Cake Crusader Sportive 18. (43 miles Mettingham (nr Bungay) via TallyHo tearooms)

Sportive 18,
Tally Ho Tearooms,

Mettingham (nr Bungay),

Opening times Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00,

Sun 11:00-17:00,

 Recommended

Yesterday's Cake Crusader sportive was always going to be high risk as you never know what the weather will be like at this time of year. As a rule winter sportives have a 30 mile ceiling but for this trip I wanted to go a bit further, push it out to over the 40 mile mark and hope the weather would be kind to us. As a result I seemed to have scared off all but the most committed sportive riders and therefore a field of just 5 line up on the start line at race HQ.

Hard core riders

I thought it would be good to go somewhere a bit different and therefore had opted for a return to the Victorian themed Tally Ho tearooms near Bungay. I last went there 2 years ago (see a matter of taste) with Big George who had not really got his head round the whole Victorian theme set up seeming to believe we really had gone back in time. He took several months to recover from the experience so I was keen to see how today's set of cyclists would react.

The weather on the way down was good. A bit chilly, a slight wind but at least the sun was out meaning we were rewarded with some fantastically typical Norfolk views and sky's. Despite a few moans of "how much further" we made pretty good progress and arrived at the Tally Ho Victorian themed tea rooms bang on mid day. 

Sorting out bike security outside the Tally H Tearooms

I had clearly not realised that today was international 'eat out at a Victorian themed venue' day as the tea room was packed. The only space still available to us were the comfy sofas in the jams and chutney area but we were more than happy to take them and get out of the cold.

I checked out the cake selection which had a solid offering of traditional sponge cakes. There was a coffee cake so it was good that Mick (Coffee and Walnut specialist) was one of today's riders so we could get his expert opinion. 

Selection of traditional sponge cakes

As it was lunchtime and we were hungry after our ride we all selected sandwiches or soup but disappointingly two of the group seemed to believe that this meant they didn't need to have cake. I made my displeasure known by disqualifying them from any part in cake reviewing activity today. After punishment that severe I don't thing they will be refusing to cake on future rides. I, on the other hand, stepped up to the plate (pardon the pun) and had both carrot cake and a cheese scone as part of my cheese scone serving temperature research. Sadly despite the olde rhyme 'cheese scone hot, fruit scone not', which I believe the first recorded use was during Queen Victoria's reign, it came cold.

While we waited for our drinks and cakes to arrive we discussed the atmosphere and ambiance rating. There was a wide range of opinions depending if you liked themed things but it came as no surprise that Dom (old school cyclist and wannabe Victorian) really rated it, he especially liked seeing all drinks served in proper China cups and that real children were being used to clean the chimney. 

Drinks in proper china cups

My hot chocolate was excellent, strong, thick and hot and just what was wanted on a cold winters day. Not surprisingly this meant the Mochas also scored well so it was thumbs up for the Victorian drinks. Our cakes were nice too although Mike prefers his coffee cake to include walnuts as well and felt a bit short changed that this one didn't. I pointed out walnuts were not invented until 1927 so it was actually authentic for the time.

Nice selection of Victorian food

The Victorian waiter asked how far we had to go to cycle home. We told him about 25 miles expecting him to be impressed but he wasn't as he said he often did 100 mile rides, which was all the more impressive as I assume this would be on a penny farthing. Those Victorians are well hard.

Despite it being a different group of people to the ones on my last visit here it was good that today's set of ratings were very similar showing good consistency of both my excellent scoring system and the Tally Ho tearoom, which I recommend you try if you like something different or are Victorian.

Sadly the weather started to worsen for our pathetically short 25 mile return ride as it rained and the wind started to gust so we were all pleased to get home to warm up, which I did by getting in my tin bath in front of the coal fire. 

Scores for Tally Ho Tea rooms based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.75	6.5	7.0	7.25	5.75	7.05

Route

Click here to download 43 miles Norwich - Bungay loop  GPX file for your gps

A matter of taste. (The Tally Ho Tearooms, Mettingham nr Bungay)

Tally Ho Tearooms,

Mettingham,

Opening times Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00,

Sun 11:00-17:00,

 Recommended

Yesterday I broke the golden rule of cycling. Always cycle into the wind on the way there and with the wind, when you are tired, on the way back. However as I was so keen to visit a new tearoom, The Tally Ho Tearoom at Mettingham nr Bungay, I ripped up the cycle rule book and rode off, with today's guest Big George, at a lighting pace with the wind behind.

As a result, and despite a puncture stop, we arrived at the Tally Ho Tearoom in good time. 

About to lock up (with Alarmio) and enter tearoom

Big George is, Scottish, loves his rugby and nicely fits the rest of that particular stereo type. The Tally Ho Tearooms is Victorian themed (including staff dressed up in period costume), has a pink based décor and sells jam. Individually the two things work well but when brought together they cause a rift in the fabric of reality. It soon became clear that rugby loving Scotsmen and period tearooms are not good bedfellows .

Partly due to the rift in the fabric of reality and partly because we were the only people in the rather large indoor seating area, an uncomfortable atmosphere descended and we found ourselves talking in whispers. I was therefore pleased to go and examine the cake selection. There were all the cakes you would expect (carrot, coffee, chocolate, brownie etc) and even a mini triple cake selection.

In drinks terms there was a choice of white and normal hot chocolate. I went for normal hot chocolate a cheese scone and chocolate cake. Big George seemed confused and ordered a pot of tea (and cheese scone) rather than his normal cappuccino. I asked him why and he explained he didn't think they had cappuccino in the 19th century (despite it being on the menu). I had to point out that we hadn't actually gone back in time, it was just pretend. Things only got worse when his tea turned up on a full china tea service, as you can see below.

Big George struggling to come to terms with Victorian theme and china tea set

The drinks and cakes were all very good and scored well, however there was an obvious problem with the ambiance rating as it wasn't really to his taste, I think it will take Big George sometime to recover from the experience so I have promised to take him to a cafe where he can have a mug of tea and full English breakfast next time (although I never have).

On the way home Big George announced we had a deadline as he had to buy a new hoover and clean the house before guests arrived. This led to an enjoyable chat comparing notes and tips on which we thought the best cleaner was and our personal vacuuming experiences. As a result Big George decided a purple ball Dyson was his best bet. As proper men we vowed never to speak of this conversation again. 

We battled through the wind to get Big George back in time to do whatever it was he needed to do.

Despite the excellent fair at the Tally Ho Tearooms I'm not sure I will ever get Big George back there but if I bump into any Victorians I will certainly recommend they go there for tea.

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.5	6.0	7.5	7.5	5.0	6.90

This is the route

Click here to download 43 miles Norwich - Bungay loop  GPX file for your gps

A second opinion (Earsham Street Cafe, Bungay)

Earsham Street Cafe,

Bungay,

Open 9:00-4:00 7 days a week,

 Highly Recommended

Looking at the BBC on-line weather forecast last night there seemed to be a window of opportunity this morning for a bike ride and cafe (or tearoom) review before the rain was due in the afternoon. With the wind from the west we caught the train to Lowestoft to come back (wind behind) via Bungay. Chris (wife) was coming along as today's guest reviewer so it seemed like a great opportunity to return to the Earsham Street Cafe in Bungay which is currently rated number 1 of the cafes rated so far. Every time I had previously returned to a highly rated cafe it had always disappointed, dropped down the ratings and left me embarrassed after the big sell I had given my guests. I was therefore keen to see if this trend would continue today.

We got to the station in plenty of time, loaded on our bikes and settled down for the journey. Everything was going smoothly until I became aware of a mumbling going round the carriage. Apparently someone was smoking a few tables behind us. People started to cover their faces with scarves, open windows, frenziedly cough and loudly make comments to each other that smoking was not allowed. No one seemed brave enough to ask him directly to stop. My chance to be a hero and perform my civic duty I thought. However when I saw the gentleman's tattoos and half drunk bottle of vodka I decided a quick coughing fit would make the point just as well. Despite my efforts he continued to smoke until we arrived at our destination. This was clearly the most exciting thing that had happened on the Wherry train line for some time and Lowestoft station was still buzzing about the illegal smoking incident as we set off on our bikes.

The ride to Bungay was very pleasant and covered a lot of cycle route 31 (Southwold to Beecles). We therefore arrived at the Earsham Street Cafe in good spirit  The cafe is very bike friendly as they allow you to bring your bikes through to the outside area rather than leave them outside on the main road which meant I was already feeling positive when I went to view the available cakes. 

Outside Earsham Street Cafe (although Photo taken on a different day)

The effective cake selection (ECS) was excellent and although not a huge choice (or a big chocolate cake) we struggled to narrow the choice down giving them a high ECS rating. We went for the fruit scone and carrot cake (as they are very benchmarkable fare). Chris went for a decaf mocha as her guest drink. 

We placed our order and awaited the beverages and cakes as pressure mounted as to if last times high standards could be met. I was not disappointed or embarrassed as for once the high standards were repeated. The guest drink scored higher than my previous guests (although this was Andrew who is notoriously hard to please) but my hot chocolate was not quite as good and I couldn't award the 9/10 it had previously got. The cake quality was as good as before and hard to fault. We did have a difference of opinion on as to if there was too much icing on the carrot cake but as I like icing and it is my spreadsheet this didn't impact the score.

As we left I was offered one of their new loyalty cards. I had to turn it down as it could tempt me to want to keep going back and not go to other cafes or tearooms. This would rather impact the content of this blog.

Unfortunately the BBC on-line weather forecast had got it  wrong as it started to rain heavily a couple of hours early and we got soaked on the way back. I expected better and have written to the Director General to register my disappointment.

Cafe rating based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.25	8.0	8.25	9.0	8.0	8.30

Map of route taken

Download GPX file of route to load onto a GPS. 42 miles Lowestoft to Norwich