Cycling tips. (Jesters of Bungay, Bungay)

Jesters of Bungay,

Bungay,

Open Mon-Sat 9:30-17:00.

Open Sunday during BST

 Highly Recommended

Things have been quite on the blog front over the last week. Due to the bad weather and lack of cycle guest availability I haven't been able to get out for a cafe cycle review for over a week. Also blog traffic has fallen from it's peak of a few weeks ago. I assume this is because not so many people are looking to get out on a bike ride at this time of year. I decided to discuss this issue with today's guest, Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please), as we went for a ride down to Bungay.

He was full of ideas to freshen up the blog. Most of them centred around writing less about cake and more about things he was interested in. Although I won't be including any obscure Italian poetry in future posts I will be introducing a new feature to try and re balance the cake vs cycling ratio. It is called cycling guests cycling top tip. In each post I will be asking my guest for a top cycling tip to pass on to like minded blog readers.

Here is the first tip from Andrew. 
Cycling guests cycling top tip 1. For a smoother and more efficient ride, make sure your tyres are pumped up to the correct pressure.

There will be more excellent tips like this to inform you in future posts. If you want to share a cycling top tip then send me it at norfolkcafecycle@btinternet.com (or tweet cakecrusander@cafecycletour) and I will include the best ones.

With Andrew continuing to share his blog improvement ideas the ride down to Bungay flew past and we soon arrived at Jesters of Bungay in Bungay. It turned out that not only is Jesters of Bungay a cafe in Bungay but also doubles up as the visitors centre for Bungay castle.

Outside Jesters of Bungay in the outdoor seating and castle information area

On arrival we found a large outside seating area which also provided information on Bungay castle via a multi media model castle display exhibit (MMMCDE). Before going inside the cafe area I studied the MMMCDE and discovered that Bungay Castle was built in the 1100's by a chap called Hugh Bigod who used Bungay as his power base to try and overthrow the King. He, not surprisingly, failed but if he had won Bungay could now be the Capital of England. I think it is a good job he lost as I'm not sure that Bungay could have coped with being a capital city as it doesn't have enough shops or an underground transport system.

Informative model of how Bungay looked in medieval times
available to view in Jesters courtyard

We went inside to find it very full, so we grabbed the last table. Jesters of Bungay had a lively and friendly atmosphere and we felt comfortable in the surroundings. By the door was the cake shelf display unit so I was able to award the effective cake selection rating straight away. There were a number of cakes in various states of completeness and it was a good solid selection, although it again lacked anything chocolate based. 

A nice cake selection but lacking anything chocolate

It was great to see that Jesters offered a wider range of Hot Chocolate's plus a red warning that the hot chocolate was very hot. I therefore had high expectations of a very high quality drink and was also ready to take the necessary first hot sip precautions to avoid a nasty burnt mouth incident.

Menu with selection of Hot Chocolates
plus Hot Chocolate Hotness warning

I ordered some Victoria sponge to accompany my drink and Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) ordered Cappuccino and Almond and Apricot slice.

Whilst waiting for our cakes and drinks to arrive Andrew once again revealed his anti cake views. On our last trip he had shockingly revealed he was not a fan of cake queen Mary Berry and today, followed this up with the suggestion that there should be fewer blog cake photos as when you have seen one cake etc. I decided to ignore his worrying cakist views and took some more cake pictures for you to enjoy.

Another super photo of cake for you to enjoy

The Hot Chocolate did not disappoint and was, as promised, very hot but also nice and thick and chocolaty. The warning had proved worth while as I could have easily burnt my mouth area if I had not known of the temperature issue in advance. I was therefore able to award a 9 out of 10 for a hot chocolate for the first time in ages. The coffee was also nice and hot although Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) thought it could have done with a touch more coffee and milk (or less water). He still thought it a was good drink. 

Our cakes were both nice but not exceptional and I awarded a middling cake quality score.

Overall Jesters of Bungay proved to be a very good stop and worth a visit especially if you want to combine your visit with some history as entry to Bungay Castle (50p for Adults, 20p for children) seems very reasonable.

We decided to leave history for another day and set off on the return journey. With Andrew ranting on a number of topics we soon got back and agreed it was a very fine route. The only disappointment was the lack of eggs available at the end of garden egg outlets. Remember for up to date Egg News Flashes (and other cafe cycle updates) you need to follow me on twitter (cakecrusader@cafecycletour).

Tomorrow I hope to be riding with Big George and look forward to finding out his cycling guests top cycling tip.

Score for Jesters of Bungay based on two visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
9.25	7.0	6.0	7.25	7.5	7.40

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