A final reminder for an enjoyable night out at the Cafe this coming Saturday. Organised by our good friend Hazel Robbins & hosted by the ever great value Mike Lees we hope you can join us for a lively quiz with plenty of laughs & scratching of heads all in aid of the Little Adoption Shop which rescues abused dogs in China. Full details on our events page, the night will include an Auction & a Raffle, our thanks to everyone who has donated items to help this cause.

Well by now I had intended to have blogged about my endeavours in the classic Peris Horseshoe Fell race the Saturday before last but with time passing & the fantastic Autumnal colours now putting on their show (it’s a joy to be running through them at this time of year, if only I could sprint onto the scene in the way that they have this year) I feel (as they say) to have been overtaken by Events & Cafe Events at that, so:- Thanks Tim for a thoroughly insightful & enjoyable insight last Friday into your year as a mountain

We are delighted to be shortlisted again for this years TGO Annual awards in the best Cafe category making it 4 years running that we have made the short list so thanks to all those who recommended us. Voting is now underway so if you feel we deserve your vote simply visit www.tgomagazine.co.uk & click on the Awards tab, you should find us on the 2nd page, your support would be greatly appreciated by all of us at the Cafe. There are a number of other local businesses who are nominated in other categories so hopefully they’ll get your votes

A final reminder that tomorrow our good friend Tim gives his presentation about his working life in the Outdoor World, tickets can be reserved at our counter or by phoning the Cafe on 01690 720429. We should also be able to accomodate a few walk ins but best to reserve just to be sure. Please note last hot food orders are 5:30 as usual but we should be able to rustle up some late Goulash after that for anyone who is attending the presentation until approx. 7:00 pm. Extended drinks license with presentation kicking off at 8:00 pm. Hope to

With on the day entries still thankfully permitted there is still time to commit to this classic long race which starts at 11:00 am & of course for those looking for an ‘easy’ option there is always the short course option. Both provide an incredible experience, I can highly recommend them.  As for me I was certainly looking forward to the long peris hoping my recent run in the Ultra Trail Wales would stand me in good stead. Alas the extraction of a large molar tomorrow leaves this all in doubt, the Dentists last words were ‘It’s going to hurt

Our full Season of Events kicks off on Saturday 29th September when Alan Mannouch hosts this months Open MIC Night a regular last Saturday in the month feature. If you haven’t been along to one before why not pre-record your favourite TV shows & get back into a Saturday night out. The evenings are relaxed & if you want to play or sing you’ll find warm appreciation. Hot on the hills of this Friday 5th October sees Tim Blakemore (who for his sins had guided Paul & friends on more than one Alpine tour among many others expeditions throughout the

A quick reminder that the first of the Cafe’s Autumn season of events kicks off on Friday 5th October when we welcome our friend Tim Blakemore to the Cafe. Tim who has guided throughout the world including Antartica, Greenland, The Himalaya’s & Scandinavia is an IMGA based in Les Houches near Chamonix. A fascinating insight on how someone who has chosen the mountains to both live & work & help others achieve their own personal goals. Full details are on our events page, ticket proceeds going to Tim’s chosen charity www.peopleskitchen.com. We hope you can make it!

Whilst Martin Cliffe was smashing my pb for our Siabod Challenge I was focused on final prep for last Saturday’s race which would be my first ever Ultra race. This included my Pasta Carbonara pre-race day meal taken at 8:45 am, no more food until breakfast two hours before race start at 6:00 am. Next, organise all fuel & kit options into their boxes for my support team who duly arrived in the form of the Rowlands’ just after midday. The afternoon consisted of registration & kit bag check (no corners cut as safety should something go wrong is more

Congratulations Martin, great run & glad you enjoyed it. Last Friday dawned & saw Martin Cliffe rise with serious intent on his mind. He had e-mailed me earlier in the week notifying me of his plans to tackle the longest of the Cafe’s challenges. At once I knew that the previous best time set by myself & Paul Jones during June’s Reach out for Nepal day would soon be toast! Martin, a friend of ours, is of course also a top end Fell runner & can regularly be seen in the leading pack of racers across Snowdonia’s fell racing calendar

Well that’s it physical prep & route knowledge recce’s are now complete, I can’t do anymore except keep the wine bottle corked & eat to a plan over the final 3 days before race day itself. Before I go any further please note that any fellow competitors who are Male & in the O.50’s category are forbidden to read this blog, I’ve done the hard yards in gaining knowledge & would consider it un-gentlemanly if you pick my limited brain to beat me! Here follows my 3 week lead in:- Week 1 – Plan 50 miles – Actual 35 Miles,

A quick reminder that our Open MIC Night is a week earlier than normal this month to our host Alan Mannouch being away next weekend. This Sunday also sees Alan doing a big bike race on Anglesea so with our blessing he’ll wrap things up a little earlier than normal at around 10:00 pm.  Hope you can make it & enjoy a relaxed evening with us.

Monday 30th July dawned bright & with me having tried to level the fitness playing field by over cooking the running during the weekend Dave & I headed off to Switzerland, the perfect climbing pair? Today was to be reasonably relaxed, a 2/3 hour journey, park up at Tasche, taxi into Zermatt & then the Gornergrat cog railway up to the Rotenboden station at 2, 815 metres. From here a relaxed 3 hour walk in to the Monte Rosa hut, our base for the night. Time had appeared to be on our side as we made a lazy start but

This is long as I am also using it as a personal diary for the experiences I went through on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc Massif over two &  a bit days, please forgive me. After a relaxed evening & a bit of a lie in, Wednesday was planned to be an easier day. Tim & Ali picked us up from the camp site at 10:00, we again headed through the tunnel & into Italy, I do like Italy! This time we turned left at Entreves & headed North East up the Val Ferret for reasons that I’ll

I set off for my first Summer Alpine trip for 2 years on 12th July & reached the Grand Champ camp site at Les Bossons late afternoon the next day to soon be greeted by Kean & Sandra who were relaxing in the high 20 degree heat. Within hours two accidents put a slight damper on things but thankfully nothing in the league of what curtailed my previous summer visit when a certain rock took out Tim Blakemore’s leg early on our climb on the Aguille Argentiere in 2016. My accidents were self-inflicted first walking into my ice axe &

Well yes despite an absence of running blogs over the last couple of months I am still running but first a brief final mention about the Y3P’s at a walk. Despite saying so myself I was reasonably pleased about a blog I drafted covering my third visit to the Yorkshire 3 Peaks in little over a month in May of this year, Then disaster struck my Internet connection failed & I lost well over an hours work. My head sank & needed the high altitude of the Alps several weeks later to clear it. That said I still can’t find

If you managed to stay with my Reach Out for Nepal Day blog posted yesterday you’ll know that Paul Jones & I have lowered the fastest known time for the Cafe’s ‘Siabod Challenge’ from my previous best of 7:03 set in 2014 to 6:27. I am of course under no illusion that had Paul not been supporting the first leg of my wider charity run he would have gone considerably faster & I’m sure having enjoyed the route he will do exactly that in the future. As for me with my first Ultra race only 3 weeks away I might

It’s hard to believe that this years event is now almost 6 weeks past us, my apologies for not putting this report together before my Alpine excursion, there is only one true excuse, please bear with me whilst I explain. The week after ROFN I’d planned to do two blogs the first would cover my 3rd trip to the Yorkshire 3 Peaks to walk it with friends & the remarkable co-incidence & treatment I received when my car broke down that same evening as well as going on to give an account of the Stockholm Marathon. The second would be

This month sees our regular Open MIC Night come forward by a week due to it’s host, Alan Mannouch, having other commitments over the Bank Holiday weekend, so get your practising in early & out the 18th in your diaries.

October looks like being a busy month for us Event wise. Already in the diary are Team 333’s AGM (27th) & The Little Adoption Shop Quiz (20th, full details on our Events page) but now we can confirm that 5th October sees us host IFMGA Mountain & Ski Guide Tim Blakemore who will present ‘A year as a Mountain Guide’. We are delighted to be able to announce this, initial details are now on our Events page with further details to follow shortly. Please book early to get an insight of a Full time Outdoor Lifestyle that could change your

I could use the excuse that it’s been a busy couple of months & that I seem to have been here there & everywhere recently for failing to blog with my usual attention to detail but in truth that would not be good form, so simply put I apologise for my failure to update on both the important & less important events connected to either the cafe or myself this summer. I plan to correct this in the coming days, covering Reach Out for Nepal, Siabod Fell race, Forthcoming Events as well as my own exploits although the latter will