Third time lucky (OB Cafe, Old Buckenham)

OB Café,

Old Buckenham,

Opening times Wed - Sun 9-4.00 (March - Oct),
Highly Recommended 

It's been a quiet time on the local cafe front for me as summer holidays, sportives and other cycle trips have distracted me from my main objective of finding the best cafes to cycle to in the Eastern counties.

However I have kept my eye on the cafe and tea room ball and know of a number of new cafes that have opened and sadly, a number that have closed down. I will be upping my game over the next few months as I aim to get up back to date.

To start with I planned to return to the cadence cafe which has undergone a change of ownership and is now the OB (Old Buckenham) Cafe. Would it be as good as its old version or even better. To find out I invited cycling guest Big George to join me on the trip.

Myself and Big George had already tried to undertake this mission on two previous occasions. Our plan had been to catch the train to Ely and then cycle back (via the OB Cafe) with the wind behind most of the way.

Attempt one had ended in disaster as I 'broke' Big Georges bike by making him cycle through a farmers field (see Success ). Attempt two never got off the ground when the train to Ely was cancelled, so we were both a little nervous as we arrived at Norwich station for the start of our adventure.

Things started well as the train left on time and there were only 4 bikes wanting to get on (which is the maximum allowed on this train.)

An hour later we pulled into Ely station where they had erected a sign to celebrate our visit.

With bikes unloaded and GPS routes selected it was pedals down back to Norwich in what appeared to be an unexpected head wind. This time we diverted around farmer Giles field although we did have to go on an off road path to over take a slow moving tractor which fortunately ended with Big Georges bike still in tact.

As you probably know the fens are very flat and as a result even the mildest wind seems like a hurricane so unless the wind is directly behind you it always feels like a battle. This made things hard work until the route turned off into the shelter of Thetford forest. It meant several miles on off road tracks but sensibly I had brought my winter bike with its wide tyres in readiness for this section. Surprisingly Big George had opted to stick with his summer bike risking the possibility of another off road mechanical. Why he had done this I really don't know although it could have been as I hadn't told him that there was any off road sections on the route.

Big George heads off into Thetford forest

Progress was slow but in dry conditions we were able to bump along safely as we saw a number of other cyclists (on mountain bikes) also enjoying the tracks.

Once back on the road we sped towards Old Buckenham and the OB cafe.

Outside the OB cafe which looked exactly the same

On arrival, apart from the sign, not much had change and we were greeted by Cake Crusaders favourite Barista, Kong, who had also been part of the Cadence cafe team. The small cake selection was similar to before (they have some of the best brownie around) but sadly there were no sausage rolls today as they are only available at weekends. 

Today's selection of cakes and pastries

To keep up energy we both opted for a flapjack and pastry along with hot chocolate and an Americano. Kong asked if we wanted a corner or middle piece of flapjack. I would always selected middle but was informed some people request the edge. I was worried I had been missing out so went corner in the interest of research. (My findings confirmed middle is best).

We took our refreshments out to my favourite outdoor seating area in the comfy outdoor sofa based seating area overlooking the large pond/small lake.

View from our sofa based seats

I rated todays cafe experience to find that the OB cafe had come out exactly the same as its old incarnation. So if you liked the Cadence cafe you won't be disappointed and I still highly recommend a visit.

Myself and Big George were having such a relaxing time enjoying the views and snacks (while we sorted out the world's problems) that it took some time and effort to return to our bikes for the final 20 miles home.

It had been an excellent start to this Autumn's cycling agenda with lots of local rides planned plus a trip to the Alps for more mountain top cake based research. 

Scores (based on last 3 visits) Last visit 16/03/2022

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.10	7.00	6.03	8.3	9.17	7.32

Route

Click here to download 59 mile Ely to Norwich GPX file for your GPS