Photo mad (Station cafe, Beccles)

Beccles Station Cafe,

Beccles,

Opening times Mon-Fri 07.30-14:30,

Sat 9:00-14:30, Sun 10:00-14:30

Recommended 

With the Tour de France now in full swing and the sun eventually coming out then Friday looked like the perfect day for a cafe cycle ride. Fortunately the country's number one Tour de France fan, Andrew (qui est notoirement difficle a satisfaire), had made himself available for today's trip. I had a 50 mile ride down to the recently opened Beccles station community cafe planned including a trip on the Reedham ferry.

Andrew has never been at the leading edge of technology and only recently got his first smart phone. As we set off he proudly informed that he had recently worked out how the camera feature worked and he clearly wasn't afraid to use it, at every opportunity.

Andrew photographing random Norfolk church

Because I had just returned from a short family holiday I had spent most of the previous day catching up on Tour de France highlights (5 hours worth). It had clearly affected me as I kept thinking I was in the race. As we rode along I checked for any weakness Andrew might show and if I spotted one I quickly changed gear and shot off into a break away. Unfortunately unlike the real race, where the race leader doesn't have to wait at junctions to make sure rest of peloton knows the way, I did.

We continued in this way to our river crossing at Reedham ferry where Andrew continued to make the most of his camera phone feature.

Andrew photographing the arrival of the Reedham ferry

From here it was only a few more miles to Beccles where we found the Station cafe conveniently placed right next door to the station. 

Outside Beccles station cafe

There was a nice little outdoor seating area outside which we decided to make use of as it was still a lovely day. Inside we were greeted with a very warm welcome leading to a good atmosphere and ambience rating.

I checked out the cakes, which at first looked like a small selection but on closer inspection was actually rather good as only a couple of pieces of each cake or slice were on display. I therefore awarded a decent effective cake selection (ECS) mark.

Cake selection featuring a couple of pieces of each cake on offer

To accompany my hot chocolate I opted for the Malteaser slice as it looked very rich, gooey and chocolatey and a bit different. I was informed it was the most popular seller so was a little ashamed of my cake selection predictability. Andrew had some flapjack with his cappuccino.

My hot chocolate was a solid example and Andrew (qui est notoirement difficle a satisfaire) thought his cappuccino was pretty good so gave a pretty good guest hot drink quality (GHDQ) score.

Cakes (slice type) and drinks pre tasting

My Malteaser slice was as expected, very rich, gooey and chocolatey. On returning the cups and plates I spotted a slice of carrot cake had been cut in to 6 as samples to try. I was encouraged to have a piece and it was absolutely superb. I took the plate with the remaining 5 pieces out to Andrew for him to try and he thought it was excellent too and then before we knew it we had somehow eaten all six samples. I returned the empty plate and said how much we had enjoyed the samples before sheepishly leaving as the lady stared in disbelief at her now empty samples plate. However as a result I upped the cake taste quality (CTQ) mark so it was probably worth it.

Last piece of carrot cake sample before I ate it

The Beccles Station community cafe was an excellent stop with good drinks and nice cakes (especially the carrot one). As it is a community cafe all profits go back into local projects and I recommend a visit.

On the return ride Andrew was still making good use of his camera phone as we were slowed down by the wind in our face.

Andrew taking photo of telegraph pole

We were then slowed further as Andrew managed to get a puncture. As always at these times I pointed out that it was now over 4500 miles since I had had a puncture on the cyclocross bike that I was riding today (this was a huge mistake)..

Andrew taking a photo of me taking a photo of him about to mend his puncture

With puncture fixed we set off again before being held up by road works as a section of road was being 'repaired'. Road repairs these days just mean slapping down some wet tar and then dumping chippings on top. Therefore it was not long before our tyres were covered in gravel stuck to the tyres. Sadly it was no surprise that a mile from home I punctured and my long puncture free run was over.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.0	7.0	6.5	8.0	7.5	7.00

Route

Click link to down load 50 mile Norwich Beecles loop gpx file for your gps