Double trouble. (Dove Cafe at Community shop and Post Office, Rocklands All Saints)

Dove Cafe at Community Shop and Post Office

Rocklands All Saints,

Open Mon-Fri 7.30-6.30,

Sat 7.30-5.30, Sun 8.30-1.00

After the excitement of my '9 cafe calorie neutral world record attempt practice bike ride' last week (see So Much To Learn) today I returned to the normality of a single stop approach. 

I had recently been told about Rocklands community shop and Post Office cafe at Rocklands All Saints. It looked promising on two fronts, firstly it is in a cafe dead spot on my locations map and second it stays open until 6:30 which could be useful for the later stages of the calorie neutral bike ride world record attempt route. So this morning, along with today's cycling guest Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please), we set off to check it out.

Conditions were foggy and damp and, although it wasn't raining, I sensibly packed my water proof in my back pocket just in case it started to. The weather and landscape reminded us both of what it was like when riding in the cycling spring classics in Flanders. Not that we have ever ridden in the cycling spring classics in Flanders but we have both seen them on TV so felt we knew what we were talking about.

Roads and weather looking like the typical conditions for a cycling spring classic

As we proceeded further the damp conditions turned to drizzle and then rain. This led to the first of two cycling guest cycling top tips for the day.

Cycling guest cycling top tip no 20. To avoid being cold and wet when you arrive at your cafe stop remember to put your waterproof on when it first starts raining and not just after it stops.

Have not followed cycling guest cycling top tip no. 20 it was not surprising that I was cold and wet when we arrived at Rocklands and the Dove cafe which is in the community shop and Post Office. As there was no outdoor seating area set up today we went inside.

Cold and wet outside the community shop and post office
where the Dove Cafe can be found

The Dove cafe is to the side of the main community shop and Post Office and serves hot drinks and cakes. We received a very warm welcome and sat down at one of the two tables available. As always I first went over to the cake area to check out the cake selection. It was a fairly small choice although there were some good looking ones so I awarded an appropriate effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Fairly small cake selection

While the friendly lady made our drinks and plated up our cake choices (Easter lemon muffin and chocolate fudge cake) we discussed matters of the day. Meanwhile on the table next door a group of wise village elders were holding their own version of loose women as they tucked into their drinks and cakes. It was definitely the happiest and liveliest local village store I had ever been in.

Dove Cafe to the side of the community shop

As soon as the cakes and drinks arrived we got down to business. My hot chocolate was a good solid offering so got a good solid hot chocolate quality (HCQ) score. However as the Dove cafe has only a small coffee area there is not a full blown frothy coffee machine so Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) felt his Cappuccino was not the best. If he had been keeping up to date with the blog he would know that drink quality from a non frothy coffee machine was a common issue and in these circumstances you should always chose a straight coffee or pot of tea rather than a fancy named drink. The chocolate fudge cake was too rich for Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) but I really enjoyed my very large Easter Lemon Muffin so a good cake taste quality (CTQ) score.

Cakes and drinks featuring Easter lemon muffin

We very much enjoyed our visit to the Dove cafe in the Rocklands All Saints community shop and Post Office as the super friendly atmosphere inside could not help but put you in a good mood.

Sadly the good mood didn't last long as just as we set off Andrew realised he had a puncture. Apparently this was my fault for picking a route with a muddy road. I suggested that the roads were fine and that he needed to use less worn tyres. With a now frosty atmosphere I refused to aid the inner tube changing process until he coincided my point, which he didn't.

Andrew fixing his puncture caused by his worn tyres

We set off again on some mud free roads. Andrew said he couldn't remember when he last had two punctures. Well six miles later he was able to make sure he now had such a memory as this time his back wheel got a flat which led to an unprecedented second cycling guest top cycling tip of the day.

Cycling guest top cycling tip No. 21. If you go out on a ride with clearly worn tyres make sure you bring with you more than one spare inner tube.

Andrew putting on fixed inner tube

Andrew admitted that he had not followed cycling guest cycling top tip No.21 and didn't have another spare inner tube. I helpfully pointed out that I always carry two. One in case you puncture and the second so if you do get a puncture you don't worry about getting another one. I then unhelpfully pointed out that as I was riding my Cross cycle bike my spare tubes would not fit his bike and he would have to repair the puncture. 

Andrew was now forced to conceded that his tyres could be considered slightly worn so as I felt vindicated and eventually wanted to get home we teamed up. I took his spare punctured inner tube, found the hole with the use of a handy near by puddle and successfully mended it while he removed the old tube and prepared to re fit the repaired one.

In double quick time he was back on the road and sheepishly promised he would get some new tyres before our next trip.
Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.5	5.0	4.5	7.0	7.0	6.0

Route

Click here to download 35 mile Norwich Rockland Loop gpx file to your GPS