The race is on. (Busby's Tea Hive, Bungay)

Busby's Tea Hive,

Bungay,

Closed down

It has been over a week since I managed to go on a cafe cycle ride and I have got a little frustrated.  However today looked like being a cracker weather wise and spring was in the air as myself and today's cycling guest, Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please), set off for a ride down to Bungay.

The weather did start a bit misty but it soon cleared with clear blue skies and bright sunshine. This led to today's cycling guest cycling top tip.

Cycling guest cycling top tip no 24. To avoid unnecessary glare whilst still being able to see where you are going then select your prescription sunglasses and not your normal glasses when cycling on a sunny day.

As all middle age male cyclists know if you see another cyclist who you think should be slower than you it is compulsory to chase them down and fly past with a cheery hello and smug smile. Therefore when I saw two road racers just ahead I weighed them up and decided they were not up to much so set off after them, with Andrew in tow, to show them who was cycling king of this road. I should have backed off when it took longer than I expected to catch up but we did eventually pull level and I gave them the traditional cheery hello and smug smile before realising they were on some serious kit and a lot younger than us. 

Things looked bad as they had not responded well to being overtaken by two old blokes and also sped up. The trouble is once you have committed to such action it is hard to back down so I pedalled as fast as I could to see if I could get away but I couldn't shake them. In this situation it is important not to loose face but you only have 3 options

1. Keep going as fast as you can until they give up

2. Hope you or they turn off the road and go in a different direction so you can all pretend you weren't racing.

3. Slow down and pretend you were never racing in the first place

Option 1 had not worked as I was now knackered, there was no sign of option 2 coming to my rescue so I tried option 3. First I slowed down and then acted surprised that there were other cyclists behind me by using my special 'I hadn't noticed you were there and I wasn't racing you honest' face. I don't think they were convinced as they gave me a cheery hello and smug smile as they shot past.

Still out of breathe we got to Bungay and I directed us to exactly where I expected to find today's venue, Busby's Tea Hive, but we couldn't see it so cycled round Bungay searching for it before being directed back to where we had first been looking. Mysteriously this time we found Busby's Tea Hive and were extremely puzzled as to how we had originally missed it. The only explanation that made sense was that it had temporarily fallen through a gap in the space time continuum, like what happens on Dr Who, so we went inside.

Busby's Tea hive which is rather small and easy to miss,
especially if it falls through a gap in the space time continuum
which it has been known to do

Inside is an eclectic set of seating, including a school desk, laid in a fairly small and intimate room but there is no outside seating area. We were the only customers (presumably as it had only just re materialised) so we choose the table right in the corner.

Selection of different indoor seating options

Andrew was living up to his notoriously hard to please reputation as he was not a fan of the random furniture arrangement however they did have some excellent Easter bunting hanging from the ceiling which always gets my vote.

Excellent Easter Bunting

The cake selection was not vast but there were a number of interesting offerings (sadly no cheese scones for my cheese scone research) so I awarded a reasonable effective cake selection (ECS) rating. 

Selection of interesting cakes

I went for the rather good looking chocolate cookie crumble cake and Andrew choose scrambled eggs on toast. As scrambled eggs on toast is not cake then Andrew would play no further part in cake reviewing this day.

Our cakes and drinks arrived, mine in a mug and saucer and Andrew's with a more traditional cup and saucer arrangement. My hot chocolate was a nice drink but Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) felt his cup of tea was a bit weak and could have done with an extra bag in the pot.

Cake and drinks

The star of the show was the chocolate cookie crumble cake which was superb, although you couldn't eat too many slices as it was extremely rich. Overall Busby's Tea Hive was a pleasant stop with very friendly staff and worth visiting especially if you like big and rich cakes.

As we cycled back I spotted a very old gentleman on a sit up and beg style bike so I raced past him, taught him a cycling lesson he wasn't expecting and got back my cycling mojo back.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.5	5.0	6.5	8.5	5.5	6.40

Map of route

Click here to download 40 mile Norwich Bungay loop gpx file for your gps