Andrew has recently become interested in birds (the feathered variety) which he claims is because he is old and all old people become interested in birds. I'm hoping to be old one day so I thought it was about time I found out more on the subject. Therefore we decided to take a ride to Cley Marshes visitors centre where I could see birds and rate a cafe.
You may remember that a recent cycling guest top cycling tip suggest that: When you set off on a ride you should start off feeling cold or you will get too hot later on. Being scared of today's forecast I had foolishly not followed this tip and had over layered and was toasty warm when we set off. This meant I was soon boiling hot on the ride. It just proves what a useful feature the cycling guest cycling top tip is and that they should be followed at all times.
The way up to Cley was a real treat for all ford crossing fans with several to enjoy such as the one below which was the deepest.
Deepest of many fords crossed during the ride. |
Cycling guest top cycling tip no 12. If you are boiling hot when you arrive at your cafe destination make sure you delayer when inside or you won't appreciate your cycling jacket when you leave.
Outside visitors centre where there is currently much lottery funded building work |
Outdoor hexagonal bench seating area overlooking Cley Marshes |
Huge window indoor seating area occupied by bird watchers |
Good selection of cakes, slices and scones |
Before we tried the cakes and drinks Andrew taught me a few basic bird spotting facts. I quickly got the hang of it and as things flew past the window and I was able to identify them as birds. To make it more exciting I pointed and shouted "bird" to make sure all my fellow twitchers didn't miss out on one I had spotted.
With one eye on the bird action going on outside we tasted our drinks. Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) thought his coffee had excellent flavour but was not hot enough. My hot chocolate, on the other hand was very hot but very weak so only got an average score. Andrew's millionaire shortbread was performing well so hopes were high for a good cake taste quality (CTQ) score.
Cakes and drinks ready for tasting |
When the excitement had died down I went back to cake tasting. Sadly the scone was served cold and it is becoming clear my cheese scone hot campaign has not yet reached North Norfolk so more work to do there. It was, however, a nice enough scone. The chocolate cake was also a good bit of cake but neither had lived up to the high standard set by the millionaire shortbread.
Overall the Cley Marshes visitors centre was a very good stop and performed well in all categories. It has the added bonus that you can play bird spotting at the same time.
By the end of our visit I had spotted 23 birds fly past. I thought this was very good so I asked at the information desk if this was likely to be a winning score for the day. I was told it didn't work like that, apparently bird watching isn't a sport it's just a thing. I didn't understand that concept but the other people at the visitors centre seemed to be enjoying themselves. I did notice that the best watchers did get to write on the bird leader board if they spotted something good so maybe I'll have another try one day.
Bird spotting leader board showing what has been seen on the Marshes recently. I wasn't allowed to put that I had seen 23 birds |
Scores
Hot
Choc Quality
|
Guest
Hot Drink Quality
|
Effective
Cake Selection
|
Cake
Quality
|
Ambiance
and Atmosphere
|
Café
Rating
|
6.0
|
8.0
|
8.0
|
7.5
|
8.0
|
7.50
|
Click here to download 40 mile Alysham Cley loop GPX file to your GPS