harry_gill:
hiya,
Chris wheres the garage for the 4x4 and is there hot and cold running water.
thanks harry long retired.
Plenty of cold water Harry,no hot I’m sorry to say.You won’t want a 4 x 4,that pass is used by loads of cars as a short cut from Sheffield into Cheshire and also Manchester Airport.Just get the old log book out,somebody will stop. 
Hi Chris & Harry,
Bet there’s plenty of running water in that cave. 
.
stravaiger:
Well Chris I was wide of the mark thinking we would be inundated with replies on the Brechin CafeBut having said that we now have the name of the shack in Perth. The grand sounding pavilion, thanks bumper,which I only ever used about twice but passed regularly. On one of the occasions there was an older gent going out as i was going in and there he was in his old cap, bus tunic and believe it or not, bicycle clips
Totally ruined the image, must have been the clips kept his trousers away from the mud. And your right lads Egon Ronay and Les Routiers badges were nowhere to be seen.
Somebody will turn up with the Brechin cafe name Jim.I remember the Pavilion but never went in.A driver called Donald Davidson or it might have been David Donaldson who worked for Glass Glover Distribution parked his wagon on there.He worked nights regular on Littlewoods store Inverness run.A trailer was trunked up from Newbridge depot for him and he left about 0200 every morning.
Bloody hell lads, I knew some of you were getting on, but to come from the cave dwelling age driver is pushing it a bit too far. 
Norman Ingram:
Bloody hell lads, I knew some of you were getting on, but to come from the cave dwelling age driver is pushing it a bit too far.
Bloody Hobbits 
Norman Ingram:
Bloody hell lads, I knew some of you were getting on, but to come from the cave dwelling age driver is pushing it a bit too far.
Hi Norm,
We will all be back in caves the way things are going,just got to find a tree to get a decent club.
Cheers Dave.
stravaiger:
On one of the occasions there was an older gent going out as i was going in and there he was in his old cap, bus tunic and believe it or not, bicycle clips
Sounds like the typical ode BRS driver to me. Sorry Norm 
. But back in the 60s they always seemed to be wearing flat cap and greatcoat hunched over the wheel, normally with a ■■■ clamped firmly in the gob. But then I suppose it was just because we were young and thrusting and they seemed to all be grumpy ode sojers.
What is this Pavilion in Perth you are all on about? I seem to remember a great big place in the town itself and we all parked on the street. Was that it, or another?
Another one where I often stopped was on the main street of Auchterader. Anyone remember that one? Whenever I think of those town centre cafes it reminds me of some of the routiers I have used, in small villages with wagons parked nose to tail right down the main street.
David you are right, the one at burton depot worn one, who bet his pay packet, 35years on the job, and could not get it out from a co-op loading, after I put it in empty, I went and pulled it out and back in half hour, but I never told him I used a block and tackle I borrowed from the garage oppersite, then hook up my unit on a angle. He had a ■■■ in his mouth, but. it dropped out, when his jaw dropped after seeing me with the trailer
Chris Webb:
sammyopisite:
Hi John I would fit in extremely well when we are all back in caves in fact I would make them look politically correct and fashionable “Chris in I O M will vouch for me”I’d fit in as well Johnnie
What about this one on Winnats Pass Castleton,has a Sheffield postcode and plenty of pubs in t’village
Hi Chris, as a matter of interest how big are the rabbits in Sheffield 
.
While we are talking about holes, I remember following the signs for several miles on the A 45 to Truckers Paradise in the early eighties. Spardo would of needed his bicycle clips as the mud was about four inches thick so I never bothered going in there again.To be fair I think that it may of only just opened or had been taken over by new management and why for some reason I thought that there might of been Palm Trees and exotic women I really don’t know.
Don’t know about bicycle clips Steve, I was always strictly a trousers in socks man on a bike and boots in the wagon.
As regards Truckers Paradise, you must be one of the newer fellas. I remember it when it was the Afton Cafe and it was on the main road before the flyover was built consigning it to a slip road and obscurity to all but the knowledgeable.
I remember in those earlier days when I was working for Bulkliners being asked amongst a dozen or so other drivers if we wanted to work a Saturday fetching back some 4 wheel tippers from a site in Essex which belonged to an associated company. We all went down in a mini bus and then started the long convoy home. Imagine the expression on the face of the proprietor standing in his deserted caff as he watched this seemingly never ending stream of wagons turning into his park.
.
stravaiger:
Could it possibly have been the Central Cafe in Blackford Spardo? On the right hand side as you entered with parking arrangements as you described.
Another Cafe of reknown was the Frying Scotsman, still on the A9 to the north of Perth at Bankfoot.
That sounds like the one Jim, on the right hand side going north I think. Why did I think of Auchterader? Funny thing is as I was writing that post I had the word Black…something in my head but couldn’t be bothered to look it up.
I don’t remember a cafe in Bankfoot but I do remember Bankfoot. It was the family home of a great friend of mine from my seafaring days, Barry (Kilt) Henderson, and several years after our last contact decided to check if he was there as I was passing through. With no idea of the address I asked the first passerby and incredibly he knew them and directed me to the house. He wasn’t there having left the sea and settled with the sister of another shipmate in Oz. They pressed me to stay longer but my relentless progress north prevented more than a cup of tea and a chat. Nice people.
Spardo:
Don’t know about bicycle clips Steve, I was always strictly a trousers in socks man on a bike and boots in the wagon.
As regards Truckers Paradise, you must be one of the newer fellas. I remember it when it was the Afton Cafe and it was on the main road before the flyover was built consigning it to a slip road and obscurity to all but the knowledgeable.
I remember in those earlier days when I was working for Bulkliners being asked amongst a dozen or so other drivers if we wanted to work a Saturday fetching back some 4 wheel tippers from a site in Essex which belonged to an associated company. We all went down in a mini bus and then started the long convoy home. Imagine the expression on the face of the proprietor standing in his deserted caff as he watched this seemingly never ending stream of wagons turning into his park.
That Afton cafe was a bit rough. But as we said before if you’d tipped in Bury St Edmonds and battled along the old road through Cambidge then over that Roundabout nr Whippet coaches(nightmare) that Afton Cafe was bloody Paradise.From the Afton to Kates cabin at Peterbourough there must of been 5/6 cafe’s but in the 70s they was a bit iffy.Kates in the 70’s was a palace compaired to the rest of the cafe’s on the A1 in that area.
John
3300John:
Spardo:
Don’t know about bicycle clips Steve, I was always strictly a trousers in socks man on a bike and boots in the wagon.
As regards Truckers Paradise, you must be one of the newer fellas. I remember it when it was the Afton Cafe and it was on the main road before the flyover was built consigning it to a slip road and obscurity to all but the knowledgeable.
I remember in those earlier days when I was working for Bulkliners being asked amongst a dozen or so other drivers if we wanted to work a Saturday fetching back some 4 wheel tippers from a site in Essex which belonged to an associated company. We all went down in a mini bus and then started the long convoy home. Imagine the expression on the face of the proprietor standing in his deserted caff as he watched this seemingly never ending stream of wagons turning into his park.That Afton cafe was a bit rough. But as we said before if you’d tipped in Bury St Edmonds and battled along the old road through Cambidge then over that Roundabout nr Whippet coaches(nightmare) that Afton Cafe was bloody Paradise.From the Afton to Kates cabin at Peterbourough there must of been 5/6 cafe’s but in the 70s they was a bit iffy.Kates in the 70’s was a palace compaired to the rest of the cafe’s on the A1 in that area.
John
I was in Kates last week.First time for about ten years.What a letdown. The
floor was filthy dirty. The tables were also dirty. I went over to the garage and got a cup of takeway.I was remembering the nights I stayed there from the sixties.Another good one gone to rack and ruin. Seasons Greetings to all.Regards Charlie
See that Auchterader has been mentioned a couple of times.
Had a few nights out/weekends up there when i was doing removals .
Used to get b+b at the Star Inn on the high st.
May have been done but I can’t go back all those pages but anyone remember the Cherry Tree cafe by the scrapyard in Waremoor Cirencester.
Not too sure, but I think someone mentioned it, and said it is gone and houses are there now. 
Anybody remember a cafe/b and b place on the errrrr A36? between Warminster and Salisbury at Codford St.Mary.Two women ran it IIRC and I think it was next to a filling station.I used a couple of times in the 70s.
Norman Ingram:
Not too sure, but I think someone mentioned it, and said it is gone and houses are there now.
No it’s still there Norman but it’s been a chippy for a few years.
