berkshire.’ 

Sometimes, I’d enjoy the longer scenic route from Marlow up into the hills to Fingest before swooping down to the Thames and on to Henley, before the climb to Warren Row. Earlier this year, I made it to Velolife on a winter Sunday at 4.02pm, just after it closed, on one of these scenic runs. I cursed way the cafe turned me away in a ‘computer says no’ manner as it closed two minutes earlier, but deep down I recognised the staff were right. As a result, I relished the very fast ride home…

Velolife had a turbulent early life at Warren Row. Windsor & Maidenhead council pursued a ridiculous legal campaign against owner Lee Goodwin but backed down after what Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman called ‘long overdue victory for common sense’ that ended two years of “anguish” for Lee. More recently, Lee has led an enjoyable cycling podcast.

I will add the remaining Velolife cafe at Wargrave to my cycling routes. Even better, I learned today that the Warren Row cafe is being taken over by a new establishment called Sip and Spoke. So I can still enjoy the swoop down Pudding Lane to a cake stop in that small Berkshire village.

Here’s the video I made when I thought I’d made my last cafe ride to Warren Row.