Sportive 5
Heydon Shop and Tearooms,
Heydon,
Open Wed-Sun 10-4.30 (4.00 Nov- Feb),
Highly Recommended
On a beautiful sunny Saturday morning the latest Cake Crusader Sportive took place out to Heydon. Unfortunately since this sportive had been first advertised there had been a number of withdrawals meaning that by the time we set off there was only myself and Chris (Mrs Crusader) waiting to start at Race HQ. Fortunately Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) was going to help boost the numbers by meeting us on route.
The Oxford
dictionary states that a sportive is : An organised long-distance road
cycling event in which a large number of cyclists ride a marked route. I
felt that; I had organised today, 40 miles was a long distance, more than two was
a large number of cyclists (we had two and a half) and the route was marked out
on my cycle GPS so according to the Oxford dictionary this
was definitely a sportive not just a cycle ride.
We set off at pace in order to meet Andrew at the agreed rendezvous point. It took a bit longer than expected but thanks to the gift of the text message we were able to successfully swell the size of the Peloton.
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| Group photo of all riders on today's sportive. An impressive site and the photographer did well to get everyone in. |
We arrived at
Heydon without incident and were fortunate that on such a nice day there was
plenty of room for all sportive riders in the 3 table
outdoor seating area, so we selected a seat there.
 |
| Outside Heydon shop and tearoom about to nab a table in the outside seating area. |
But first we
went inside to check out the cake selection. It was not a huge selection but
very effective as there were several cakes I needed to choose between. I
awarded a high effective cake selection rating (ECS) and choose the tifin,
Andrew went for the polenta cake and Chris the Orange sponge.
 |
| A particularly effective cake selection |
I ordered my
hot chocolate which had been a little weak on my last visit, so I hoped for
better today. Andrew had a cappuccino and Chris a skinny mocha. When the
drinks arrived they were all very well presented.
 |
| Drinks to be reviewed, which all looked very good |
Unfortunately
I again found the hot chocolate very milky, the coffees were both good although
Chris would also have liked a bit more chocolate in her Mocha. When the nice
chap serving us asked if everything was ok, I told him that I thought it was
all very good but the hot chocolate was a bit weak. I had expected him to thank
me for my useful and informative feedback but as the answer he had obviously been expecting was
'yes it's all great' he seemed a bit upset and looked at his shoes. If
he didn't want my useful and informative feedback why ask I thought.
The cakes
were some of the finest I have tried and Andrew (who is notoriously hard to
please) had obviously got sun stroke as completely out of character
he wanted to give his cake 10 out of 10.
This is the
third time I have been to Heydon and rated the Heydon tearooms. However as on
both the previous occasions I had the same two guests not surprisingly it got
about the same rating which keeps it in my top 10 cafe list as it consistently delivers a very good tea room experience. If only they could improve the
hot chocolate strength it could easily be number 1 so I
hope they have taken on board my useful and informative feedback.
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| Sportive riders struggling to identify their bikes due to the large number parked on Heydon common. |
We set off on
the return leg and left Andrew (who is notoriously easy to please at
Heydon tearooms) after a few miles before returning safely to race HQ.
Hopefully we will attract an even bigger field to the next sportive in August.
Cafe ratings for Heydon shop and tea room based on last 3 visits of 6
Hot Choc Quality
|
Guest Hot Drink Quality
|
Effective Cake Selection
|
Cake Quality
|
Ambiance and Atmosphere
|
Café Rating
|
6.0
|
8.17
|
8.32
|
9.17
|
9.13
|
8.16
|
