Norfolk Cafe Cycle Tour Sportive 11. (39 miles Reepham via Reepham station cafe)

Sportive 11

Reepham Railway Station,

Reepham,

Under new management

See Egg Hunt

Saturday saw the latest Cake Crusader Sportive. A bumper turnout of 5 met at race HQ for pre ride faffing about before heading North to Reepham. Today's stop was at Reepham Railway station by Kerris farmhouse pine shop.

Waiting at Race HQ for sportive to begin

With only 4 other cyclists to herd progress was going well until just after we crossed the busy A47. Here Ali punctured and we discovered it takes four men to change an inner tube. Three to do repair stuff and Dr Hans to observe in case there is a medical emergency.

Dr Hans checking that there were no medical emergencies during the fixing of the puncture

During the repair a car approached and a lady asked directions to the nearby school. Fortunately my cycle cafe adventures have not only made me a bit of an expert on cake but I also now know my way round the highways and byways of the Norfolk country side. I was therefore able to give, what we all agreed, were excellent clear instructions. After the lady had repeated back to me my suggested route she responded with ' haven't I just driven that way?' I pointed out that as I hadn't been in the car with her for her previous attempts I had no idea how this route compared with them but I suggested she gave my directions a go anyway. Hopefully she found the school as term must have started some time ago and her son was now several weeks late for registration.

With no further drama we pulled in to Reepham railway station and as it was such a nice day we decided to sit in the large outdoor bench seating area. But first we went inside to check out cakes etc.

Outside Reepham Station in the outdoor bench seating area

I had been to Reepham railway station before and knew they had infeasibly large cheese scones (see Bike security) so hoped I won't be disappointed this time. Along with the scones there was a nice selection of cakes and slices but sadly no big sponge cakes. As the cheese scones were still as infeasibly large as before I ordered one of them plus some chocolate and orange slice to go with my hot chocolate.

cake selection

As I don't drink coffee I was happy with my order but the rest of the party were not so pleased when they were told that frothy coffee machines had not made it to Reepham yet so it was standard filter coffee all round. Personally I thought this was a good thing as I have never understood the point of fancy coffee, especially people wanting to put syrup into it so that it doesn't even taste of coffee any more. However I appeared to be in a minority of one.

It was nice to be able to sit outside for the first time this year as we waited for our food and drinks to arrive.

Waiting in the sun

Despite there only being 5 of us I still found organising score gathering difficult. Ali appeared to think he was in one of Enid Blytons famous 5 books and said gosh a lot.before ordering lashings of Ginger Beer instead of a hot drink, this quickly disqualified himself from any further rating activity. Dr Hans was confused by his Bakewell Tart as he was unclear if a Tart counted as a cake. As I knew you could get Bakewell tart in the Mr Kipling cake range, this was good enough proof for me, so I agreed that Dr Hans could join in cake rating. Which he did and said his Bakewell tart was very good.

Cake and drink rating chaos

I was glad to see that, like my cheese scone, Chris's fruit scone was also infeasibly large, not only that but both scone types were very tasty too. I even added the cheese scone to the contenders list for possible cheese scone of the year 2015.

Infeasibly large scones

After calm was restored and I had totted up the scores it became clear that Reepham Railway Station had come out with almost exactly the same score as on my last visit, so good consistency. Reepham Railway station is a very good stop for cyclists, especially if you like scones, as it is on the Marriots way and has lots of space for bikes.

The trip home was very windy so half way back I agreed to take a shortcut down the Marriots way into Norwich to complete another successful Cake Crusader sportive. 

Note: I have renamed the blog to 'The Cake Crusader' in line with my twitter feed in case you are confused.

Ratings for Reepham railway station based on 2 visits.

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.0	5.0	5.75	8.0	7.63	6.48

Route

Click here to download 35 mile Norwich Reepham loop gpx to your GPS

Celebrity cyclist Boris Johnson (via Andrew Gilliigan) recommends Buenos Aires Cafe Greenwich

Celebrity Cyclist Boris Johnson (via Andrew Gilligan)

Recommends 

Buenos Aires Cafe

Greenwich - London
Opening times Everyday 10am-10pm
Highly Recommended

As part of my new series of posts 'Celebrity Cyclist x recommends' I recently wrote to Mayor of London Boris Johnson for his top cafe and cycle route recommendation. I was therefore very excited when I got the following reply.

Dear Kevin.

Thank you for your email  The Mayor has asked Andrew Gilligan his Cycling Commissioner to get back to you about this. Andrew's favourite café is the Buenos Aires Café.

I do hope this helps with your blog and I wish you the best of luck for the future,

Yours sincerely,

Nick Waterman

Transport Team, Greater London Authority

It was clear that Boris obviously liked my blog as he had personally asked his cycling commissioner for input. I thought this was a nice touch as I'm that sure a cycling commissioner would be very knowledgeable about these things.

On further inspection I thought that the Buenos Aires cafe seemed a strange choice as Brazil seemed a long way to go for a cycle ride. However after a little on-line research it turned out the cafe was actually in Greenwich which was a much more doable proposition. As no route had been suggested I sent off for some free TFL cycle maps and planned a nice 60 mile round trip route starting at Tilbury docks in Kent, going to Greenwich and returning on the official Thames cycle path.

So yesterday myself and Big George set off in the car from Norwich down to Kent to see if we could find the Buenos Aires cafe whilst also taking the opportunity to check out the capitals cycling infrastructure. I had let the Mayors office know when we were doing the ride in the hope that Boris, or his cycling commissioner, might be able to join us.

After an hour and 50 min drive we arrived at Tilbury and found somewhere to park. Following some traditional pre ride faffing about we were ready to set off although the plan was to stop at the first cafe we found in order to fuel up ready for the ride into London. After a couple of miles we came to Broadway cafe.

The Broadway cafe, no where near theatre land in New York so don't get confused

Although not the reason for the ride I always take every opportunity to rate each cafe I cycle to and this was no exception with the Broadway cafe performing reasonably well. Big George's coffee being the highlight and an overall cafe rating of 5.70.

Drinks and slice of carrot cake.

Successfully refuelled we set off again to find Greenwich. It was a tricky ride as we had to first negotiate crossing the M25, then we got lost at Lakeside shopping centre and finally we were diverted off course past an accident until we eventually made it to cycling super highway 3 (CS3) which would take us most of the rest of the way. 

Cycling super highway CS3

The only way you knew it was a cycling super highway was that it had blue tarmac, apart from that you won't have known as we only saw one other cyclist on a 5 mile stretch. For such a super bit of track it was a bit disappointing that for a city of 10 million only 1 person appeared to use it. I made a note to tell Boris if I saw him.

Big George pushing his bike under the Thames

Thanks to the cycling super highway and the discovery of a tunnel under the Thames we made good progress and soon found the Buenos Aries cafe in Greenwich.

Outside the Buenos Aries Cafe in Greenwich

Outside was a continental style outdoor pavement seating area although as the view of the street wasn't the most exciting we went inside. As I entered who was there to greet us but only Boris himself. His office had clearly told him we were coming and he was keen to meet some fellow cyclists.

Boris waiting for us in the cafe

I introduced myself, although there was no sign of Big George, and said that I needed to quickly go and check the cake selection so we both went to the counter. There was a very good variety available of lovely looking cakes so I awarded a high effective cake selection (ECS) rating and chose the chocolate and nut. There was still no sign of Big George but Boris suggested he might like Orange and chocolate cake with a filter coffee.

Excellent cake selection

Inside the cafe has a selection of wooden chair and leather sofa seating areas. The walls are decorated with random Argentinian memorabilia and the staff were very welcoming. I awarded a high atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) score.

While I waited for Big George to turn up Boris said it would be ok for me to take a selfie of us. I also took the opportunity to tell him how good I thought the London cycle path infrastructure was and hoped the people of London will start to use them more. He thanked me for the feedback but said he just had to pop out to make a call.

Selfie of me and Boris

Our food and drinks turned up just as Big George returned and we could get down to rating.

Cakes and drinks ready for rating

My hot chocolate was excellent with a good strong chocolate taste and Big George felt his was also a good strong tasting cup of coffee. Both our cakes, although rather small, were of a high standard and scored well. While I added up the totals Big George popped off again to sort his bike out. The Buenos Aires cafe had been an excellent recommendation and only my 4th cafe ever to score 8 or above. Boris came back from his call and was very pleased to hear the news that Andrew Gilligan (cycling commissioner) had come up trumps with his recommendation.

I said goodbye but Boris told me he hoped to try and catch up with us again later on the ride to show us more of London's cycling facilities, which sounded great.

Our route back was going to be on the official Thames cycle path, along the South bank, which would take us all the way to the Ferry port at Gravesend. I had downloaded the route from the official site and loaded it on to my bike sat nav. However first we had to get from the cafe to the start of the return route. Glancing at the map I knew the Thames path was not far away but my cycling Sat Nav has a feature you can use to direct you to the start of your new route. This lead to today's Cycling guests top cycling tip.

Cycling guest top cycling tip 19. To avoid adding unnecessary miles and time to your ride don't just blindly follow your navigators cycling sat nav when you clearly know it is taking you in completely the wrong direction.

After a bit of a detour we found the Thames cycle path which runs along the side of the Thames for 20 uninterrupted traffic free miles. It wasn't far down the path when we came across a fantastic view of canary wharf and true to his word Boris was there to tell us all about it. Unfortunately Big George had had to nip into a local newsagent for a drink so once again missed Boris.

Boris telling me all about canary wharf

After Boris left and Big George returned we continued on the path past the O2 and Thames Barrier into a more industrial setting with cranes, jetty's and unpleasant smelling chemical plants but all the time the Thames was there giving a dramatic and often picturesque view. 

Progress was slow as it was hard to build up speed but after a couple of hours we approached the final Thames bank stretch before having to head inland through Dartford and under the M25. As a final gesture, like the shop keeper from Mr Benn, Boris appeared one more time to say good bye and wave me on my way. Sadly Big George had missed him again as he had gone off for a quick comfort break.

Boris waving me on my way

With the light starting to fade the final few miles were far less pretty as, still on cycle paths, the route went alongside several busy roads (including the M2!) as it weaved it's way to Gravesend. 

Here we found the ferry jetty and, and with the sun setting over Tilbury docks, we waited for the ferry to take us across the river and back to the car.

Sunset over Tilbury docks

Although the ride had been made extra special by the appearance of my special guest I would still recommend it if you want to try something a bit different although riding the Thames path is definitely the more interesting bit. I would also recommend a visit to the Buenos Aires cafe if you are in those parts.

Setting off for Norwich Big George switched on his car Sat Nav and then didn't follow today's cycling guest top cycling tip No.19 as he allowed it to take us back a stupid way adding over half an hour to the journey.

Ratings for Buenos Aires cafe

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.5	8.0	7.5	8.0	8.0	8.00

Ratings for Broadway cafe

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5.5	7.5	5.0	5.5	5.0	5.70

Celebrity cyclist Chloe Smith MP recommends the Wherrymans Way for a bit of off road action.

Celebrity Cyclist Chloe Smith MP,
Recommends 
Cycling along the Wherrymans Way
Norwich - Great Yarmouth
(although we only did the first bit)

Today see's the second post of my exciting new feature called 'Celebrity cyclist x recommends...'. I have written to some of my favourite cyclists and celebrities (known for their cycling enthusiasm) asking them to recommend their favourite cafe or tea room and/or associated bike route for me to ride and review. (See Celebrity cyclist Chrissie Wellington recommends for first edition).

With a general election around the corner it seemed appropriate to get some political 'celebrities' recommendations. As the Cake Crusader is apolitical, I'm only interested in the cycling and cake agenda, I decided to do some in depth research to decide who to contact.

I started with the local Norwich MP's and went straight to Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia North Norwich MP Chloe Smith is a keen cyclist so, despite there being a disappointing lack of cake references on her page, Chloe seemed an ideal political cycling celebrity candidate. 

A few days after writing I was very excited when Chloe replied to my E-mail with some cafe and route suggestions. As you know Wikipedia is not always the most reliable source so I was worried in case the cycling bit had been made up but Chloe confirmed she does love to get out on the bike and uses a hybrid or road bike in Norfolk. However her first suggestion was an excellent cafe she had visited while mountain biking in Coed-y-Brenin, Wales. Not exactly what I was hoping for as according to Google maps Wales is a long way from Norfolk.

Fortunately she had also come up with a more local suggestion of cycling on the Wherrymans Way and using Whitlingham broad visitor centre Barn Cafe for our stop. The Wherrymans Way is a recreational route, mainly off road, between Norwich and Great Yarmouth and known to be less mountainous than Wales (Wherrymans way info). Having not gone off road on the blog before this seemed a great idea so today myself and Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) got out our off road bikes and set off to Whittlingham broad and the start of the Wherrymans way ready to cycle the first section.

On leaving Whitlingham we went on the road by the broad and then out through the sewage works before turning off road on to the Wherrymans way. 

Start of Wherrymans way

We soon reached the river where the path was very narrow, muddy and slippery. On one side there was river and the other a barred wire fence. This led to today's cycling guest top cycling tip.

Cycling guest top cycling tip No 18. Before riding along a narrow muddy track with river on one side and barred wire fence on the other make sure you decide if you would rather get cut or wet as you won't have time to weigh up the choices when you fall off.

Fortunately Andrew had followed today's tip so when he did fall off his bike he had already chosen the barred wire fence and therefore only got a cut rather than drowned.

Andrew getting back on bike after slipping off into the barred wire fence.
Fortunately he had followed cycling guests top cycling tip 15 or he may have drowned

After the tricky river bit had been almost successfully negotiated the rest of the ride was on far more straight forward tracks or small roads until we arrived at Rocklands, where there is a circular route back towards Whitlingham. After some more off road action we completed the loop and arrived back at the Whitlingham broad visitor centre Barn Cafe. 

Outside the Barn Cafe at Whitlingham Broad

I had been to Whitlingham broad visitor centre Barn Cafe last year (see toddler entertainment) which had score reasonably well but I always rate a cafe on each visit so out came my cafe rating spreadsheet so we could get down to business. 

Although rather cold we decided to sit in the outside seating area as inside is a bit dark. The cake selection, and drinks all scored reasonably well today in line with my last visit. The highlight was the cherry and chocolate flapjack, which, despite Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) being disappointed that it contained glacier rather than fresh cherries, was extremely good and you got about 1kg of it for less than £2.. 

Cherry and chocolate flapjack which was excellent value

Although food is not part of my cake based rating system we were both rather disappointed with the paninies as they were fairly pricey and appeared to come with austerity salad.

Half a panini and full austerity salad

Despite the lack of any political chat we both agreed that our first politics and off road ride had been a success. So If you like off road biking then you could follow the Wherrymans Way although you may want to avoid the narrow parts by the river as they are a bit dangerous. And if you like politics you could follow the general election although you may want to avoid the party political broadcasts as they are a bit dull. 

Thanks to Chloe for her recommendation as it was a good adventure. My next ride is also a political celebrity recommendation when I'm off to the London for a suggestion by someone who is famous for having a type of bike named after him. 

Updated scores for Whitlingham broad visitor centre Barn Cafe based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.5	6.5	7.0	6.75	7.25	6.80

A map of Wherrymans Way can be found here http://www.wherrymansway.net/wherrymansmap.pdf

Road safety. (A Piece of Cake Tea room, Coltishall)

A Piece of Cake Tea room,

Coltishall,

Open Mon-Sat 9-4, Sun 9.30 -3.30,

Highly Recommended

Today saw the start of a planned schedule of 13 cafe cycle rides during March. That is assuming that the weather holds, no cycling guests wimp out and I can avoid the near death funny turn and subsequent hospitalisation experience that took me off the bike this time last year. If so it looks like being a bumper month for the Cake Crusader.

Sadly today's ride would be the only March one with Barry and Helen and their tandem as Helen is planning to pop into hospital to have her second knee made bionic. Today they were joined by Chris (Mrs Crusader) to be my cycling guest for a figure of eight shaped ride to A Piece of Cake Tea room (I see what they have done there) at Coltishall.

Barry has just up graded his cycling GPS so took charge of today's route which started from Sainsbury's car park in Thorpe. It wasn't far into the route when we reached a nice long stretch of cycle path by the side of a completely empty road. Shockingly Barry and Helen and their tandem refused to use it as they had not been directed on to the path by Barry's new cycling GPS. Chris, as a former member of the Tufty the Squirrel road safety club (and she used to have a badge to prove it), was appalled. When ever there is a potentially dangerous road traffic situation Chris always asks herself, but what would Tufty the Squirrel have done, and clearly he would have made me join her safely on the cycle path, so I did. With Barry and Helen and their tandem acting like Willy Weasel and laughing in the face of Tufty they were lucky that they didn't all end up in hospital needing more than just new knees!

Ironically we didn't actually see any cars whilst Barry and Helen and their Tandem were performing their reckless stunt but when we turned on to some smaller roads things changed when it became "national drive on the smallest lane you can find day". We repeatedly had to pull over to let numerous cars pass us on single width roads until we eventually we made it to Cotishall and A Piece of Cake Tea room. 

Outside A piece of cake tea room, note amusing letter C.

Once inside we were immediately impressed with the light and bright multi layer indoor seating system which had seats downstairs and upstairs but we choose to follow the way of Kermit the frogs nephew Robin and sit halfway up the stairs (hope you are impressed with my muppetry knowledge) with a lovely view over the Marshes.

Our table halfway up the stairs of the multi layer indoor seating area

Their is also an outside seating area which was a bit too cold to use today. We all liked what we saw and awarded a high Atmosphere and Ambiance (AAA) score.

Outdoor seating area 

I checked out the cake selection which seemed to have all the bases covered with big cakes, small cakes, slices and scones so a high effective cake selection (ECS) score too.

Part of the good cake selection

I ordered Victoria sponge cake, a mandatory cheese scone (for my cheese scone hot, fruit scone not research) and Chris Chocolate sponge cake and an unnecessary fruit scone (as she isn't currently involved in any scone based research). For drinks it was hot chocolate, two mochas and a cappuccino.

Once again Barry didn't cake and went for a sausage sandwich. Sadly his influence had spread to Helen, who had a bacon butty, and their tandem, who refused to have any food at all. As a sausage sandwich and a bacon butty are not cake then Barry and Helen would take no further part in cake reviewing today.

The drinks were all nice, hot and of a good quality although needed to be a bit stronger for really top marks. The scones (both served cold!) were nice but we both found our respective sponge cakes slightly dry although very light in texture and well iced.

Cakes and drinks

Unfortunately the sponge cakes had been served on their napkin which rendered them useless. So still more work to do in my "keep cake of serviettes" to get all cafe baristas on message.

Impact on serviette if cake is served on it rather than to the side

Overall A Piece of Cake Tea room was a very good venue in a lovely location with good cakes and drinks. Ideal for a cycle stop.

The ride home was uneventful with no more high risk traffic safety scenarios to tackle so we all got home in one piece and ready for the next of my multiple March rides.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.5	7.0	7.5	6.5	8.0	7.10

Route not available as Barry wont let me have it

Calorie neutral cafe cycle ride record attempt update.

Now the nights are getting longer and the days warmer it's time for further preparation for my attempt to set a record for a calorie neutral cafe cycle ride. The date for the record attempt had been set for 11th September but before then there is much to do. To set the record I aim to visit up to 20 cafes and cycle over 120 miles so planning and training have started in earnest

As the Guinness book of so called world records washed their hands of me last year (see going alone) I set my own record breaking rules on last years 5 cafe pilot run (see more tea).

Rules
1. The holder of the record will have visited the highest number of different cafes during a single day.
2. All cafes must be independent and not part of national chains
3. All cafes must be visited within their normal opening hours and not open early or kept opened late for a record attempt
4. At each cafe a standard portion of cake or a scone (fruit or cheese) must be consumed. Biscuits, flapjacks or anything pre-packaged will not count.
5. At each cafe a standard hot drink must be consumed. (Tea, coffee or hot chocolate)
6. From the time of arriving at the cafe 300 calories must be burnt off before the next cafe can be visited thus making the ride calorie neutral. (300 calories is based on in-depth internet research on average calories of cakes and scones plus average calories of a hot drink (Tea, coffee, hot chocolate). 
7. If extra calories have been used up between cafes then that is tough as they can not be credited against other legs of the ride.

On Friday 13th March I plan to try out part of the route and visit 9 or 10 of the cafes on my potential route. As well as it being good training I hope to get more idea on timings and how easy it is to eat lots of cake on a ride without being ill.

I shall be doing some more test rides over the next few months before announcing the final route in the summer. The hard bit seems to be finding enough establishments that are open after 4.00pm. More news to follow after the 13th.