Arctic expedition (White House Stores, Neatishead)

White House Store,

Neatishead,

Opening times Mon-Sat 08:30-17:00,

Sun 8:30-13:00

Due to the recent bad weather, poorly cycling guests and a trip to Gran Canaria (to run a marathon) it has meant that cafe cycle riding has been rather thin on the ground so far this year. Worse still the hunt for sausage roll of the year has got off to a very slow start.

Things were not looking good when I awoke this morning to see a frost on the ground and a freezing fog in the air. Fortunately I knew that I had got today's cycling guest, Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please), well trained as to not call off a ride and sure enough he turned up right on time. As expected there was much whinging about how cold it was and how far I had planned for us to ride. At these times I find it best to resort to the gift of the lie by telling him that we would take a short cut (we didn't) and that the weather forecast said it was due to warm up (it wasn't) so he agreed that the ride could go ahead.

As predicted, by the real weather forecast, the fog and cold air stayed with us for the whole ride so it was not a surprise that within a few minutes, despite double socking and gloving, we could not feel any of our extremities. This combination made our mid-ride comfort break almost impossible to undertake successfully. 

Fog and dark skies were with us all ride

To make matters worse the poor weather led to some slow cautious riding meaning that by the time we eventually got to our planned cafe stop at the Neatishead White House Store (community village shop and coffee house) we felt less like Tour de France cyclists and more like arctic explorers, but without the sled, huskies and Igloos.

Andrew reluctantly took the requisite cafe photo as this meant removing his gloves increasing the imminent threat of finger frost bite amputation further. With picture captured we dashed inside, past the outdoor seating patio area, hoping to warm up.

Outside the White House Stores

We were greeted by two extremely friendly volunteer shop assistants eager to make us some hot drinks, chocolate for me and cappuccino for Andrew. 

Our very welcome hot drinks

They explained that cake and sandwiches were in short supply in the middle of January as only complete idiots would cycle into the middle of Broadland at the this time of year but if we could wait to the Spring there would be a much bigger choice. As we couldn't wait that long Andrew opted for the last bit of chocolate and orange cake and me a blueberry muffin.

Rather sparse cake selection as we visited in the middle of winter

It was better news on the sausage roll front as they had plenty of them and more than happy to heat one up for me. 

Second sausage roll of the year

The hot drinks were just what we needed with my hot chocolate tasting particularly good. The chocolate orange cake was extremely nice and got very high cake taste quality marks. 

Today's cakes

Neatishead community shop and coffee stop was just what we needed and worth a visit although I suggest you go during the summer season.

Now warm again we returned to our bikes and started the process of getting really cold again we which, like Captain Oats but without the dying bit, we successfully achieved before arriving home. 

Finally must give a big thanks to the inventors of the hot water bottle and blanket without whom I would still not have warmed up several hours later.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.0	5.0	4.0	8.0	7.0	6.20

Route

Click here to download 41 mile Norwich Horning loop GPX file to your GPS

London marathon bore. (The Galley, Horning)

The Galley,

Horning,

Opening times Tue-Sun 10:00-15:30

Highly Recommended 

Now the London Marathon is out the way (did I mention I ran in it on Sunday) then today it was time to get back to some solid cafe cycle riding. However it did look like I might have to cancel as the recent weather forecasts had been predicting it would rain all day making it unlikely that my cycling guests, Chris (Mrs Crusader), Barry and Helen and their tandem, would agree to come out for a soaking. Fortunately overnight the forecast had improved and, with only the odd shower now predicted, everyone was happy to go.

Getting ready was proving harder for me as my legs were still refusing to bend after their recent exertions (did I mention I ran the London Marathon on Sunday). I could currently only go down stairs backwards and once on the flat only make any forward progress by impersonating the wooden tops (younger readers ask your parents). Climbing on and off the bike was no simple matter either and took some time to accomplish with associated yelps. It was therefore no surprise that myself and Chris were late setting off to our start of ride meeting point leaving Barry and Helen and their Tandem shivering by the side of the road until we eventually arrived.

Fortunately cycling turned out to be a lot easier than walking so I didn't hold the group up as we headed off to today's cafe stop, The Galley, in Horning. A couple of miles before we arrived the sky turned black. Fortunately Helen pointed out that as the wind was blowing the clouds away from us we would be ok and unlikely to get wet. As any experienced cyclist knows you never say things like that when out on a ride so I was well prepared when the sleet and hail attacked us as we rounded the next corner and only stopped again just as we arrived in Horning.

The Galley combines a craft shop, Deli and tearoom  and can be found on the main street. There isn't really a proper outdoor seating area but as it was a bit cold and damp today this was not really an issue so we headed inside.

Outside the Galley post hail storm (which was Helen's fault)

First I checked out the cakes so as to award the effective cake selection (ECS) score and was pleased to see all the big five, Chocolate, Carrot, Victoria, Lemon and Coffee were represented plus some other sponge cakes. As there were brownies, scones and flapjack (which I took away in case of emergency and also so I could test it for flapjack of the year 2016) as well I awarded a high ECS mark.

Large selection of out of focus cakes

We left the shop and counter part of the establishment by going through an arch into the indoor seating cafe area where we selected a table by the window before I took sometime falling into my seat. 

View of indoor seating area from where I was sitting as I was too stiff to get up

Our drinks arrived first, quickly followed by a re-enactment of a scene from Goldilocks and the three bears. Barry thought his cappuccino too hot, Chris thought her Mocha too cold and I thought my hot chocolate was just right. This was no reflection on the Galley drink temperature control standards just that Barry and Chris are hot drink temperature tarts (HDTT) who always go through this charade on every cafe cycle ride they come on and need to get over it.

Despite the HDTT temperature disagreements all the drinks were good and scored well with my hot chocolate having a proper chocolate taste to it.

Despite all the drinks being the same temperature some people are never happy

On the cakes front Chris had gone traditional opting for the chocolate cake, probably influenced by the addition of the chocolate button decorations. I, on the other hand, stepped away from tradition and, despite my fondness for gluten, choose the satsuma and almond gluten free cake, Barry and Helen and their tandem picked a bacon and sausage baguette to share. As a bacon and sausage baguette is clearly not cake they played no further part in cake reviewing today. My cake was very tasty and super moist whilst the chocolate cake was a good example of type without being exceptional.

Nice cakes

All in all the Galley was a very pleasant stop with an excellent selection of cakes and I highly recommend a visit.

Despite both Chris and Helen providing first class spectator support at the London Marathon on Sunday, (did I mention I ran in it) I felt that Barry and their tandem needed a mile by mile breakdown of my run.  

Showing surprising interest Barry asked me how you know if someone has run the London Marathon. I guessed at stiffness, funny walk, haggard look etc but apparently he said, you don't have to know as they will soon tell you all about it. Which I did. 

Scores based on 2 visist

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.50	7.75	8.00	7.875	7.49	7.72

Route

Click here to download 41 mile Norwich Horning loop GPX file to your GPS