2005 revistied. (The Mardlers' rest cafe at the Gressenhall muesum of Norfolk life, Gressenhall).

The Mardlers' rest cafe,

Gressenhall muesum of Norfolk Life,

Open Every day 10:00-17:00/16:00 March to Nov,

 Recommended

It has been a couple of weeks since I was able to do a UK based cafe cycle ride. This was partly due to my recent alpine cafe cycling reviewing adventure, partly due to my ironman training commitments and partly due to lack of potential cycling guests. So I was pleased when Big George said he was up for being today's cycling guest as he had a surprise.

He also told me he recommended the Mardlers rest cafe at the Gressenhall museum of Norfolk life as a venue as it was very good when he last went. I therefore planned a 45 mile route to get us there.

When he turned up Big George's surprise was that he had with him a shiny new bike which he had got for a bargain price off e-bay. This was bad news for me as it meant Big George would be trying to go fast to give his bike a good work out which would mean he would either end up running out of steam sooner than normal or he would keep racing me and I would have to race him back as I can't stop myself however hard I try. I was feeling very tired after all my ironman training (don't know if I mentioned anywhere I was doing an Ironman triathlon) so had been hoping for a leisurely ride. As predicted we set off at a super fast pace as Big George shot off on his new machine and I was forced to chase after him. 

As a man who is quite partial to buying new bikes there is one thing I always do before using it.

Cycling Guest top cycling tip No. 32. When you get a new bike buy some good quality tyres as the ones that come with it are always cheap and prone to punctures.

Sadly Big George had not followed Cycling Guest top cycling tip No. 31 and after a few miles we had to stop for him to replace his inner tube. While he fixed it I noted down the puncture on my cycling data spreadsheet which, incidentally, was the 6th cycling guest puncture this year but first since mid March. I feel a graph coming on.

Big George repairing puncture on his cheap tyres

After the unplanned stop we set off again with Big George acting like a nine year old by putting in lots of fast surges for me to chase down but we had no further incidents until we arrived at the Gressenhall museum of Norfolk life. 

As Big George had recommended the cafe I assumed he knew the way from the museum car park to the cafe. To my surprise he told me he couldn't remember as it was over 10 years ago when he came. On hearing this news I was no longer sure how relevant his recommendation now was or even if there was a cafe here at all.

Fortunately there still was a cafe and thanks to the excellent selection of site maps and signposts we found our way to the entrance.

Outside entrance to the Mardlers rest cafe at the Gressenhall museum of Norfolk life

The first thing I noticed was the wide range of seating choices. First was an outside courtyard seating area, then a standard cafe based indoor seating area and finally a glass conservatory indoor seating area. It was all very quiet and pleasant so I awarded a high atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) score. However we had come just before lunchtime on a Thursday out of school holidays so I suspect it could be very different at other times of the year.

Some of the seating options available

We went inside and checked out the cake selection to award the effective cake selection (ECS) score. There were a good number of offerings including a large toffee apple cake, but on closer inspection a number of them were biscuits so don't contribute to the ECS rating. Big George had told me he remembered the tiffin being very good but sometime in the last 10 years they seemed to have stopped selling it.

Cake selection with several being biscuits

I ordered a hot chocolate, cheese scone (as part of my cheese scone serving temperature research) and a slice of the toffee apple cake. Big George had a filter coffee, sausage roll and coconut and apricot biscuit. As neither a sausage roll or a coconut and apricot biscuit are cake then Big George would play no further part in any cake reviewing today.

Drinks and food, not all of which were cake based

Despite our drinks coming from a machine they were both good and nice and strong so good drinks quality marks. My cheese scone was served cold but despite this was still nice. The toffee apple cake was a top ranking piece of cake and therefore scored well. As an aside Big George said his sausage roll was excellent as well.

Overall Big George's recommendation of the Mardlers rest cafe at the Gressenhall museum of Norfolk life had proved a good one and I have given it my recommended status as it performed well in all categories. You can visit it without having to go into the museum but Big George said the museum was very good as well although it may have changed somewhat in the last ten years. He had particularly liked petting the animals in the farm but I had to break the news to him that the ones he had made friends with were now dead. 

After a few tears (but no hugging) Big George felt ready to set off back to Norwich. This time we had the wind behind so Big George could go extra fast, which seemed to make him forget about his departed farmyard friends and he was soon happy again. I asked him if there was any interesting news he wanted to chat about. He said he had heard that London had been awarded the 2012 Olympics and that someone called David Cameron had become the conservative leader. I said I was aware of these things but didn't like to point out they happened 10 years ago.

Ratings based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.00	7.50	5.00	7.50	7.75	6.95

Route

Click here to down load 45 mile Norwich Gressenhall loop gpx file to your gps

Can't sit down (Austrian and Slovenian cafes)

Slovenian 'High Altitude' training camp

Day 3

Today was the third and final day of my ironman altitude training and European cafe cycle mash up. After two days of serious climbing I had promised Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) a much flatter day. We were to head to a lake in Austria and cycle round it on the theory that lakes must be put somewhere flat to stop all the water running out. The plan was to check out Austrian lakeside cafes before returning to Slovenia to revisit Hotel Vitranc the Cake Crusader European cafe of the year 2014.

The only issue was we in Slovenia and Austria was the other side of the mountain. This meant we had to start the day going over the Wurzenpass. We had done it the other way round on day 1 and discovered that a 4 mile climb with 18 % parts and lots of sharp bends is rather challenging. Andrew has had difficulty getting over it, literally on the day and since by moaning about how hard it was all the time. However today we would be going the other way which is a much easier climb as we start much higher up in Slovenia.

We therefore reached the top with surprising ease and I was able to take a deserted boarding crossing black and white photo from the opposite side.

Deserted boarder crossing, in black and white, on way to Italy

However we still had to tackle the descent down. This was the scariest experience of the trip as you can pick up a lot of speed going down a hill that steep and if it ends in a hairpin bend then it gets a bit tricky. We were not helped by our motor biking friends insisting on overtaking everything coming up the hill and heading straight for us. Needless to say I had very sore hands from gripping the brakes very tightly when we eventually got down. 

Going down Wuzenpass which is much steeper than it looks in phot

From here, after some tricky navigation around the motorway and a busy road, it was a fairly flat ride through the Austrian town of Villach to the northern side of lake Ossiach.

Centre of Villach in Austria

The main excitement on route was seeing eggs for sale allowing me to put out my first international Egg news flash on my Twitter feed. As yet it has not gone viral.

European egg news

The ride round the lake proved disappointing due to all prime lakeside real estate being full of houses so that, although there was a good cycle path, you could only get the odd glimpse of the water.

Rare glimpse of lake from cycle path

All the lakeside cafes we passed were either part of campsites, which Andrew refused to go near, or looked overly touristy. We then spotted something on the other side of the road so decide to try there instead.

It was Urbani wirt cafe in the village of St Urban. Wikipedia research tells you that Saint Urban is the patron saint of built up areas but as a little village by a big lake isn't at all built it was surprising that he came from here.

Ready to find a seat in impressive and shady outside seating area

The cafe itself had a shady outside seating area with the only distraction being the nearby road. An added bonus was the waiter and waitress wore traditional lederhosen to give an authentic feel and therefore a good atmosphere and ambience (AAA) score.

Sadly they had no hot chocolate so I thought I would try the tea and some strudel. Andrew had cappuccino and a cheese toastie.

I was very impressed with my tea that came in a mixing bowl. It was nice but at the end of the day just a cup of tea. My strudel was excellent but Andrew found his cheese toastie to be only fine. However overall good scores and a high position in my growing European cafe list.

Tea served in a mixing bowl

After our stop we got to the far end of the lake and headed up into foothills which had a bit of climbing but nothing too difficult compared with our hour plus up hill experiences of the previous days. It was completely different scenery being much more open than on our proper mountain trips.

Flatter Austrian terrain

During this part of the ride Andrew insisted on an unscheduled 10 minute break to admire the view and soak up the scenery. Apparently this is something called a rest. I had no idea why you would want to do this as it did not add to our total miles, metres climbed or average speed stats, but I reluctantly agreed he could have 5 minutes whilst I twiddled my thumbs and looked at maps and data.

Andrew taking a break on the village green

When we eventually set off again we were now on the south side of the lake and in search of a late lunch.

South side of lake which was again a little way from the cycle path

After a while we chose to try cafe Gasthaus Messnai at Bade Strand as it had a lake view and wasn't too busy. Sadly my lake view was obscured by a fruit tree which I think they should cut down. Andrew felt that moving my chair might be a better option but it wasn't me who had placed the chair there in the first place.

Outside cafe which was not too busy mid afternoon

I was pleased that hot chocolate was a available although the waitress was not so impressed with Andrew's food choice of salad and chips. Like me she was probably worried that salad and chips was not really enough fuel for the remaining 40 miles of ride, especially in these temperatures and after he had already needed to do that funny rest thing earlier. She would be proved right.

Despite my hot chocolate looking anaemic it was quite nice as was Andrews cappuccino. I had tortellini and chips for lunch which was fairly nice so overall, despite the fruit tree issue and lack of lederhosen, it was another good cafe score.

Rather milky looking hot chocolate

We set off again and rode through Villach back to the Wurzenpass. Here we had a choice of 10 miles up and over or 20 miles going gently up and round. Andrew went for the twenty mile option, and although I didn't let on I was relieved.

Approaching the infamous and very tough to cycle up, Wuzenpass

However it was still hard work and the temperature was now over 30c. It took a while to reach the Austrian/Italian boarder and a last deserted boarder crossing black and white photo.

Final deserted boarder crossing black and white experience on the trip

With just 6 miles to go it was clear the mixed salad and chips had run out as Andrew did the unthinkable and asked if we could stop for another rest. Before agreeing I tried some of my legendary motivational skills by suggesting he 'man up as he was cycling like a whining toddler' but surprisingly this didn't appear to help and we were forced to stop.

Andrew having a rest

Cycling guest cycling top tip no 31 To enjoy a cycle ride without the need for unscheduled stops or rests then make sure you eat more than a mixed salad and chips for lunch.

When Andrew finally announced this rest thing was over we set off again on a final push to the hotel Vitranc in Podkoren. This had previously been awarded Cake Crusader European cafe of the year 2014. I had emailed them their winners certificate but surprisingly they had never responded. I had therefore brought out a certificate with me to personally hand over.

Outside the award winning Hotel Vitranc

Whilst we waited to find someone to give the certificate to I ordered a hot chocolate and strudel only to find they had run out of both. I went for pancakes instead. Andrew had another cappuccino and also had pancakes to help refuel him.

Pancakes was only sweet food available

The food and drinks were nice but due to lack of options their new rating knocked them off the top of the best cafe cycle in Europe spot. As there was no one at reception and they had lost their top spot I decided not to give them the certificate after all but took a photo of me with it for the records.

Outside hotel Vitranc with their winners certificate 

We now just had a couple of miles left but by now we were both so saddle sore we couldn't sit down for the rest of the ride home. After over 260 miles and up a lot of climbs my backside is very happy to be travelling home with me tomorrow rather than spending more time on the bike. However it has been a very successful trip both from a training and high cafe caliber view with a special thanks to my cycling guest for his input.

Only a theory (Slovenian, Italian cafes)

Slovenian 'High Altitude' training camp

Day 2

Day 2 of my ironman training and European cafe cycling reviewing was going to be a long one. I had assured my cycling guest, Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please), that despite today's ride being over 30 miles further, at 97 miles, this was not a problem as we won't be doing 3 tough climbs like yesterday. I did say it was just theory based on looking at the map but it also turned out to be a lie.

As it was going to be a long one we set off early at 8.00 am and soon made it to the Slovenian/Italian border where we took the latest black and white photo for Andrews potential deserted border crossings and cycling based blog. He felt this was the best to date.

Slovenian Italian deserted boarder crossing in black and whte

It was then a long straight section to Tarvsio in Italy ready for our first climbing of the day back to the Slovenian border and more deserted crossing action (in black and white).

Second deserted boarder crossing of the day this time from Italy back to Slovenia

Up to now it had been very pleasant riding as we were not bothered by annoying motor bikers zooming past us like yesterday. However at the stroke of 10 o'clock out they all came, racing along in their sweaty leathers. It said it all, I thought, us cyclists get up at 7.00 have our muesli breakfast and on the road by 8:00 while our motor biking 'friends' are getting up late and stuffing themselves full of fried things and croissants before unnecessarily spooking the poor cyclists with their pointless overtaking manoeuvres. They don't even stop to take black and white photos of deserted border crossings.

At the bottom again with a long road a head

We crossed the border and headed down hill to Bovec and the after a while decided to stop for elevenses at Pro Mostu pizzeria.

Ready for Elevenses 

We sat down in the undercover terrace outside seating area and ordered. To go with Andrew's cappuccino and my hot chocolate and water I asked if they had any food. Yes they did but not yet I was told. I asked if they had any cake or strudel but apparently they ran out yesterday. This meant the only food I could now rate was the biscuit that came with the drinks, which after much debate we awarded a 3.5 food quality rating.

Biscuit that came with coffee ready to be reviewed

The drinks were very good especially my extra thick hot chocolate and the views and atmosphere were first class. Sadly, due to poor biscuit score the overall rating was at the lower end of my European list. 

Drinks featuring a very good hot chocolate

The nice lady waitress also explain it was peak biker season at the moment and that the combination of this and the nice weather meant they were currently swarming in the region, like a plague of leather clad locus.

Next we had to cross back to Italy under a black and white deserted border crossing archway.

Deserted boarder crossing archway

From here we were soon on our second climb of the day which was on a very narrow and bumpy road which climbed gently for what seemed like forever. The main advantage of the road conditions was that it seemed to put off the bikers so we pretty much had the road to ourselves.

Biker free ride

As it was a very long steady climb up I had left Andrew far behind when I saw a nice looking cafe with a fantastic view. I therefore made the executive decision to stop for lunch at Baita al botton d'Ora cafe.

Arrived at cafe by myself, but who took the photo?

By the time Andrew arrived I was already eating my bolognese and drinking lots of bottled water. 

My Lunch which arrived before Andrew did

When Andrew eventually rode in he sat down and immediately ordered  an espresso and gnocchi. In terms of atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) it was delightful with a fantastic view and proper Italian rustic charm plus no one who spoke any English. Andrew who is notoriously hard to please unless it has anything to do with Italy wanted to give it 11 out of 10 which is clearly mathematical nonsense but to keep happy I said I would, but obviously didn't.

View from cafe terrace outside seating area

Despite the food being good, if not great, and no Hot chocolate available the Baita al botton d'Ora cafe shot straight to the top of my European cafe league. But don't all rush there as it is pretty hard to get to.

After lunch it was a very technical descent with lots of bends on a narrow road. By the end my hands were aching from pulling on the brakes but I eventually caught up Andrew at the bottom.

The earlier pattern of the day was repeated as after some more flat we started to climb gently up again. I assured Andrew it would not be a step climb but this turned out to be far from the truth as the longer we went the steeper it got. It took over an hour to go less than 8 miles which is pretty slow.

Top of final climb, which was very long

After we got to the top (15 mins apart) it was another steep descent until we regrouped at the bottom. I had decided not to wait for Andrew at the top in case he was rather angry about the amount of climbing I had actually made him do. This was a good plan as he told me he had had time to calm down on the descent and had decided not to kill me after all. Although I think he would have been too tired to do it anyway.

We were now in urgent need for refuelling so stopped at the first cafe, cafe espresso,  

we found which was next to a garage on a busy road.

Cafe by garage you get what you expect

By choosing a cafe by a garage on a busy road we got what we deserved. They operated the no hot chocolate in summer policy which I was coming across all too frequently and the only food was a pre packaged croissant and ice cream. As you can guess we rated the Espresso cafe quite poorly but needs must.

Food and drinks at Caffe Espresso

We now just had a final 25 mile haul along a fairly flat stretch back to the start. I told Andrew we had in fact done more climbing metres than yesterday which seemed to make him both pleased and angry at the same time. He has therefore taken more interest into tomorrow's route which I have assured him is both shorter and flatter, but, as I have never actually ridden the route before it's only a theory.

Day of climbs (Slovenian, Italian, Austrian cafes)

Slovenian 'High Altitude' training camp

Day 1

Today was the first day of a 3 day trip to Slovenia for some mountain based altitude training. Base camp is at only 810m which apparently isn't very high in altitude training terms but it is a lot higher than Norfolk so it will have to do. I have been joined but Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) as cycling guest for the trip in order that I can do some cafe cycling reviewing on la continent as well. 

Today was to be our climbing day, 3 climbs planned and 65 miles that should get us in the right high Altitude mindset.

View at bottom of first climb

We started by heading straight up the iconic 11km ride to Vrsic with it's 24 hair pin bends is the most famous climb in the region. I hadn't got very far up when I was asked to stop by men in hi viz so a that number of coaches full of cycling fans could get by. I asked if there was a big race on today but I was told they were just making a TV commercial featuring cycling. When I was allowed to set off again I rounded the corner to find the road lined with pretend cycling fans practising their cheering. They were clearly very good pretend fans as I found myself waving and punch the air as I cycled past. This had the desired effect as the pretend crowd started to cheer back, sound their hooters and wave their flags. In return I waved and air punched back even more. Andrew, who hates this sort of thing, was a little way behind me but by now I had whipped up the crowd and I could hear behind me that they were now cheering him too. I was pleased with my work as I'm sure he would have hated it.

Pretend cycle fans preparing to line the road for a TV commercial

I go up quicker than Andrew so we were soon some way apart and knowing this would be the case had agreed to meet at the top. It was hard work as it takes about an hour of constant uphill pedalling to reach the top. As I approached half way I went past a cafe and saw behind me an old bloke in a checked shirt and flannel trousers pull out on his hybrid style bike. I expected to soon be leaving him behind as I continued grinding my way up hill. After a while I looked round and to my horror he was catching me up. I was both impressed on how fit the old people in Slovenia were and disappointed with obvious lack of fitness. I was sure he would fade so tried to pedal a bit harder in order to distance him but as we went round each hairpin he was closing in. Although I was now on my last legs I dug deep and just beat him to the top by a couple of bike lengths. 

I collapsed by the summit picnic area exhausted but was happy that no old Slovenian cyclist, especially one in casual clothing had beaten me up a mountain. I lay on the grass panting for breath and waited for Andrew when the old bloke wandered over and offered me some Slovenian sausage. He looked as fresh as a daisy and I now had huge respect for him so was about to accept his sausage based gesture of friendship, when I noticed there was something strange about his bike. I realised he was riding a motor assisted e-bike. He was a cycling fraud and not the type of cyclist I would want to be seen with so I asked him to put away his patronising sausage and left him to get on with his ill-gotten picnic. 

Old Slovenian bloke with his electric bike getting out his sausage

When Andrew eventually arrived we went to the cafe at the summit for a coffee and a hot chocolate, perfect drinks when you have just cycled up a 14% hill for an hour in 20 degree plus temperature, but I do have standards. I didn't bother doing a cafe review as I did it last year (see Surprise extra) and it is nothing special. Andrew did tell me how he had surprised himself as to how much he had enjoyed cycling through the cheering pretend crowd, which I was not pleased about.

Outside cafe at top mountain

From here it was now down hill all the way. Whereas I'm a lot quicker up hill so had cycled up by myself, Andrew is a lot quicker down hill so disappeared off into the distance down the remain 26 hairpin bends on that side of the mountain. It became apparent we did not make ideal cycling companions in the mountains as, apart from the cafe stop, we didn't see each other all morning.

49 th of the 50 hairpin bends on the mountain road

When it flattened out at the bottom of the mountain near Bovec, Andrew waited for me while I caught up. We were now at the bottom again so, in the words of Yazz and the Plastic Population, the only way was up.

At the bottom ready to start Climb up again

However before we started up again we stopped for lunch at The Encuan grill. It had some dramatic views but we were surrounded by bikers of the full motorised variety. The only trouble with cycling in these parts is the number of bikers. For some reason, despite the fact you are hardly moving when cycling uphill, the bikers insist on accelerating past you as if it was a great achievement to be able to overtake a push bike. I'm told they love the mountains for their bends but they do scare us cyclists and also take up all the room in cafes. Despite the bikers welcome sign I still awarded a very high atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) score

Outside the Eucuan Grill and it's amazing views

As usual I would be using the EU approved European cafe cycle review system which just rates drink, food and AAA (as Johnny Foreigner doesn't really understand tea and cake). Things got off to a bad start as Andrew ordered an orange juice and I was told I couldn't have a hot chocolate as they only did them in winter. In protest I went for water instead so a poor drinks score. However the food, gnocchi for me and Greek salad for Andrew, was very good and when Andrew then decided to have an espresso coffee, which he wanted to award 10 for, then the overall score shot up to equal the best for any European cafe to date and this was the 17th European cafe that I have reviewed.

Slovenian food but no cake or hot chocolate

We set off again and within 100 metres were on the next climb so once again found ourselves apart. At the top was the old Slovenian Italian border crossing which meant I was now in Italy. I didn't wait for Andrew as I now knew he would catch up on the way down. 

Welcome to Italy

We eventually met up again and continued through Tarvisio in Italy all the way to the Italian Austrian border for our next cafe review.

Outside cafe on Italian, Austrian boarder

For once there were no bikers here but the view just over looked the deserted border crossing. Andrew decided he liked the deserted border crossing vibe and decided he might start his own cycling deserted border crossings blog and have all the photos in black and white to generate the right mood. Good luck with that.

Deserted Italian, Austrian deserted boarder crossing

Despite it being summer this cafe was prepared to serve me hot chocolate and it was excellent. Both thick and chocolatey, although the waiter was surprised by my drinks choice on such a hot day. Sadly Andrew thought his cappuccino was poor but the averaged out mark was still good. I ordered some profiteroles which were excellent too. Andrew announced his lunchtime Greek salad was now causing him issues and popped off to sort himself out. He made me then reduce the high food score we had awarded at lunchtime.

Excellent food and drinks on the boarder

Overall this cafe had scored highly too and near the top of my European list.

We pressed on and past my favourite named cafe which I felt was the spiritual home for all the holidaying bikers.

Bikers would feel at home here

We now approached the final climb back over to Slovenia and once again we were soon separated and also spooked by the motor bikes who appear to think going round a hairpin bend was like being in a race, when clearly it isn't. This was not only the hardest climb of the day but hardest I have ever done especially when we saw sign saying it was 18%. My cycling GPS goes on auto pause if you go below a certain speed as it assumes you must be pushing you bike or have stopped. It did this several time on the way up despite me never actually stopping pedalling.

Frighteningly steep

When 15 minutes later Andrew appeared at the top he did not seem in the best mood but kindly passed on today's cycling guest top cycling tip.

Cycling guest cycling Top tip no 30. Never cycle up a hill with an 18% hill

sign at the bottom but if you do make sure you re-plan any other routes, that might also be going up this hill again, if you want to avoid doing those rides alone.

Italian Slovenian deserted boarder crossing in black and white

When we got back I compared our 65 miles and 2400m ascending with a typical Tour de France mountain stage to discover they go twice as far and twice as high in half the time (not including cafe stops) which sort of put our ride into perspective

Later when we told the waiter in a local restaurant where we had gone he said, you didn't want to do that, everyone else cycles that route the other way round as it's much easier. This didn't help Andrews mood. I have promised him a longer flatter ride tomorrow but I have no idea if it is. It's just a theory.