Norfolk cycle parkrun challenge stage 4. (Courtyard cafe, Sheringham)

Courtyard Cafe,

Sheringham Park,

Opening times Everyday 10-5 (Weekends in Winter)

My friend Mark was looking for someone to join him on an attempt to cycle to, then run, every parkrun in Norfolk over the summer. He needed someone who liked cycling, enjoyed planning routes, was obsessed by stats and spreadsheets, and couldn’t resist a challenge. For some reason, I don't understand why, he thought of me and I quickly picked up the gauntlet. 

Today was the 4th cycle parkrun we had done, this time to Sheringham, but the first with a cafe I hadn't been to, hence the need for today's post.

As the official Norfolk cycle parkrun challenge rules (what I wrote) dictate then each ride needs to start from our home parkrun which means the bandstand at Eaton Park. I had calculated that we needed to leave at 7.00 am to get to the start in time so got up early and met Mark on time. Even that early in the morning it took longer than expected to get across Norwich so by the time we got into the country we were already on the clock.

Fortunately, although we were riding into the wind, it was a light one so with a bit more cycling effort than planned we made it to Sheringham Park in time to get ready for the run and hear the pre race briefing.

Sheringham parkrun pre race briefing

The run route was a very pretty one passing the colourful rhododendrons that were coming into bloom. As I have had an Achilles injury for the last few weeks (not that I like to talk about it) I struggled with the long downhill start but once we were on the flat I could get going and enjoy the views of the sea. There is a bit of a sting in the tail with a short steep uphill before the finish so I was pleased with my 14th place finish. Mark came in a minute and forty seconds behind me.

Another Norfolk parkrun completed

With parkrun complete it was time to test out the cafe. It was a National Trust jobby called The Courtyard cafe. I am now getting a bit fed up with Courtyard cafes as this is the 5th one I have been to in Norfolk which is getting confusing and causes data integrity issues on my ratings spreadsheet.

Outside another Courtyard Cafe with fellow runners already inside

Fortunately as we had finished towards the front of the run we got into the cafe early before a large queue formed. However the cake selection was a bit light with only Victoria sponge and carrot cake available. We shared a piece of each while Mark had an americano as his guest hot drink.

Rather small cake selection

We returned to the outdoor courtyard seating area where Mark demonstrated his rookie rating skills by getting all his proposed scores wrong. We did both think the carrot cake good but the sponge cake a bit dry although still decent enough. My hot chocolate was a poor Cadbury one but Mark felt his coffee was pretty good and strong. So a bit of a mixed bag.

Cakes and drinks

With parkrun run and the park cafe rated our work here was done as we returned to Norwich via the Marriotts way. Next week we head East to the Gorleston parkrun.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
4.9	7	5	7.1	7	6.20

route

Click here to download 25 mile Norwich to Sheringham gpx file for your gps
Click here to download 33 mile Sheringham to Norwich gpx file for your gps

A hard days graft (Whelk Copper Tearoom)

Whelk Copper Tearoom,

Sheringham,

Opening times Everyday10-4,

Recommended 

Yesterday was going to be a hard days cafe cycling as I had 3 missions to complete. This was because the first consignment of the The Cake Crusader book had turned up and I needed to start to flog them if I was ever going to get to the top of the best sellers list.They have been flying off the virtual Kindle shelves with 9 copies already sold in only 3 weeks, I was hoping to crack the magic double figures in the next few days, but for now I have real books to sell.

The first consignment of the Cake Crusader book

To kick off the marketing campaign I have organised a ride for this weekend with family and friends before a book signing in the kitchen. I have been told by my literary friends that for such an event you need to provide nibbles. I'm going for cheese scones, flapjacks and sausage rolls as these were my previous things of the year. I would only have time to collect one of the actual winning examples and opted to go for flapjack from The Funky Mackerel in Sheringham. I can always make or buy the sausage rolls and scones.

Therefore my first mission of the day was to get to Sheringham to pick up the flapjack. The second mission was to review a new cafe while I was there. I had invited Big George as today's cycling guest and as one of the key characters in my book I decided to give him a copy. Knowing what I had written about him then the third mission was to keep him on side in order to avoid a potential libel case. I thought the best way of achieving this was to take him to his favourite stop which is the village shop and cafe at Itteringham. If we were really lucky we might come across some brownies for brownie of the year #BOTY but we weren't and we didn't.

It was a foggy morning but not too cold as we set off on our busy day. Big George had sensibly come in his bright orange jacket to make sure he was really visible and he was.

A grey day only brightened by Big Georges jacket

After an hour or so we got to our first stop at Itteringham.

Outside the fabulous Itteringham shop and cafe

I was excited to see there was now a new extended seating area rather than just the one table squeezed in the corner. However Big George is very fond of the table in the corner and insisted on sitting there while I ordered his coffee and sausage roll. I went for a nice cup of tea and some of the excellent tiffin I have enjoyed here before. I was saving my hot chocolate for the new cafe we would be going to in Sheringham.

Tea and tiffin

As always everything was excellent and the tiffin so nice that I nearly forgave the fact it had been delivered on it's serviette! But I couldn't quite and had to tweet a photo. Remember #Keepcakeoffserviettes.

You know what I think of this!

Refreshed we set off on the final leg up to Sheringham and today's new cafe The Whelk Coppers tearooms which we found right on the seafront.

Outside the Whelk Copper tea rooms

The sea views plus the lovely open fire gave it a high AAA. 

Big George was asked to move away from the edge
as his jacket was mistaken for Cromer lighthouse

The cake selection was smallish but still effective and I was informed it was much bigger in high season rather than in the middle of January. I opted for ginger cake and Big George went for a second sausage roll instead of cake so as to avoid having to get involved in any cake rating, which he hates.

Cycling guest cycling top tip No 65. If you want to avoid tummy ache then never ever ever have two sausage rolls on the same cafe cycle ride.
 

Part of the cake selection

Our drinks were fairly ordinary but my ginger cake was very nice and scored well. The staff were very friendly and the setting alone makes it worth a visit.

Half eaten but very nice ginger cafe

With two tasks complete we popped over to the Funky Mackerel where I purchase 8 pieces of giant flapjack for Saturdays big event.

Flapjack in the bag, literally

As it was still very foggy and getting cold we decided to take the train back to Norwich to end a very successful day. It was then back to Crusader Towers to start tidying up the kitchen for the big event.

Scores for Whelk Copper Tearooms

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.05	5.32	6.95	7.45	7.67	6.69

Route

Click here to download 38 mile Norwich to Sheringham GPX file for your Gps

Weather warning. (The Sitting Room, Sheringham)

The Sitting Room,

Sheringham,

Opening times Mon-Sat 9:30-5, Sun 9:30-4,

Highly Recommended 

Yesterday morning I waited patiently for Andrew's (who is notoriously hard to please) text to arrive which would call off our planned ride due to the wind, sleet and snow being forecast, but it never arrived. Last time he called off it was on the basis that there might be a light shower (there wasn't). 

When setting off time had arrived and with no text forthcoming I was forced to leave for Hard to Please House in the rain. Maybe it wasn't so bad in Aylsham I thought.

When I arrived (in heavy rain) Andrew claimed he wouldn't dare call off another ride after the stick I gave him last time so with neither of us wanting to be the one to wimp out we were forced to go. The plan remained to head to Sheringham but at least we agreed to go the direct way.

As we left the the heavy rain turned to sleet which turn to hail which turned to snow all within the 12 mile ride to the cafe.

Our destination was The Sitting room which is next to an Art Gallery on the edge of Sheringham town centre.

Outside the Sitting Room

Inside was nicely appointed, although it may also have been because we were pleased to find somewhere dry that we both agreed it deserved a high atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) score.

Good AAA as Andrew attemots to warm up

It was an interesting if not huge cake selection with some posh looking individual cakes available as well as traditional style sponge cakes. I went for cranberry and orange cake but Andrew went for a croissant which doesn't count as a cake (although keen followers of Cake Crusader rules know that it would before 9.00am).

Cake selection including croissants which aren't cakes

We squelched over to our seats to warm up. Andrew liked his cappuccino and croissant but my hot chocolate was much more what was required on a day like this and was excellent. The real bits of grated chocolate on the top were a nice touch. My cake was also very nice so good refreshment marks all round.

Excellent refreshments espically the hot chocolate

The sitting room had turned out to be a very good stop on such a wintery day and I highly recommend a visit.

We were not keen to leave but then the waitress suggested that we go. She was not being rude but said a storm was on it's way so felt we needed to make most of the current lull. As coastal folk know about these things we dashed back to our bikes and set off in the dry. At least, that is, until we got to the top of the road when the rain and snow started again and we got very cold and wet on our return to Hard to Please House. 

Arctic conditions as we set off from the Sitting Room

Cycling guest cycling top tip No. 64. To avoid getting frostbite and hypothermia on your cafe cycle ride be prepared to postpone it when arctic conditions are forecast.

Next time I plan to follow Cycling guest cycling top tip No. 64. 

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8	6	6.5	7.82	8.5	7.31

Route

Click here to download 36 mile Aylsham to Sheringham loop Gpx file for your GPS

Flapjack, cake or not cake? (Funky Mackerel Cafe, Sheringham)

Funky Mackerel Cafe,

Sheringham,

Opening times Mon-Sun 10:00-17:00,

Recommended 

Last week I had arranged to go on a ride with Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) from his house in Alysham so we could head up to the North Norfolk coastal area. Unfortunately, just as I was about to set off, I received a text informing me that he had fallen over the day before and was now too stiff to ride (bless). We therefore had to rearrange until today while he loosened up. I had assumed he must have fallen off his bike and had been impressed but it transpired that, due to reasons he was unprepared to share, he had actually tripped over and fallen into a nettle patch getting stung from head to toe, less impressive. The pain, itching and numbness lasted for several days so today would be his first ride he had been on for a couple of weeks.

I had requested we head for Sheringham where I currently had 3 different cafe recommendations from blog readers. However as Andrew was leading the way it came as no surprise that we found ourselves in Holt, again, which you may remember is Andrews destination of choice whenever we ride from his house. He was keen to cafe here but I insisted we continue North to the seaside.

Holt high street which is clearly not the Sheringham destination I had requested

Although Norfolk is famous for being flat it does have a feature called the Cromer ridge which is a steep ridge that runs parallel to the coast. You have to go over this to reach Sheringham. Heading North the climb is long and gentle before a steep decent towards the sea. On leaving Holt we climbed up to the top and then sped down the other side. Andrew was clearly still upset that we had not stopped in Holt so to my surprise, at the next junction, instead of heading along the flat coast road to Sheringham we turned the other way to climb back up another steep section of the ridge. Apparently this was his way of punishing me for insisting we went to the planned destination. At the summit we rode along the top and then back down the hill to Sheringham. As Andrew had been off the bike for a couple of weeks he was knackered so decided I had been 'punished' enough for not stopping at his beloved Holt and was now happy to proceed to our cafe stop.

One of the roads up Cromer ridge, with Andrew in the distance.

We headed straight to the Beach where I had been recommended to try the Funky Mackerel Beach cafe. I was a bit nervous as to date I have never found a good beach caff. I suspect this is because they have a captive audience of holiday makers so your beach caff doesn't have to try very hard and they all seem to have a quantity versus quality approach to catering. However it had been recommended to me by an actual journalist, Kate, who writes about cycling so I had high hopes.

Outside the Funky Mackerel Cafe on the prom at Sheringham

One thing all beach caffs have in common are fantastic seaside views and the Funky Mackerel was no exception. The view from the small outdoor seating breakfast bar area was tremendous even if I couldn't persuade Andrew to sit outside today.

View of sea from outdoor breakfast bar area

Inside was a little strange as it was full of 70 retro clothes and toys. Andrew very much liked the decor and was keen to award a high atmosphere and ambiance score. I wasn't quite as keen but it made a change from plastic tables and cheap beach goods plus with the great view I had to admit it had a good feel.

Inside has a 70's retro feel

As always I went to check out the cake selection which was different from most I have come across. There was: a cookie, which is a biscuit so doesn't count, Eccles cake, which although it has the word cake in it is actually a raisin pie so doesn't count either, carrot cake, which is cake and 5 different types of flapjack, which is barely cake. Fortunately I'm a big fan of flapjack so always count it as part of a cake selection but despite this I couldn't really give a high effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Cake selection featuring 5 types of flapjack

There were also a number of hot chocolates available on the hot chocolate menu board but in these circumstances I always go for standard hot chocolate to maintain cross cafe hot chocolate reviewing consistency. Andrew ordered a cappuccino and we then selected banana and date flap jack, respectively, from the multitude of flap jack options.

Selection of hot choclates available

We chose a seat that took in the view and tried our food and drink.

Sea view from indoor seating area

The hot chocolate was quite good and if my body wasn't such a temple I would have liked to try a specialist hot chocolate but it is so I didn't. I made a note to have one on a future visit when I'm off cake crusader reviewing duties. Still on the drinks front Andrew also thought his cappuccino performed well. 

Drinks and flapjacks

The flapjacks were excellent and I was especially impressed by the consistency as often a flapjack can be either a tooth breaker or crumbles in your hand before it reaches your mouth but these were spot on. We debated if there needed to be a cake taste quality (CTQ) score ceiling (in the same way there is for a guest hot drink cup of tea) as flapjack isn't really cake. We eventually decided there should be so awarded theses the maximum available flapjack score which we set at 8. I have update cycle cafe reviewing rules accordingly with the new flapjack ruling (see there must be rules).

We found it very relaxing as we sat admiring the view whilst enjoying our drinks and flapjacks and could have stayed there all day but blogs don't write themselves so we eventually had to leave.

I thought the Funky Mackerel cafe was a very good stop, especially if you like flapjack, and was the best example of a beach caff I have encountered to date. I will definitely be coming back again.

The return ride meant climbing the Cromer ridge for the 3rd time but as this was clearly wearing out Andrew more than me it forced him to take us the quick way back to Alysham successfully bypassing Holt for once.

Ratings for Funky Mackerel Cafe

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.5	6.5	5.5	8.0	8.5	7.00

Route

Click here to download 36 mile Alysham to Sheringham loop Gpx file for your GPS

Warm up (Pretty Corner Cafe, Sheringham)

Pretty Corner Cafe,

Upper Sheringham,

Opening times April-Oct 10:30-17:00,

Closed Tuesdays outside of school holidays,

Recommended

After nearly a month without a normal cafe cycle ride I was finally able to get back to business today when Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) announced his availability to be my cycling guest. We agreed to start from his house in Alysham so we could continue to fill in the obvious cafe gaps on the North Norfolk coast.

In case I hadn't mentioned it then tomorrow I am attempting to set a world record for a calorie neutral bike ride (see final count down). I thought I needed some extra media coverage so I decided to write to the Ken Bruce show on BBC radio 2 with the following.

"Hi Ken,

I see today the new Guinness book of so called world records is out. Well tomorrow I'm planning to set the world record for a calorie neutral cake and bike ride. Basically I need to go to as many cafes as possible on my bike and have a cake and hot drink at each. The only rule is you must burn off the calories from the last visit before you can go to the next. I plan to do 20. This will help prove to my disbelieving friends that cake and exercise are perfect bedfellows.

Well I wrote to the Guinness book of so called world records about my forth coming attempt and they washed their hands of me as they don't do gluttony records, which this clearly isn't. Well who needs them anyway as I'm quite capable of making my own world record certificate using my colouring set.

I have trained hard on the bicycling bit but really need an expert on eating to advise on the cake scoffing part, are you free to help with future training?

Thanks

The cake crusader"

After successfully sending it in I set off to drive up to Andrew's house. I put the car radio on and waited for Ken to read out my e-mail as it was clearly the best he would get today. Then, much to your surprise, after two records he announced that he had been contacted by the Cake Crusader (that would be me) and then read the whole thing.

Straight away my phone was red hot and by the time I arrived at Andrew's I found myself at the centre of a media storm having received both an e-mail and a tweet from people who had heard Ken's show. I therefore had to delay the start of our ride as I dealt with all the necessary social networking before we could set off to Pretty Corner cafe near Sheringham.

Outside entrance to Pretty corner cafe in upper Sheringham where Thursday is clearly bin day

If you call yourself pretty corner then you better make sure you are. Fortunately we were both impressed with the setting and lovely garden and felt the name was justified as we made our way down through the garden to the tea room area.

Pretty corner tea gardens leading to the cafe

Here we found a number of out door seating options dotted round the garden and on the terrace, plus a few tables inside. None of the inside tables were in use as it was a lovely hot day, which seemed to have attracted a lot of old ladies out for lunch.

It was waitress service so we were told to select a table, however I wanted to check out the cake selection first which we found in a big glass fridge. The fridge made it hard to select cake from without getting up close. Although it was a good number of cakes the lack of a proper display made it appear a less effective selection than it could have been although I still gave a fairly good effective cake selection mark.

Cakes in Fridge were not a great cake selection display

I selected data and apple slice plus a cheese scone (as part of my scone serving temperature research, sadly cold), Andrew had a cappuccino and cheese sandwich. I pointed out a cheese sandwich was not a cake but he explained that the fridge based cake display had made it too difficult from him to pick one. As a compromise he suggested he could try some of my scone and date and apple slice so that he could join in the reviewing. As they were both nice and large pieces I agreed although made it clear this would not be an acceptable precedent for future cafe cycle rides.

Cakes and drinks

My hot chocolate was an excellent thick one and very hot so scored highly. Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) found his coffee too weak and milky so it didn't do so well.

The cheese scone was excellent, and got thumbs up from Andrew too. It would have been a contender for cheese scone of the year but as tasting will take place in December and Pretty corner cafe is shut then it can't qualify.

I reluctantly shared some of my date and apple slice with Andrew. I felt it was very good cake but Andrew gave it a low score. On further questioning he said it was because he doesn't actually like date and apple slice but if he did it was probably very nice, well he could have said that before taking some I thought. I therefore ignored his cake marking and decided never to share my cake with cycling guests in future.

Overall the Pretty Corner cafe had scored highly and was a very pleasant stop. I picked up a loyalty card, which requires a very reasonable 6 drinks for a free one, and have added it to my loyalty card picture library.

We set off on the return journey to Aylsham and I discussed my last minute preparation for tomorrow. Normally before an endurance event you would have a big pasta tea the previous night but as I need to fit in 20 slices of cake tomorrow I will be doing the opposite and just having cabbage soup.

Ratings for Pretty Corner cafe.

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.0	5.0	7.50	7.75	8.00	7.25

Route

Click here to download 35 mile Alysham Sheringham loop gpx file for your gps