Bigger Hammer. (The Waterside, Rollesby)

The Waterside,

Rollesby,

Open Everyday 9-5,

Highly Recommended

After a week of nice weather I had picked the first dull and drizzling day for my latest cafe cycle ride. As the weather had been warm and sunny during the planning stage I had opted for a summer length ride of 50 miles. I had also chosen Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) as my summer ride cycling guest.

As well as summer route and guest, I had also recently switched to using my summer bike. I had decided to give my other bike a service as it had had a hard winter and had completely broken on our ride back from Cambridge last week (see previous post). I always service my bikes myself as it saves a lot of money. Or it would do if I didn't keep buying the wrong parts, breaking them and then having to take the bike to the Local Bike Shop (LBS) to do the job properly.

This is why the car contained both my summer bike plus the frame of my winter bike with a stuck headset. I planned to take it to the LBS straight after the ride to have the stuck bearing casing removed (hopefully).

Once at Hard to Please House I explained my current bike repair predicament to Andrew who, rather smuggly, told me he had just had an excellent service (including a new headset) done by Evans for not much more than I paid for my new parts. 

I obviously ignored this as we set off into a strong wind, via the Norfolk Coast Road, to Rollesby. The most remarkable thing about the Norfolk Coast Road is that it never gets very near the coast and you rarely see the sea, although you do see lots of other things like Windmills.

Horsey Mill but not a glimpse of the sea during our ride down the so called coast road

It had been a 30 mile slog but we had got to The Waterfront cafe at Rollesby and were in need of refreshments and fuel. However we were now on the clock if I was going to get to the LBS in time for an extraction.

Outside the Waterside by Rollesby Broad

The Waterside is on the edge of Rollesby Broad with good views from the outdoor patio seating area, but it was too cold for that so I went inside. 

Views of the Broad from the outdoor seating area

I checked out the cake selection, it was a very good one with a lot of big cakes which were more at the dessert end of the cake range continuum (although they did have fruit scones for me to check out for fruit scone of the year).

Very tempting cakes

I next studied the menu as I also wanted a sandwich to fuel with. However despite being tight for time there was still no sign of Andrew who had gone outside "to get as one with nature". On his return I suggested that next time he might like to "get as one with nature" after we have ordered as time was not our friend today.

Andrew was certainly at his most hard to please as despite the award of high effective cake selection (ECS) and Atmosphere and Ambiance (AAA) marks he decided that the coffee might not be very good as "it could get busy here in the high season". No I didn't understand the connection either but he ordered tea, which as you probably know is capped at 7 out of 10 for guest drink quality, what with it being just a cup of tea. To reassure you there appeared to be an impressive coffee machine and very competent staff so I'm sure the coffee would be good. If anyone has had one here then please let me have you mark out of ten.

Drinks featuring my hot chocolate an a pot of tea

Our drinks, fuel and cake arrived. My hot chocolate was fine but the chocolate and raspberry cake was exceptional and got the highest cake taste quality score this year. I was therefore very impressed with the Waterside and I highly recommend a visit.

Top cake, especially if you are a fan of chocolate

Due to Andrews dilly dallying I had to put the hammer down on the way back to Aylsham and thanks to this combined with the wind now being behind then we caught up the time in what was our fastest ride since last summer (well done us!).

I was therefore able to get the winter bike to top mechanic Andy who freed my parts. I promised not to reveal the secret of how he did it but some 'precision' tools were a key part of the process and I too will now be purchasing a bigger hammer.

Winter bike now ready for my next servicing cock up

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.1	7	7.8	9.1	7.9	7.58

Route

Click her to download 52 mile Aylsham Hemsby loop gpx file to your GPS