Warm down. (Willow gallery cake and coffee corner, Poringland)

Willows Gallery,

Poringland,

Everyday 10:00-17:00

After the excitement of four times world Ironman champion Chrissie Wellington's recommended ride (see Celebrity cyclist Chrissie Wellington Recommends Church gate tea room) earlier this week it was back to a more normal ride today. However today's guest Chris (wife) is also a triathlon champion winning the 2012 North Walsham 45+ ladies age group super sprint (beating 3 other old ladies to the title). So today was a bit like a cafe cycle warm down.

I have found that in the winter you are limited to only a few hours of safe and reasonably warm ride time each day so I selected a 30 mile loop to the Willow Gallery cake and coffee corner just outside Poringland, which falls nicely in the winter cycling goldilocks zone.

You may remember from previous posts I had generously given my old bike sat nav to Chris rather than auction it on E-bay to raise money towards my latest new bike fund. This has proved a foolish decision as I have to spend much of each ride getting it set up correctly for her. Today she kept wanting to take us across fields as it was in 'as the crow flies mode'. As I can't fly like a crow (although crows can't ride a bike so I don't feel too bad) this was not very helpful and I insisted we stick to the road. Despite this we managed to successfully find our way to The Willow Gallery just outside Poringland which advertised tea, coffee and cake on a sign by the road.

In the out door seating courtyard area outside the Willow  Gallery

The Willow Gallery mainly does ceramics but also has a cake and coffee corner providing hot drinks and cakes. Outside there is a spacious outdoor courtyard seating area but it was too cold for that so we went inside. As always I went to check out the cakes so I could award the effective cake selection (ECS) rating. Unfortunately I was informed that they were currently waiting for the cakes to arrive so there were only a few left. Fortunately there was some nice looking carrot cake so I ordered that. This only left the millionaire shortbread, chocolate brownie or flapjack and for cake quality reviewing purposes it is important not to both order the same cake. Therefore Chris unknowingly took one for the team and I ordered her the shortbread. 

Remaining cakes as new ones were on the way

On the drinks front the Willow Gallery only does coffee by the carafe so Chris couldn't have her normal mocha meaning we both had hot chocolate.

Drinks and cakes, clearly showing who had the better cake deal

The hot chocolate was certainly hot and of a good quality. The carrot cake was very good and I enjoyed it very much. After finishing her shortbread Chris said it wasn't as good as the cake looked. I pointed out that as calories don't count on a Friday she could order the last piece of carrot cake and have that. Apparently it was now too late for that particular solution so we paid and set off home. Later on I worked out that I was meant to have swapped my delicious cake for her shortbread, the clues were all there and one day I will learn how to solve them.

The Willow Gallery cake and coffee corner was a nice add on to a lovely gallery but not a full blown cafe or tearoom. Worth a visit especially at this time of year for those difficult to buy Christmas presents.

During today's ride there was plenty of Egg News. Just to remind you that you now get this as Egg News Flashes on my new Twitter account. Cake Crusander@cafecycletour so please follow me there so as not to miss out. 

Scores for Willow Gallery cake and coffee corner

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.0	n/a	5.0	7.0	6.0	6.25

Map of route

Click link to down load 30 mile Norwich Poringland gpx file for your GPS