Royal appointment. (The Rendezvous, Hunstanton)

The Rendezvous Cafe,

Hunstanton

With the excitement of Flapjack of the year 2016 starting to die down then it was back to traditional cafe cycle riding today. One of the areas with least coverage on my location map is North West Norfolk as it is a long way to cycle to in one go but it needed to be visited. Therefore I hatched a cunning plan where I would drive halfway before finishing the rest of the journey on bike. Today's cycling guest, Big George, is a fan of cycling somewhere new so was easily convinced to join me.

So, this morning I got up early and once Big George had arrived we set off for Fakenham where we parked the car and set off on a 50 mile round trip during which we would be reviewing a yet to be decided cafe in Hunstanton.

It was good cycling conditions for the time of year with no rain, a reasonable temperature and little wind. The only downside was the amount of mist and fog making it difficult to appreciate the lovely views that were probably there.

Dull and misty but excellent cycling conditions

On the way up we went through the Burnhams and right through the village where local hero Lord Nelson was born. We even went past the pub he had clearly been named after and probably drank at as a boy. 

Village sign showing Lord Nelson was born here

Progress continued to be good and we got into Hunstanton right on schedule. The fog and mist meant you couldn't see the sea properly which was a shame after coming all this way. Instead we headed to Hunstanton high street to find a cafe.

The first one we came across was The Rendezvous so we parked the bikes and went inside.

Outside the Rendezvous which was the first cafe we found

Normally I try and check the cake selection before going into an un-researched stop but I couldn't see properly through the window due to the Father Christmas stickers so decided to risk it. This turned out to be a mistake as there was only carrot cake, chocolate cake or fruit scone to chose from so I had to award a low effective cake selection (ECS) score.

Rather small Cake selection to chose from

As we had come to Hunstanton out of season we were the only people in the cafe so had to talk in a whisper as we did the ratings. I went for carrot cake with my hot chocolate while Big George opted for a filter coffee and fried breakfast. I have explained to Big George many times that a fried breakfast is not cake. He claimed he had got confused when ordering and meant to ask for a scone, it's almost as if he does it on purpose to avoid joining in with any of my exciting cake based reviewing activity. 

Big George got confused again and forgot a fried breakfast isn't cake

Drinks and cakes were standard fare with Big George's coffee being the best received and he did enjoy his fried breakfast. The Rendezvous was nice enough but I don't think I have found a top rated cafe for this corner of Norfolk yet.

My carrot cake.

On the return we would be going past Sandringham where the Queen will be for Christmas. Since the misunderstanding when the Queen missed me cycle past on the epic ride to St Andrews earlier this year (see Great ride North day 1) she has been very apologetic and promised we could meet up next time I was in the area. I had texted ahead to let her know I was coming and everything was in place when a text message from Liz flashed up on my phone. Apparently Phil had been helping make this year's Christmas pud down in the royal kitchens and more of the brandy had ended up in him than the mixing bowl. She said that she was having to now pop round to Asda to buy another bottle so would have to postpone our catch up again.

It was disappointing news but hopefully it will be third time lucky when I next cycle up this way. The rest of the ride was very pleasant as we cycled down a lot of lovely country lanes only disturbed when we were overtaken by a series of Range Rovers which are clearly the only type of car allowed in the area.

Ratings

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5.0	7.0	4.5	5.0	5.0	5.30

Route

Click here to downlaod 54 mile Fakenham Hunstanton Loop gpx file for your GPS