What, no Arctic blast. (Lyng Stores, Lyng)

Lyng Stores,

Lyng,

Mon-Fri 7:30-7:00, Sat 8:00-7:00,

Sun 9:00-1:00

Yesterday the weather forecast lady told me that we would be getting an Arctic blast today. This was exciting news as I would be able to try out my new winter cycle boots and see if they keep my feet warm without the need for overshoes. I would be combing my footwear test with a trip to the Lyng stores which I had been recommended to try.

I got into my winter cycling garb for the first time this year and strapped on my new boots (which had some quite complicated laces and Velcro to negotiate). Big George was joining me as today's cycling guest but I was a little concerned when he turned up in his cycle shorts and no winter jacket! Did he not know there was an Arctic blast coming?

Big George was not dressed appropriately for an Arctic blast

After a few miles it appeared Big George had called it right as I had to take off my gloves and unzip my top as I was overheating. In fact the only part of me that was not boiling hot was my feet, which was a bit worrying.

Still hot we arrived at the Lyng shopping district were we found the Lyng stores.

Outside the Lyng stores in the outdoor seating area

There was an outdoor seating area plus a few tables inside, which was were we choose to sit today. The cake selection was rather small with the star attraction being a Bakewell tart (which isn't really cake) but I went for the chocolate chip muffin and Big George a cheese toastie (which definitely isn't cake).

Todays rather small cake selection

I had been recommended the coffee here but as I don't drink it I left it to Big George to decide. However for some reason he had gone for a standard white coffee (as it was cheapest) and therefore didn't get the full coffee experience. My hot chocolate was a bit on the milky side but still quite good. The Muffin was a fairly standard affair.

Today's cake and drinks

After scores were in the Lyng stores scored consistently with a number of other village store/cafe outlets I have visited such as the ones at Rocklands and Neatishead so I think my rating system is working well. I will probably be coming here again with a proper coffee drinker to give the Lyng stores a fairer test.

On the way home my bike developed an annoying rattle/creak noise. In fact it was so loud that I was actually tweeted by a follower on twitter saying he had seen me and wanted to know if it was my bike making all the noise. I tweeted back to confess that he was right on both counts. I think this now qualifies me as a Z rated local celebrity and I probably need an agent.

Back at Crusader Towers, in my secret underground workshop, I think I found the rattle/creak noise in the rear wheel skewer which I gave a damn good greasing. I will find out if it is fixed on my next ride, by which time the Arctic blast might have really turned up so I can get back to boot testing. Exciting times!

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.8	6.1	5.3	6.3	6.7	6.24

Route

Click here to down load 37 mile Norwich Lyng loop gpx file to your gps

Norfolk cycle parkrun challenge stage 10. (Pedlars Hall, Swaffham)

Pedlars Hall,

Swaffham,

Mon-Sat 7:00-7:00, Sun 9:00-3:00,

Recommended

Hopefully you have been following my attempt (as suggested by my co conspirator Mark) to cycle from our local parkrun in Norwich to all 13 parkruns in Norfolk. Wherever possible I have also taken the opportunity to combine it with an appropriate cycle cafe review. On Saturday we took on our last long ride as we headed for Swaffham.

At the time of planning this challenge there was no Swaffham parkrun but when it cropped up in May it had to be added to the list. Unfortunately this meant scheduling it late in the year meaning we would be riding the first hour in the dark.

Ready to set off from Eaton park bandstand in the dark

You may recall that at the start of the last cycle parkrun challenge (3 weeks ago) Mark had had a mechanical. When arranging this weeks ride I had asked Mark if he had got the bike fixed but for reasons of apathy he hadn't. So as to avoid riding all the way in on one front cog again I offered to try and fix it for him. I discovered the problem was that the bike was very dirty and the front mech was gummed up with grease and mud. I realised I had been tricked into cleaning his bike but for the sake of our challenge I did it.

With clean bikes we set off into the dark to face a strong crosswind on the way out to Swaffham but as compensation we enjoyed a fabulous sunrise.

Sun rising over Norfolk

Occasionally on these rides we pass another cyclist with a backpack. Mark always likes to crack his favourite joke "it's good to see some other people cycling from Norwich to the xyz parkrun" and today was no exception when we passed such a person on route.

After a couple of hours we found the parkrun (only a small one of about 70 people) and lined up for the three laps around the playing fields. 

Start of Swaffham parkrun

Everyone was very friendly and I was pleased to finish in 2nd place with Mark coming in a career high of 6th (he even won his age group for the first time although it later transpired he was the only one in it).

Mark finishing in a career high 6th place

I congratulated today's first finisher, John, who told me he was the cyclist who we had passed earlier and had indeed cycled from Norwich (you couldn't make it up). We immediately invited him into the Norfolk cycle parkrun family which now stands at 5 (Mrs Crusader and her friend had cycled the 4 miles to Catton parkrun at the start of the challenge). With 3 finishers in the top 6 it just goes to show that cycling to a parkrun is an excellent warm up.

At the finish with our new Norfolk cycle parkrun challenge member

We waved goodbye to John as he set off back to Norwich and then it was off to the aptly named Pedlars Hall Cafe in downtown Swaffham.

Outside todays refreshment stop

It was a tudor based building but sadly with no outdoor seating area so we sat inside

Indoor seating area

In cake selection terms there was a choice of 3 nice looking homemade sponge cakes so I went for Almond while Mark had a latte and coffee cake.

Todays cake selection

As we enjoyed our refreshments two things troubled me. First our cakes came served on their serviettes rendering them useless for crumb removal purposes. I had only just cooled down from my ran but now my heart rate was pounding again as I tried in vain to save my napkin. Remember #keepcakeoffserviettes

Secondly, I also strongly believe that breakfast should be over by 9:00am (about the time parkrun starts) but despite it now being gone 10 o'clock everyone else in the cafe was having a full English. No wonder there were only 70 people at the parkrun. #kickbreakfastbacktobreakfasttime.

However despite this our cakes and drinks were very good, the staff friendly and we enjoyed our break so I recommend a visit.

Todays cake's and drinks were very good

There are now just 3 more parkruns to go to complete the challenge although I hear several more new ones are in the pipeline in Norfolk for 2019 so maybe our work here is not yet done.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7	6.8	6.1	7.8	6.5	6.84

Route

Click here to download 30 mile Norwich to Swaffham gpx file to your GPS

That's what I call Windy 23 (Copper Kettle Cafe and Tearooms at Kersey Mill, Hadleigh)

The Copper Kettle Café and Tearoom,

Kersey Mill,

Mon-Fri 8:30-5:00, Sun 10-4,

Recommended

Having written nearly 400 posts and visited at least that many cafes or tea rooms then this year I have decided to cut down my output a bit. Therefore I have tried to limit myself to one new cafe a week and preferably only go to ones that have been recommended to me. This has given me the opportunity to focus on other cycling activity like Brownie of the year (#BOTY), the Norfolk cycle parkrun challenge, cycling across India, up the pyrenees and along National cycle route 2. However due to some logistical incompetence I have ended up taking on 3 new cafe cycle rides in 3 days meaning I'll be spending much time at my PC over the next week.

The 3 rides kicked off with a trip down Suffolk with Big George. I had been recommended to go to Kersey Mill just West of Ipswich. It sounded very good but a bit far for a ride from Norwich so I collected Big George in the car and we headed to Needham Market for the start of a 50 mile loop.

It was a gorgeous day and looked like the last one we will have this year (which doesn't bode well for my next two rides) but although the sky was blue and sun was out it was once again blooming windy. It is always nice to cycle somewhere new, if a bit hillier than we are used to back in the flatlands of Norfolk, with the new scenery distracted us from the effort we had to put in to battle through the wind.

Battling up a hill and through the wind

It took sometime but we eventually arrived at the Southernmost point of the ride and headed in a more northerly direction towards Kersey Mill. You may remember that on my last ride Big George announced he had taken up Yoga and tried to teach me how to become one with my bike. Today he proclaimed that he had achieved a true Zen like state as pedaling had become effortless. I didn't like to point it that it probably had more to do with the fact the wind was now behind us but at least I didn't have to listen to him as he continued to mediate and chant on the rest of the way to the cafe. 

Big George at peace with his bike, apparently

When we arrived Big George looked concerned as he discovered that todays tea room was called the Copper Kettle tea room. He explained that he doesn't like cafes named copper anything as they don't sound like the greasy spoon type of stops he prefers.

Outside the Copper Kettle Cafe and Tearooms

His senses were right as it was much more tea and cake which is always my preference so at least I was happy. There were 3 seating area options to choose from; the busy indoor main section, the quieter conservatory or the outdoor courtyard. We opted for the conservatory.

The conservatory seating area

While Big George mediated (or sulked) I checked out the cake selection which had some of the tallest sponge cakes I have seen and 4 of the big 5 (Chocolate, Coffee, Lemon and Victoria but not Carrot). I opted for coffee cake while Big George had an americano coffee and a sausage sandwich (which isn't cake).

Some very big cakes in the cake selection

The very charming waitress asked if he wanted his sausage sandwich on white on granary. As she didn't speak scottish she thought he said wheat. She panicked and said she would have to check with the kitchen if they had wheat bread. To avoid her the embarrassment I translated and soon Big George had his white wheat bread sandwich.

Cake and drinks

My hot chocolate was very good but Big George was less impressed with his coffee as it wasn't strong or punchy enough for him. My cake was nice but being so large not the moistest I have had. All in all I liked my Copper Kettle tea room experience and recommend a visit, however I did promised Big George a cafe more to his tastes for our next ride.

Despite kicking off our return with a couple of steep hills we soon got into a good rhythm with the wind pushing us nicely along and back to the car.

On my return home I had the added bonus of trying the brownie I had purchased at the tea room and it was a very good one which I enjoyed before a quick afternoon kip in preparation for my next ride.

Excellent Brownie

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be a 6.15am start as I cycle to Swaffham for the next leg of my Norfolk parkrun challenge. Hopefully it won't be into the wind or it might be a very slow run.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.3	6	7.6	7.1	7.1	7.02

Route

Click here to download 50 mile Needham Market Hadleigh loop gpx file to your GPS

Security. (The Old Rock shop, Cromer)

The Old Rock Shop Cafe,

Cromer,

Everyday 8:00-6:00,

Recommended

You may recall that last week I was joined by Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) as my cycling guest when we caught up after a couple of months gap. I was worried that he had become easier to please than I had remembered and had felt uneasy ever since.

Therefore I had organised another ride for us today to see if it had just been a one off or the new way of the world. I needn't have been concerned as today he was back at his most unpleasable.

As I'm due to run a marathon on Sunday (although I don't like to talk about it) we were only going to do a short ride from Hard to Please House in Aylsham up to Cromer. I had been recommended to try the brownie at the Old Rock Shop Bistro so this looked like a good opportunity to check it out.

With reduced mileage Andrew was straight into rant mode and was on full throttle before we had even reached the end of his drive. Today's main rant concerned the TV hit series 'The Bodyguard' which he ripped to pieces for it's plot holes, stereotypes and disappointing ending. As more rants, mainly on recent world news events, continued I knew that the Old Rock Shop would be in for a hard time despite the fact neither of us had ever been there before.

On the way there I did manage to tell Andrew about my latest of a long line of security solutions I had tried out to lock my bike up with. This time it was a strong lock that you wore as a rather fashionable belt before it transformed back into a lock when your bike needs protection. Andrew only has ever used one security solution which is to rely on me to bring a lock.

New security solution which is a belt/lock hybrid

We then found the Old Rock Shop Bistro on Cromer High Street.

Outside The Old Rock Shop Bistro

I immediately implemented the belt to lock transformation process and, despite forgetting where I put the key, it went well with our bikes well protected from local crime, so we went inside.

Transforming belt to lock

There was no outside seating area but quite a bit of room inside. Despite this the only free tables all had reserved notices. Each one gave the time the reservation started and name of the reserver. There were 3 such tables available so we played table selection Russian roulette as we chose Richards table that was reserved from 11.35. As it had only just gone 11.00am it meant we had had at least 35 mins to select, order and consume our refreshments. If we cracked on we should be fine.

I checked the cakes which had a reasonable selection, partly in a display unit and partly on the counter. There was the brownie I was after while Andrew went for a mini bakewell tart and cappuccino.

Part of today's cake selection

I started with the brownie which was excellent and worth the recommendation. I entered the scores and found it had just made it into my current top 8 so is in the running to be part of the end of year brownie off (see thing of the year for details).

The excellent brownie

My hot chocolate was pretty good so it was over to Andrew. My fears that he was in his most hard to please mood were correct. He moaned about the cake selection, which I thought had been more than adequate, complained that his bakewell tart was not bakewelly enough and that his cappuccino had been too weak. It is not often that my views and my cycling guests are so far apart but I would still recommend a visit, if only to try the excellent brownie.

Today's refreshment selection

With ratings done I checked my watch and saw we still had a few minutes before Richard was due to claim his table. I did wonder what the table reservation system rules were if he had turned up early. Could he claim his table at anytime or just from the stated time on the reservation notice? It wasn't clear but with Andrew in such a ranty mood I thought it best not to find out so we finished our refreshments and headed for home before Richard turned up.

As it had been a fairly short ride Andrew had to continue ranting (about the lack of black and white European films shown in mainstream cinema chains) in the driveway of HTPH as I tried to pack my bike into the car and eventually leave.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.7	4	6.8	7.2	6.4	6.24

Route

Click here to download 29 mile Alysham Cromer loop GPX file for your GPS

Normal service?. (Weybourne Village Store and cafe)

Weybourne Village Store and Cafe,

Weybourne,

Mon-Sat 8:00-5:00, Sun 8:30-4,

Recommended

I hadn’t been on a ride with Andrew for nearly 2 months so I was interested to see if he was still notoriously hard to please. To find out we met up at Hard to Please House (HTPH) in Aylsham for a ride to Weybourne on the North Norfolk coast. I’m currently tapering for a marathon (although I don’t like to talk about it) so I requested Andrew to organise a shorter ride than usual, of about 30 miles.

It was therefore a little worrying when we had already done over 20 miles of his planned route and there were still no cafe stops in site. On the plus side it had meant that we had been able to catch up on our recent adventures with Andrew not reporting any hard to please incidents. When we did eventually arrive at the Village Store in Weybourne we were both up to speed leaving the way back to discuss matters of the day.

Outside the Village Shop and Cafe in Weybourne

Despite it being a lovely sunny day it was still a bit chilly so Andrew insisted we ignore the outdoor seating area and head inside. First of all I checked out the cake selection. There was plenty of cake but it came in pre cut slices wrapped in cellophane. This is good for the beach going takeaway community but I prefer to see the cake being sliced in front of me so I could only give a reasonable effective cake selection (ECS) score.

Today's cake selection came pre sliced and wrapped

I went for chocolate cake and Andrew coffee cake with a cappuccino. As we waited for our refreshments I noticed there was a book sharing shelf stacked full of a fine selection of literature. I obviously had to check it out to see if the Cake Crusader book could be found in the second cafe running but sadly on this occasion it wasn’t there (if you know of a cafe that has a copy of my book then please let me know or why not buy a copy and leave it in a cafe of your choice?)

Book sharing shelf

We both thought our drinks were pretty good and well presented but it was mixed feelings on the cakes front with Andrew’s coffee cake being very good whereas my chocolate cake was a bit disappointing. I was beginning to worry it was now me being hard to please. However I still felt that the Weybourne village store was a very pleasant stop and I recommend a visit.

Today's drinks and cakes

I was concerned that Andrew had been a bit too chilled and not nearly as hard to please as I had remembered but on the way back the agenda moved on to sorting out the world's problems and he was quickly back up to speed with a series of topical rants. Normal service was fully resumed when we returned back to HTPH to find we had done 20% more miles than requested leaving my tapering plans in tatters.
Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.1	6.65	6.2	7	7.8	6.95

Route 

Click here to download 36 mile Aylsham Weybourne loop gpx file to your gps