Damn Knees (Terrace, Loddon)

The Terrace,

Loddon,

Tue-Sat 8.30-4.00, Sun 9.30-3.30

 Highly Recommended

This may look like an ordinary knee to you but apparently it has got a degenerative meniscal tear and a patella problem. This means that this knee can’t do running and only possibly gentle cycling until it’s fixed. Sadly it’s my knee so I’m having to take it easy at the moment which is not my specialist subject. However I have been told that gentle cycling might be ok so when yesterday I got an offer of joining a ride down to Loddon I decided it was a good time to test things out and it would also be a chance to check out the Terrace cafe too, as I have been meaning to for sometime. 

My right knee

Regular Cake Crusader Cycling guest Mike had invited me to join him, and friend Roberta, for an afternoon pedal. He, coincidentally, had a bionic knee put in a few years ago so knows all about dodgy mid leg joints. He is also a qualified British cycle level 1 ride leader and has a hi viz jacket to prove it. So he was clearly in charge.

After a cold morning we certainly had the best of the day as it was a warm late summer afternoon. I was taking it very cautiously knee wise so the other two were often up the road but at least I was still going.

My fellow cyclists were often someway ahead

We soon arrived at the Terrace in Loddon which has a nice location overlooking the high street. Mike had been here before and, despite knee issues, made as carry our bikes up the steps to the terrace area. 

Up the steps with bike onto the terrace

After we had humped our bikes up a very nice chap told us they had a ramp at the other end of the terrace which led to a lovely garden area and that normally cyclists took their bikes that way. I blamed our tour leader.

The garden outdoor seating area which most cyclists use

As we had gone to all the effort of clambering up the steps we decided to stay put. Both the terrace and garden outdoor seating areas were excellent so I awarded a high atmosphere and ambiance mark.

Delightful terrace area

Next it was inside to check out a nice little cake selection which although not large covered most bases. 

Cake selection 

It was now, when ordering, I made a terrible blunder. As I haven't been able to do many reviews recently I completely forgot to order a hot chocolate and went for tea and scone instead. Later on I did investigate what type of hot chocolate I would have had and was told a nice Italian one. As I recognised it I knew what score it normally gets. So I gave it that mark and promised to come back and have an actual one soon. (I returned a coiuple of weeks later and can confirm it was an excellent Italian style Hot Chocolate which attracted a very high mark).

Mike went for a flat white and coffee and walnut cake. While Roberta had a cold drink and no cake which was no help at all. I decided to have some brownie as well as a scone to make up for  her lack of cake action.

Our refreshments soon arrived. Mike thought his flat white was only ok but we both agreed the cakes we excellent with the brownie being deceptively good. Regular readers may remember that Mike is my go to coffee and walnut cake expert. His feedback was overwhelming positive but would have liked some butter cream in the middle as well as on the top of the cake.

Today’s drinks and cakes. But where is the hot chocolate 

Overall the Terrace at Loddon was an excellent stop and I plan to come back soon to have a hot chocolate and make use of the ramp facility. I would highly recommend a visit.

Mike proposed return route would mean going back on the same road we had come on for some of it so I offered an alternative as I do like a proper circular ride. So tour leader duties were passed across, although sadly not the tour leader hi viz jacket. 

With knee starting to tire we made it safely back and hopefully it won’t be too long before the knee fancies another go.

Scores based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.3	6	6.7	7.9	7.89	7.36

Route

Click here to download Loddon - Norwich loop GPX file to load on to your GPS

The mystery of the disappearing overshoe (In-a-spin, Loddon)

In-a-Spin,

Loddon,

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

Sat 09:00-17:00, Sun 09:00-14:00

Highly Recommended 

Recently Mrs Crusader decided it was about time she had a new bike as her current one was dirty and no longer matched her favourite cycling outfit. It was hard to argue against her rationale so I was tasked with getting her a suitable replacement that matched her criteria (clean and blue).

I had been very happy with my last new bike purchase which I had got from In-a spin near Loddon so we set off their to see if they could satisfy her demanding spec. Not only did they have just the right bike but I discovered they were now doing hot drinks and cake as well. I promised I would return on another day for a cafe cycle ride to do a proper review.

Well, today was that day and I was joined by cycling guest Big George for the trip. Once again it was a cold one, so we layered up before we set off. We hadn't gone far before Big George started to have cleat problems as his shoe kept slipping out of his pedal. I was keen to bring Big George up to speed with details from the recent Marathon that I ran in Gran Canaria and the pedal issues were distracting him from my story. At first I suspected he may have been making up the problem but when he insisted on stopping and removing both his overshoe and shoe, in this weather, I knew it was for real. 

After much huffing, puffing and fiddling we were good to go again and I could at last continue my mile by mile update (restarting from mile 7). I felt I now had his full attention until I got to the bit about the excellent water bottle snatch I performed at the half way drinks station as he suddenly announced that one of his feet was now much colder than the other. On closer inspection it appeared that this was because one foot no longer had an overshoe to help keep the heat in. Despite his claims that he clearly remembered putting it back on the evidence suggested that he must have left it while fiddling with his shoes earlier.

With mismatching feet, temperature wise, we continued to In-a-spin and got there just as I completed telling him about the final mile of my race.

At In-a Spin with equally warm feet

Once inside I immediately headed for the cakes and was impressed by both the number and quality of those on offer so awarded a high effective cake selection (ECS) mark. I went for coffee and walnut cake with my hot chocolate and Big George had an Americano and fruit scone (with raspberry jam).

Excellent cake selection

We sat down in the window seating area and awaited our refreshments. Owner Simon clearly felt obliged to ask how the marathon had gone as I may have mentioned that I was doing it (several times) during the recent bike purchasing activity. Big George went pale at the thought of hearing about it again so immediately suggested he gave a summary while I went to look at the bikes on display.

On my return the cakes and drinks had arrived, the coffee and walnut cake had expertly been placed the correct distance from my serviette, almost as if to make a point. I was lapping up the cycling chat whilst enjoying the bike based atmosphere and ambiance so completely forgot to take the obligatory drinks and cake photograph. It wasn't until I had finished my cake and drink that I noticed my gaff so this was all that was left when I eventually got round to taking a picture.

What was left of cakes and drinks when I finally remembered to take a photo

The drinks were very good with my hot chocolate being a proper Italian one. The coffee and walnut cake was a triumph, just a shame there's no photo. I thoroughly enjoyed my stop at In-a-Spin and would highly recommend a visit especially if you like bicycles or want to see what the cake actually looks like.

It was an uneventful ride back but once I got home I received a text from Big George saying that he had found his missing overshoe which led to today's cycling guest cycling top tip.

Cycling guest cycling top tip no 59. If you have to remove your overshoe during a ride and want to keep both feet equally warm then remember to replace it on the shoe without an overshoe and not on top of the foot that already has one.

Note I returned with a large group of cycling guests in spring 2017 who thought the cake was some of the best they had had thus pushing up the scores further

Scores based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.0	7.5	7.5	8.25	8.5	7.75

Route

Click here to download Loddon - Norwich loop GPX file to load on to your GPS

Following the Wherryman (Rosy Lees Teashop, Loddon)

Rosy Lee’s Tearoom (and Picnic Place),

Loddon,

Opening times Mon-Sat 07:30-17:00,

Sun 09:00-17:00

Highly Recommended

Earlier this year, during the build up to the General Election, I planned to do an election special cafe cycle ride. I wrote to Norwich's two sitting MP's, whose websites both claimed they were keen cyclists, asking for recommendations of their favourite cafe cycle stops. I never heard back from Norwich South's Simon Wright but Norwich North's Chloe Smith sent a nice reply suggesting I try cycling out along the river (see Chloe Smith recommends...). Not saying my blog is influential but Chloe went on to hold her seat where as Wright lost his, so never underestimate the power of cycling and cake.

During the Chloe ride I noted that in dry conditions you could probably cycle all the way along the river to Great Yarmouth on the Wherrymans way path. As it had been so dry recently this looked like an excellent opportunity to test this theory out.

I got up early to put my off road wheels on to my cyclocross bike and arranged with today's cycling guest, Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please), for him to bring his off road machine meaning we both had the right kit for the experience. I'm not a great off road rider so was a little nervous as we set off to the start of the Wherrymans way at Whitlingham Broad in Trowse.

The River Yare at start of ride

The first part of the ride was on some nice tracks and we sped along admiring the views however as we started to leave civilisation the paths began to get overgrown with stinging nettles and thistles. This may have been ideal country for the likes of Eeyore but I bet he never tried riding his bike though a field of this many stinging and scratchy plants down in 100 acre woods or maybe he did and that's why he was always so miserable. 

Path hidden by nettles, grasses and thistles

The overgrown paths, plus the very bumpy nature of the rock hard ground made going very slow which was not helped when I also got a puncture.

We did get some respite on a nice road section at Surlingham, which gave our wrists and bottoms a chance to recover from the constant vibrations they had been experiencing, before rejoining the river path and enjoyed spectacular views of Cantley Sugar beet factory (possibly my favourite Sugar Beet factory anywhere in the UK).

Cantley Sugar beet factory sadly partially obscured by sail boat

Every so often we came across a random river bank gate on the path. I was in the lead as we approached the latest one and so stopped to open it. Unfortunately Andrew had not noticed I had come to a halt and with a sudden yelp slammed on his brakes and toppled off the side of the path. Fortunately he was a bit winded so couldn't immediately get up giving me enough time to get a photo before checking if he was hurt. He wasn't but it did lead to today's cycling guest cycling top tip.

Cycling guest cycling top tip No. 35. To avoid potential injury whilst out on an off-road cycle ride make sure you look where you are going and don't fall off your bike.

Andrew in a heap after falling off his bike

Before continuing we held an emergency health and safety executive risk assessment meeting and agreed new random river bank gate health and safety procedures to avoid any further accidents. From now on it would be mandatory to shout 'gate up' when approaching a random river bank gate.

With the new health and safety procedures in place we continued very slowly, but safely, along the path still being shaken all the way. The path was clearly rarely used as we hardly saw anyone, certainly no Wherrymen, and it was very overgrown making it seem like you were cycling through a field of hay.

Cycling along bumpy overgrown path

The whole thing had become quite unpleasant and I calculated we were unlikely to get to Yarmouth in time for tea let alone lunch. We therefore decided on a new plan and turned off the path to head for near by Loddon. 

I had recently heard that Rosy Lee's tea room had introduced a picnic place so we decided to go and investigate that instead.

I have been to Rosy Lee's several times (see race against time) but not for over a year although it had always been a good stop. When we arrived we parked our bikes and went inside to check the cake selection so that I could award the effective cake selection (ECS) score. As previously there was a fine range of cakes, including a large and a small Victoria sponge. I therefore awarded a high ECS mark.

Excellent selection of cakes

We said we would be in the picnic place and placed our order. I went for a hot chocolate, cheese scone (as part of my cheese scone serving temperature research) and zucchini cake (courgette and lime to you). Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) went for a pot of tea for one plus carrot cake.

With order placed we were told they would bring it all across so we went back outside and wheeled our bikes across the road to the picnic place which is hidden away by the side of Loddon pay and display car park.

The table and bench we picked to have our picnic at

There are several different type of garden style tables and chairs in Rosy Lee's picnic place and it was extremely nice sitting there in the peaceful and secluded surroundings. This new feature upped the previous visit's already good atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) rating further.

Our food was soon delivered to us using the gift of the picnic hamper which I thought was a brilliant touch.

Your order is brought across to you in a picnic hamper

My hot chocolate was excellent being a proper thick chocolaty one. Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) thought it was a good cup of tea but was particularly impressed that the pot contained two tea bags and not the one used by many establishments when asking for pot of tea for one.

Food and drinks from the picnic hamper

It was good to see the cheese scone had been correctly warmed before making its journey across the road in the picnic hamper. It was a nice scone too however it was overshadowed by the excellent cake. Andrew declared his carrot cake as the best he could remember (but he is getting old so that probably only accounts for the last few hours at best). I thought my courgette and lime was even better so added it to my cake of the year contenders list.

With the addition of the picnic place Rosy Lee's score were slightly up re-establishing it's place in my coveted top 10 cafe's list and I highly recommend a visit. 

Fully refreshed we decided to head back home on the roads. With very sore bottoms and wrists and with our legs itching from all the stings and scratches I had to file 'riding all the way to Yarmouth on the Wheerymans way' in my, now getting rather full, bad idea's drawer. However shorter circular off road rides still seem like a good future plan.

I hoped it would not be another year before I was back at Rosy Lee's so imagine my surprise when a serious of unforeseen events took me back there the very next day, which I will write about in my next post.

Scores with Rosy Lees based on last three visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.00	7.00	7.75	8.25	8.00	7.70

Not the route we took as I don't recommend it but a nice route to Rosy Lee's

Click here to download Loddon - Norwich loop GPX file to load on to your GPS

Unfaithful. (Langley Road Bakery, Loddon)

Langley Road Bakery,

Loddon,

Open Mon-Fri 7.00-2.30, Sat 7.00-2.00

It has been a week since my last cafe cycle ride. This is mainly due to having entered an Ironman triathlon in July and realising that I need to increase the amount of cycling I'm doing if I'm going to be ready for the event. Unfortunately none of the training plans I have read suggest that stopping during your cycle training to eat cakes and scones will aide the process. However I believe any cycling must be good cycling so I will still be fitting in at least one cafe cycle ride each week where cake will form part of that day's nutrition plan.

It being a Friday meant that Big George was free to join me as today's guest as Friday is his day off. He said he needed to be back by midday but was not prepared to say why. I assume he had to get the housework complete before Mrs Big George got home and did her weekly inspection. This limited us to a 30 mile route so I decided we could go to a bakery I had spotted in Loddon that had put a big Tearoom sign in the window. 

You may remember I originally started cafe reviewing as Big George only knew of 3 cafes and we kept having to go to the same ones. One of those original three was Rosy Lee's in Loddon so when I told him of our destination Big George felt very uncomfortable going to a different Loddon cafe. He felt he was being unfaithful to Rosy Lee. I assured him his secret was safe with me and I won't tell anyone about his indiscretion, she would never know (unless she reads this blog).

As it was a fairly short ride and wind assisted we soon arrived in Loddon where we tiptoed past Rosy Lee's cafe before arriving at the Langley Road Bakery (which has the word Tearoom in large letters in the window).

Langley Road Bakery which has the word Tearoom in big letters above my head

Seating choices were limited as there was no outdoor seating area and only two tables inside. On our way to one of the tables I stopped off to check out the cake selection. It was a little sparse with only muffins or cream slices plus flapjacks, brownies and fruit scones all pre wrapped. I could only award a low effective cake selection (ECS) rating as I only really fancied the muffins.

Rather small cake selection

As it was only a small tearoom there was no frothy coffee machine but they did have a kettle and some tins of powder. I ordered my hot chocolate and Big George surprisingly went for an instant cappuccino. 

Coffee corner

My hot chocolate and muffin were both nice but Big George didn't like his cappuccino as it had been made with pre-sugared powder so was too sweet. 

Drinks and muffin

As we sat consuming our food and drinks Big George told me that he had recently appeared on Radio 5. I assumed he had phoned in for a rant but he told me he had actually been invited on as a guest in a debate on education in Norfolk. As I started to glaze over he gave me a blow by blow account of what he had said, plus what he should have said when he thought about it later, what the other debaters had said and how he believed his contribution would impact the result of the election. Up until the point when I fell asleep I felt I had done a very good job of appearing interested. Eventually Big George got to the end of his story, woke me up and we could set off again back to Norwich. 

Overall the Langley Road Bakery appeared to be a nice little bakery that would make you a hot drink but probably was not yet ready to stop Big George returning to Rosy Lee's, if she will have him back.

On the way back I made sure I kept the chat away from politics or the media as we headed home into wind. Despite this we made it back in plenty of time for Big George to don his piney and marigold gloves in order to get the house spic and span ready for inspection.

Ratings

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.0	4.0	3.5	6.0	5.0	4.90

Route

Click here to download Loddon - Norwich loop GPX file to load on to your GPS

Remember the Herbs. (Spoon Cake Cafe, Loddon)

Spoon Cake,

Loddon,

Opening times Mon-Sat 09:00-17:00,

 Recommended

Due to the bad weather and lack of availability of cycling guests, meant that today was the first cafe cycle ride I had done for a week. However I hadn't been idle on the blog front as I have introduced a new useful routes feature. At the end of each blog I'm adding a Google maps version of the route taken plus a Garmin GPS downloadable file. I'll be writing a post shortly with more information on the routes feature.

For this ride I persuaded Chris (Mrs Crusader) to be today's guest and I choose the Spoon Cake Cafe in Loddon as today's venue. Pre Blog I had rated this cafe twice before so I thought it was about time I did a proper review. The ride to Loddon was into the wind and ended with yet another puncture so we were pleased to get to the Spoon Cake Cafe and were in need of our hot beverages and cakes. 
 

Outside The Spoon Cake Cafe, Loddon with punctured bike.
You can easily miss the cafe as there is little signage

On entering we immediately examined the cake cabinet so as to award the effective cake selection rating (ECS). There was a good choice of scones, cakes and chocolate slices. I found it hard to choose so awarded a high ECS. We covered all options with Chris choosing the double chocolate cake and me going for the cheese scone and chocolate cherry slice type thing.

Cake cabinet including scones, cakes and chocolate slices.
All very good looking so high ECS rating awarded

To go with our cakes I had my normal hot chocolate and Chris a skinny mocha. My hot chocolate was very good, especially on the chocolate side but could have been a little hotter to better fulfil the hot bit of the drinks brief. Chris also enjoyed her drink but thought it just a touch sweet however both drinks still scored well.

The double chocolate cake and chocolate cherry slice type thing were both excellent as they had a good balance of chocolate as sometimes these type of chocolate offerings can be too rich. The Cheese scone came with a relish, always a nice touch, but I felt could have been a bit cheesier. All in all very good ratings and consistent with my previous two visits 

Drinks, cakes, scones and slices about to be rated

I did have one concern. The Spoon Cake Cafe have moved away from the standard table labelling approach of giving each table its own number. Instead they appeared to have adopted a system of labelling each table based on the name of a herb. We choose the Thyme table. 

On closer inspection of the other tables it became clear all was not well in the herb based table identification system department. To go with Thyme there was the predictable Parsley, Sage and Rosemary tables leaving 3 further tables to be allocate a herb based name. The next table I looked at was Basil, another good herb choice I thought but then we got to table Lavender. Although not strictly a Herb, more of a fragrant flower, it can be used in cooking so I thought they just got away with it. But what of the last table, to my horror it had a completely off piste label of Nutmeg. This is clearly not a herb or even a plant but a spice and I could see no place for it in any self respecting herb based table identification system.

I believe a Dill, Oregano or Coriander would have been more in keeping with the theme and I can only conclude the tables were haphazardly named after random jars in the herb and spice rack. I just hope no passing school children mistakenly use these tables to learn their herbs and are ridiculed at school for saying Nutmeg is a herb in a classroom situation. 

Despite the disappointment of not having a properly thought through herb based table identification system the Spoon Cake Cafe is one of the best and most consistent cafes I have reviewed and I highly recommend for a visit..

After fixing the puncture we set off home and with the wind behind and were back in double quick time.

These are the ratings of the Spoon Cake Cafe based on 3 visits. Full list of cafe ratings at end of Blog

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.0	7.33	7.67	7.8	6.83	7.53

This is map of route

Click here to download Loddon - Norwich loop GPX file to load on to your GPS