What no gears. (Bircham Stores and Cafe, Great Bircham)

Bircham Stores and café,

Great Bircham,

Everyday 8:00-18:00,

Highly Recommended

With all the bad news and sporting cancellations I was relieved that the government had given the go ahead for yesterday's planned cafe cycle ride but it had plenty of it's own non virus related drama.

I had invited Big George to join me in North West Norfolk as I was keen to visit Bircham Stores and Cafe as it had been on my cafe to do list for some time. I was also hoping to get in some "Egg on toast of the year" action although a pre ride internet search had raised some doubt as to if it would be available.

The day started well as I added a new free car park to my list of "the top 10 free car parks to start a bike ride from". This was a very large car park at the Creake Abbey cafe and shops although I suspect you are meant to buy something there rather than just use the car park. As it has an excellent farm shop and I have previously highly recommended the cafe then this is no hardship (although we didn't actually go in today).

Part of the huge overflow car park field at Creake Abbey

I liked the car park and it rated well so shot straight into the top ten list although as it is only the 6th one I've visited it wasn't that much of an achievement. 

With the bikes unloaded we were on our way, or were we? I hadn't gone more than a few metres when I realised my di2 electronic gears weren't changing. Further investigation highlighted that I had a flat battery (for reasons too boring to explain, although it wasn't my fault!) leaving me with two choices. Either go straight home without a ride (NEVER!) or do the ride in the gear it was currently stuck in. Fortunately it was in a good gear for a single speed ride so this is what I attempted.

You may remember that on a previous ride, Big George had had a mechanical on his bike meaning he was stuck in one gear. To show solidarity that day, I had put my bike in the same gear and we did the ride with the same set up.

Remembering this Big George said he would join me in the same gear for the duration of the ride. However as we started up the first hill Big George pushed ahead and soon eased up the hill as I grinded up in my single gear. This was repeated on the next couple of hills until I realised his plan. He was trying to get far enough ahead so I didn't notice he was changing into an easier gear for most of each climb.

One of the many up and downs I had to contend with in a single gear

I challenged him and he soon admitted this was the case and that he just wasn't man enough to be able to resist the easier gears available to him (my words not his). As the ride continued he gave up even trying to pretend he was staying in a single gear and our cycling bond was broken, possibly forever, as this won't be forgotten next time his bike breaks on a ride (and it often does).

Our target stop came after 30 of our 40 mile loop so we were ready for refreshments when we arrived at Bircham Stores and Cafe in the village of Great Bircham.

Outside the stores entrance, the cafe entrance is a little further on but not as impressive

We were directed to the cafe part of the establishment where we were able to put our bikes into the outdoor seating courtyard area.

As Big George faffed with his bike I went inside where the friendly proprietor proudly spent some time going through the posh North Norfolk style menu and today's specials. I pretended to be interested but there was only one thing on my mind (and not on the menu). Fortunately I managed to hold my nerve and once he had finished his spiel I asked for egg on toast. I was clearly a disappointment but he was happy to oblige and confirmed they would be poached on brown. I also went for some ginger cake from a fine cake selection meaning a full cafe rating could be completed

The slices and tray bake part of the excellent cake selection

As always Big George refused any cake and stuck to the official menu options opting for scrambled egg and posh bacon accompanied by an Americano.

Big George though his coffee was excellent and gave a high guest hot drink score. My hot chocolate was a bit thin but was still good.

Today's hot drinks

The egg on toast probably had the nicest tasting eggs on my search to date but they could have done with a few seconds longer poaching for perfection. It was still an excellent EoT and went into my current top 5 so could be battling it out for the title in finals week come December.

The best tasting eggs to date in my search for EoT of the year

My ginger cake was very nice too with some proper pieces of stem ginger adding to the experience. However when it arrived it had only been gone and served on its serviette, (NOOOOOOO!), rendering it useless for crumb wiping activity. Records show that this is the first time I have had cake on serviette this year so my campaign is still going well. Despite this the Bircham Stores and Cafe was a really splendid stop with good drinks and great food so I would highly recommend a visit.

Ginger cake served on its serviette!!!!!!!!

It was only a short 10 mile and uneventful ride back to Creake Abbey although I felt the national speed limit sign on one stretch of road we came across was a little unnecessary.

Not sure anyone could get up to the national speed limit on this stretch of track

Hopefully the government will continue to allow cake crusader rides to happen as it looks like there will be little else to do in the coming weeks.
Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.1	8	7.8	8.2	7.6	7.74

Route

Click here to download 40 mile Creake Great Bircham loop GPX file on to your GPS

Ruined abbey off .(Creake Abbey Cafe ,North Creake)

Creake Abbey Café,

North Creake,

Open Every day 08:30-17:00,

 Highly Recommended

It had been a while since I had been on a ride with Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please). This maybe because it had been his turn to organise the next ride from his base in Alysham and organising things is not his specialist subject. To help the process along I had sent him details of 3 potential cafe destinations that had been recommended to me. This approach would also mean that we didn't end up going to Holt again. To add to the tension I asked him not to tell me which one he had picked so it would be a surprise which he could unveil to me on my arrival. 

As you can imagine I was very excited as I drove up to his house from race HQ, it was a bit like Christmas when you are not sure what present you are getting but expecting it will be good. As I got out the car Andrew informed me had had chosen to take us to Creake Abbey Cafe at North Creake. With the first bit of excitement over I hoped it would not be like the next bit of Christmas when you eventually get to open your presents and find they are not good but socks. It would be a 60 mile ride but I was sure it would be worth it and Creak Abbey cafe at Notrth Creake would not be the Christmas socks of cafes.

As usual Andrew was going to navigate us in the old school way using a map rather than a cycle GPS. He had carefully marked the route using a purple highlighter pen on a tatty photocopied map. Unfortunately Andrew appears to have a very short memory issue because once we were out of familiar territory he had to refer to the map at each junction as he could only remember one turn at a time, I think it is an age thing, so the ride took longer than planned.

Old school route leading

On way to Creake Abbey we went past another ruined Abbey at Binham. I had been forced to visit Binham Abbey on a previous ride when Andrew when he had insisted we stop and have a look round. I couldn't see the point as clearly most of it had fallen down and there was no cafe. However today I was more interested because Creake Abbey is also a ruin which meant we could have a ruined Abbey off plus I could start a new spreadsheet putting my favourite ruined Abbey's in order of best to worst. 

Binham Abbey which has mostly fallen down apart from the big bit in the middle which hasn't

When we arrived at Creake Abbey we first went to the Cafe and retail area deciding to leave the excitement of my first ruined abbey off until after lunch.

Outside Creake Abbey cafe and food hall

Creake Abbey cafe is next to Creake Abbey food hall which is like a very posh Waitrose. It has a nice outside seating area but as it was rather windy we decided to sit in the spacious and light indoor seating area. I was pleased to see we had also helped to bring the average age of the punters down by a considerable margin (and we are no spring chickens).

Large light inside seating area with added art on the walls

First it was over to check out the cakes and award the effective cake selection (ECS) rating. It was both a large and interesting selection so I awarded a high ECS score.

Very good cake selection

We sat down and prepared to order. I went for hot chocolate, ginger cake and a cheese scone (as part of my cheese scone serving temperature research). Andrew went for a cappuccino and fruit cake.

As it was lunch time we both ordered a cheese sandwich. I had been attracted to it as it came with chilli jam, which I'm particularly fond of. Andrew is not only notoriously hard to please but exceptionally bad at make decisions. Therefore he just copied me and asked for the cheese sandwich as well, however he than asked the waitress if he could be tempted by an alternative to chilli jam as he doesn't like it. She thought for a moment and then suggested they could add a nice chutney. A good offer I thought but Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) declined the offer and said he would have it plain.

After the waitress had gone I asked him what he was hoping to be offered instead of chilli jam and he said salad. "If you knew what you wanted, why didn't you just ask for some salad rather than try and make the poor waitress guess", I asked.  Apparently he could have but felt that part of the waitress role is to understand and anticipate the customer's needs and he would rather forgo the salad than let her off the hook. When the cheese sandwiches turned up they came with salad and coleslaw garnish anyway. Maybe his customer needs had been fully anticipated and understood after all or maybe they just came with salad.

Cakes, drinks and scone.

It was time to review the cakes and drinks. Both our drinks were nice but not quite strong enough for really top marks. The cheese scone was properly warmed but again need to be a little cheesier for my tastes. However Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) thought his fruit cake was excellent and my ginger cake was an absolute triumph so good scores all round.

All in all Creake Abbey cafe was an excellent stop and gets my top 'highly recommended' rating just missing out on a place in my coveted top 10 list. It was more a useful new cycling gadget type of christmas present rather than socks.

The excitement wasn't over yet as it was now off to see Creake Abbey ruins to see who would win the ruined Abbey off. 

Creake Abbey ruins. Small but symmetrical

I thought they were excellent ruins as they were nicely symmetrical and had a good amount of wall left. This compared to Binham which was a lot of low wall but a big bit still in tact.

I felt neither ruin was worth a special visit but Creake had the advantage of a cafe and was more pleasing visually so is now top of my best ruined Abbey's in Norfolk spreadsheet. I'm planning a trip to Castle Acre soon as I remember the ruined Abbey there being quite good and could be a contender.

We set off back to Alysham and, due to lack knowledge, had absolutely no further ruined Abbey chat, instead Andrew ranted about the difference between a salad garnish and salad accompaniment.

Scores based on two visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.5	6.75	8.25	8.0	8.25	7.55

Route from Alysham to North Creake and back  was a very good one.

click here to download 57 mile Alysham North Creake gpx file for your gps