St Davids to Lowestoft cycle ride Day 5 (Biecester to Bury St Edmunds107 miles)

In search of the best cafe across Great Britain, literally

Day 5 Bicester to Bury St Edmunds
Mister Tea's Cafe
Fresco Coffee House, Bedford
Michaelhouse Cafe, Cambridge

After yesterday's "rest day" it was the long one today where we had our only ride of over 100 miles to do. It was therefore going to be an early start but as it was my turn for the single room I had little confidence of this happening. However much to my surprise we all lined up in reception at 7:00 ready for the off. The night before I had given each team member two bananas and some instant porridge to have before we left, in order to provide our early morning fuel, which they claimed to have dutifully ate.

Breakfast

Once out on the road it took a while for the legs to warm up but we were soon into our stride and bombing along to the first planned stop at Bletchley. As we had missed our normal overly leisurely Premier Inn all you can eat breakfast I had promised my cycling guests we would stop at a cafe that does a good fried breakfast. I had done some internet research and Mister Tea's seemed to fit the bill.

Outside Mister Tea's cafe ready for breakfast

We arrived just before 9:00 and to my horror there were numerous different fry up options but no cakes. If I was going to give it a cafe cycle review then the only option for me was some slightly stale chocolate chip shortbread which isn't even really cake. I have had problems before getting cake at cafes early in the morning so recently introduced my pre breakfast cake flexibility rule which allows biscuits and pastries to count as part of a cake selection before 9:00am. It was only 8:58 so I was alright.

Hot chocolate and 'cake'

To show willing I also ordered a medium fried breakfast before Big George put me to shame using his years of fried breakfast ordering experience. He started his order by putting in a poached egg on toast foundation (totally off menu) which he then skilfully constructed the rest of his breakfast round. I have clearly too much to learn on the fried breakfast front so I will continue to focus on cake.

Beautifully constructed fried Breakfast

There was a huge difference of opinion between me and my cycling guests over the rating of this cafe. For me Mister Tea's rated poorly on my hot chocolate and cake based system but Big George and Dom felt the whole experience was fantastic. However it's my blog and scoring system so I'm afraid Mister Tea's finds itself in last place.

With a now very happy set of team members we quickly covered the 20 mile next part of today's stage to Bedford where I took them to Frescos which was a cafe much more to my tastes.

Outside Frescoes, a proper coffee shop stop

Frescoes is called Frescoes as it has a big copy of a Michelangelo fresco above the door although no explanation as to why. It was a nice feature to study while sitting in the pleasant outdoor seating area just off Bedford high street.

Inside there was a good cake selection to choose from but despite this Big George ordered a Danish pastry when he knew it had gone 9:00 and that my pre breakfast cake flexibility rule for pastries no longer applied. He also ordered a smoothie which does not qualify as a guest hot drink what with it not being hot. It was almost as if he was deliberately ordering things so he did not have to take part in any cycle cafe rating.

Very good drinks

Fortunately Dom, my back up cycling guest, was still prepared to play along for now and had a Latte and chocolate fudge cake. I had the house speciality of black forest gateaux.

Excellent cake although rather small slices

Despite the cake portion being rather on the small side the cakes were excellent and our drinks the best all week so far. Dom was particularly impressed that his latte had not been served in a vase for once.

As a result Frescos leapt to the top of the best cafe anywhere across Great Britain leader board.

The next part of the ride was 35 miles across to Cambridge through the flatlands of Cambridgeshire. I discovered the team were now very good as long as it was flat or downhill so this terrain was much to their liking and we were able to travel along quickly in our highly drilled train formation.

Cambridgeshire flatlands

As I knew there was little civilisation on this part of the route I suggested we had an unscheduled stop at Waresley Park garden centre cafe. Despite this being another potential cycle cafe review stop even I couldn't face another hot chocolate so soon after the last and had a cup of tea, so despite the cheese scone and fruit cake being rather good there were not enough other categories to review so we shall say no more about it. It will go down in cafe cycle history as the stop that never was.

The stop that never was

Refuelled once again we fly along to Cambridge. I felt that after all the early problems in the first few days we were a cycle team at last, or so I thought.

I often get recommendations of cafes and tea shops to try and one such had told me that Michaels House in Cambridge was really good so I thought this was a great chance to check it out. It is situated in an old chapel like building with tables also available outside.

Outside Michaels house cafe in Cambridge

First impressions were promising and I was pleased to see they had a good original cake selection although I went rather traditional with my choice of cheese scone and brownie. By this time both my cycling guests had lost all interest in cakes and order pizza and salad with a cup of tea. I will clearly need to pack 3 cycling guest on future tours.

Good and interesting cake selection

I did at least get them to help rate the atmosphere and ambiance score which was high due to the seating options, setting and very pleasant staff. My hot chocolate was by far the best of the week but could have been a touch hotter. My scone and brownie were excellent too. It was just a shame that my guests only went for a cup of tea as in my scoring system the most a cup of tea can score is 7 as a guest hot drink.

Excellent hot chocolate and cake

Despite this Michaels house cafe leap frogged the field to the number one spot in my cafe search and I would recommend a visit if you are ever in Cambridge.

When I eventually managed to shoehorn my cycling guest out of their chairs and back on to the bikes things took a bit of a downturn. As tiredness set and the more hilly Suffolk countryside took its effect then the team fell apart. Big gaps started to appear between the riders, our average speed dropped and our happy banter turned to silence as the last few miles became a real slog.

Even so surprisingly our longest ride turned into our earliest finish and confidence is now high of completing the last 58 miles tomorrow.

To spoil the mood I did introduce one final twist in that I have to have finished the ride by 1pm tomorrow in order to get to an urgent appointment. This will once again mean a 7am start and no breakfast. At best we will only have time for one more cafe stop and Big George has already voted for Morrisons as they do a good fried breakfast but I can assure you now that won't be happening.

Route

Café Name	Hot Choc Qual	Guest Hot Drink Qual	Effective cake selection	Cake Taste Quality	Atmosphere and Ambiance	Café Score
MichaelHouse, Cambridge	8.5	7*	7	8.5	9	8
Frescoes, Bedford	6	9	7	8.75	7.5	7.65
Jacks, Cirencester	7.5	7.5	7.5	7	8	7.5
Grazing Ground, Caerphilly	7	7.5	7.5	7.5	7.5	7.4
No. 28, Nailsworth	6.5	7	7	7	8	7.1
Flanagan’s coastline café, Llanelli	5	7*	6.5	7.5	7.5	6.7
Park Slip Visitors centre café, Bridgend	7	6.5	5	8	6	6.5
Gingers Café, Haverford west	7.5	6	3	8	7	6.3
Café Crumbs, Carmarthen	6	6.5	5.5	6.5	6.5	6.2
Old Studio Coffee shop, Wittney	5	7*	7.5	6.5	4	6.0
Caffi Becca	3	5	4	7.5	5	4.9
Mister Tea’s, Bletchley	6	7	1	4	6	4.8

*Only guest hot drink was a cup of tea so maximum score of 7 as it is just a cup of tea