Tour of Yorkshire 2022. Day 1 York to Helmsley

Day 1 York to Helmsley

Once again its time to leave the relative flatlands of Norfolk and head to more bumpy scenery up North. The purpose of this trip will be to see how the average cycle cafe stop in Yorkshire compares to the average ones in my local domain. Last year I used science to compare the two areas but this did not go to plan or lead to the awarding of the Nobel prize for science as I expected, so I clearly need to up my game. 

To do this I have developed a more sophisticated model, increased the sphere of cafes to be tested and packed an extra cycling guest for more accurate cafe ratings. Science doesn't get better than this and I think the Nobel prize is in the bag.

I've done the maths and of the 297cafes I have reviewed in the Norfolk and North Suffolk region then their average rating is 6.90. Can the 8 cafes I have selected to visit here this week beat that. Well lets find out.

The route covers the North York Moors and the Yorkshire dales.

The route. Stars are cafes and houses are overnight stops

Today we left Norwich at a respectable 8:30 with me and Andrew (who is notourisly hard to please) in one car and Ali and Big George in another. This is a cycling trip so lets pick up the story from when we have parked up in York, faffed about packing and re packing bikes and eventually set off towards our first cafe stop a few miles away. And don’t forget what goes on tour stays on my blog.

My group of finely tuned cycling guest ready for le grand depart.

We made our way out of York into the suburbs where todays only cafe stop would be. It was the Curious coffee company cafe (CCCC) in Haxby shopping precinct. We had hoped to sit outside but someone had fainted in the heat and were hogging two of the outside tables as staff and customers gathered round with ice and water to try and revive her. Fortunately I managed to shuffle them up a bit and we could then squeeze on a table so no harm done.

I waited until after the fainty lady had gone to take the cafe photo

But how did the CCCC compare with one of my regular cafes. Apart from fainty people cluttering up tables and it being in a 1970s style shopping street then Atmosphere and Ambiance was good thanks to the friendly staff and pleasant vibe. My hot chocolate was very good (for some reason they said they hadn’t sold many hot chocolates today) and not Cadbury’s of which most of last years Yorkshire cafes provide 🤮.

My hot chocolate and double decker brownie

They had a very brownie biased cake selection as apparently they were famous for them and you could also have them with chunks of chocolate bars on top. I was torn between Bounty and Double Decker (which I didn’t realise was still a thing) but then remembered Bounty’s are horrible so went DD. It was nice but not spectacular.

Big George, the only coffee drinker, didn’t like his drink so all in all CCCC scored 6.92. Which was 0.02 better than my standard cafe average. On reflection I thought it was probably 0.02 better proving that science got it right again.

From here it was a mere 34 miles and 3 small climbs to Helmsley on the hottest day of the year and boy did my cycling guests whinge about the heat. I don’t like to talk about it but I was forced to remind them that I once did an Ironman in 40 degree heat, although that didn’t seem to help.

Cycling Guests whinging about the heat

However we did enjoy some typical Yorkshire villages and lovely views so they did agree it had been a fine afternoon of cycling really.

Personal highlight was seeing castle Howard where Brideshead revisited, Downton, Bridgeton and every episode of Antiques road show were filmed. None of which I’ve seen although I am a fan of Fiona Bruce who I believe lives there.

From here it was just a short ride in Helmsley and the prolog of the tour was over. Tomorrow we start the ride proper with some big hills to climb and 2 cafes to visit on another warm day.

Todays route

Trip Stats

Route	Miles	Average Mph	Time on Bike	Metres climbed
York to Helmsley	38.40	13.4	2:51:50	484
Helmsley to Great Broughton
Great Broughton to Hawes
Hawes to Pateley Bridge
Pateley Bridge to York
Totals

Cafe ratings

Cafe	Hot Chocolate Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Cake Selection	Cake Taste Quality	Atmosphere and Ambiance	Total
Curious Coffee Company, Haxby	7.6	5.5	7.1	7.4	7.0	6.92
Hutton le Hoe
Danby Bakery
The Mustard Tree Café, Hurworth
No.15 Coffee House, Barnard Castle
&Then Tasting Deli, Kettlewell
Tea on the green, Bolton Abbey
Café Chez Nous

 

All roads lead to Holt (Treehouse community cafe, Holt)

The Tree House,

Holt,

Mon-Fri 09:00-2:00,

Highly Recommended

Back in May, when I was first riding again after my 7 weeks on crutches (not sure if I’ve mentioned my knee injury before🤔) Ray wrote to me and suggested I check out the Treehouse community cafe in Holt. I thought I had replied thanking him for the suggestion as I added it to my cafe recommendations list.

So, a couple of weeks ago, when Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) said he could only manage a short ride, due to an urgent afternoon appointment, it was no surprise when he suggested Holt as our destination (as he always does). However rather than go to one of the usual suspects I now had Rays suggestion up my sleeve. 

I showed Andrew where it was in Holt and he quickly said he knew where it was (he didn’t).

On the way to Holt (again)

We have ridden from Hard to Please House in Aylsham to Holt more times than I’ve had cake served on serviettes so I won’t bore you with the details other than say once in Holt Andrew unsuccessfully guided us around the town looking for the treehouse community cafe for sometime before I insisted on asking Dr Google. The Doctor knew what he was talking about and we soon found our destination in the middle of a housing estate.

Outside the Treehouse in Holt

The barista was extremely friendly although rather surprised I wanted a hot chocolate on such a hot day. However this was nothing as Andrew requested a cortado which is the latest poncing coffee fad. The poor lady had not heard of it but pointing to her lovely coffee machine she said she was prepared to give it a go if he could give instructions. 

Once he had explained the number of shots, amount of milk and order it was all put together we picked our cakes and went to the out the front, outdoor seating area.

Andrew was rather shocked when I explained they were a community cafe staffed by unpaid volunteers and weren't expected to be able to produce fancy coffee for hard to please customers.

When it arrived he was very apologetic for his actions before telling her although it looked nothing like a cortado it did indeed taste like one, which I think she took as a compliment.

Excellent drinks and cakes in the out the front, outdoor seating area

My hot chocolate was pretty decent as were the cakes and it was nice to be away from the tourist cafe area of town. I would certainly highly recommend a visit and they may even have a cortado on the drinks menu.

Coincidentally later that day I happened to notice I had never replied to Rays original message (rude) but was now in a position to rectify my oversight by telling him I’d now actually gone there (nice save). If anyone ever has any suggestions of new cafes to visit let me know and I’ll try and check it out.

Next week I'm off to Yorkshire for a weeks imaginary racing with Andrew, Big George and Ali meaning plenty blogging action from me to clog up the cloud with even more.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.1	7.2	7.6	7.4	7.9	7.24

Route

Click here to download 32 Mile Alysham Holt loop GPX file for your GPS

Coffee duel. (Cannells by the River, Reedham)

Cannells by the River

Reedham,

Mon-Sat 08:00-5:00, Sun 9:00-4.00

Recommended

Now the sun is out again I thought it was time to head off on a cycle cafe review and with the wind from the East for a change it was a chance to go out that way. I decided I should visit Reedham as I hadn't been since the cup cakes cafe shut many years ago. Its now reopened as Cannells by the River.

I gathered some cycling guests to join me but there was only MickMike(the man with two names, Old School cyclist Dom and fellow cycleparkruncyclist Mark available who are all blokes. This obviously meant that instead of the normal leisurely chatting we got into an imaginary race with added commentry about peletons, breakaways, bridging etc. 

The race to Reedham in full swing

After a hetic dash down the Loddon road, with many breakaway attempts, then the peleton was all back together as we entered town. But what was this, lining the side of the road was a real cycling crowd who had obviously heard about our imaginary race and had come to cheer us through Loddon. We were all very excited, until Old School cyclist Dom realised it was actually the queue for the bus.

Undeterred we sped further east until we arrived at the ferry terminal at Reedham ready for our crossing.

As always I booked an outside cabin and we settled in for the cruise.

Enjoying the river crossing 

Once in Reedham we had a dilemma. I won't name names (but Gary you know who you are) said the coffee was better at the post office tearoom but better cake selection at Cannells. I deided to opt for the cake selection but will be returning soon to test the post office tearoom out as well.

Outside Cannells

The cake selection didn't dissapoint as we sat by the river enjoying the lovely day. 

Cake selection 

The cakes and drinks soon arrived. They were nice cakes and the drinks were fine but both the hot chocolate and coffess were abit on the weak side so it will be intersting to find out how the post office does next time. However I would still recommend a visit.

The way back was equally delightful as myself and Mark chalked up another few miles training for our attempt to cycle and run the 10 new parkruns in Norfolk that have started since we first did the challenge back in 2018. Sadly Mark re agitated his achilles injury on the ride meaning we have once again had to postpone the 1st ride on the challenge until the end of July. So Mark won't be invited on any more training rides until then.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5.5	6.3e	7.8	7	8	6.93

Route

Click link to download 41 mile Norwich Reedham ferry loop gpx file for your GPS

Tour de Gateaux stage 2 to Hunstanton (Apple Cafe, West Acre)

Apple Cafe,

West Acre,

Tue-Sun 9.30-4.30

Highly Recommended

After the excitement of the first part of the Tour de Gateaux at the start of May (see Tour de Gateaux stages 1 and 2) it was time for part 2 of the race.

This time we went from Norwich to near Hunstanton and back. It was a chance to visit some old favourites plus try out a new cafe. 

The day started with worried faces on the driveway of Crusader Towers as the weather forecast predicted heavy showers all day. Despite making me look like a dork (can I say dork or does that get me cancelled, to be honest I don’t even know what one is) I decided to start with my waterproof over trousers on to save time for when the inevitable drenching started. Everyone else donned their waterproof jackets.

Worried faces preparing for a soaking

However shortly into the ride it was clear it was actually quite warm so jackets were removed again although I kept my trousers on. I knew that the rain gods won’t waste their effort trying to penetrate my smart trousers.

Still dry we pushed on to our first stop at the excellent Guist Post Office.

Outside Guist Cafe still in my waterproof trousers and still no rain

Sadly there is no longer any outdoor seating area but there was a nice indoor table that could accommodate all 6 riders on todays stage. As you may recall you not only get points for winning a stage but for cake eating too. Four of us caked today each getting a point but I now moved into a 2 point lead over everyone else.

Some excellent cake at Guist

With the Sun now shining, but still in my waterproof trousers, we headed off to our next planned stop at Walsingham. On the way we passed a big gatehouse in the middle of nowhere. It is the sort of place you wouldn’t want to knock on the door of if your car (or bike) had broken down at night in a heavy rain storm. But ours hadn't, so we didn't.

Once at Little Walsingham we went to Nortons cafe at the shrine of our lady who is famous for downing miracles and stuff. We ordered tea for 3 but they just filled the teapots up with hot water. However when we poured them into the cups the hot water had turned to tea. 

Excellent tea stop at Nortons in Little Walsingham

Now refreshed and still dry it was the final push over some lumpy ground to our final destination.

It was starting to cloud over as we approached our Hotel

When we got to the hotel, still dry I had a dilemma as if to remove my magic water proof trousers or not. One of our party, Mike, had got the date of the trip wrong and once he had realised then there was no room at our inn. He had managed to secure lodgings in a stable at Hunstanton 5 miles away. However if I was to remove my trousers before he got there then the no rain spell would be broken and he would obviously get a proper soaking. On the other hand I wanted to shower and relax so it was trousers off and once removed we were treated to a huge thunderstorm. I think Mike will be checking the tour dates more carefully in future.

The heavens opened once I had removed my water proof trousers at our Hotel

In terms of the stage I obviously won as I forgot to mention the finish line was just past the hotel. The other competitors couldn't understand why I had cycled past our accommodation when they had stopped. My how they didn't care when I explained their error as they looked at me like I was some mad bloke having his own fantasy cycle race.

Day two would take in a new cafe, the Apple at West Acre which was the main purpose of the trip. I was hoping it won’t disappoint 

With forecast promising a dry day I decided to keep waterproof trousers off, but would this obviously caused us to get wet later in the day.

Pedals down was at an ambitious 9:15 but as always breakfast was over leisurely followed by pre ride faffing meaning we were lucky to get away by 9:30. Today was a longer day and would be my first 100km Grand Fondo since my knee op (which I may have mentioned in previous posts, a lot). 

About to set off after much faffing

The ride started with a trip past Sandringham to see the Queen. Apparently she was too busy for a chat as she was preparing for her Jubilee thing the next day. So we set off again over a few bumpy bits as we sailed through North West Norfolk on the way to the Apple Cafe at West Acre.

The Queen was a bit busy for a chat

When we arrived fellow Tour de Gateaux competitors Barry and Helen and their tandem were already here drinking coffee and eating cake. You may remember they had been disqualified for mechanical doping in the first stages of the race. They would be disqualified again today for taking a 10 mile shortcut, I'm not sure if they are taking my event seriously.

Outside the Apple Cafe

The Apple Cafe is in the garden centre but has a very nice setting with a pleasant outdoor seating area.

Outdoor seating area

The cake selection was also good and the drinks scored well (except for Andrews tea which apparently didn't have enough tanning being a too posh a brand, although he is notoriously hard to please).

A good cake selection at the Apple Cafe

On the other hand he thought his chocolate and raspberry brownie was fantastic and defiantly the star cake although the others were good too. This was the stop most people caked on so no changes in the tour cake points competition.

Excellent cakes encouraging much caking by the group

The Apple cafe didn't disappoint and I highly recommend a visit.

From here we had wind behind for the final push back to the finish line. There was still time for a quick stop at Tabnabs cafe in Mattishall for a bit more cake and then heads down for the finishing line. Obviously without my water proof trousers on it did rain on us during this section, but that was only to be expected.

Final push back to Norwich

The finish came at the top of Col de Cellar House slip road which was a tricky ramp at the end of a long day but no one was going to beat me today, especially as they weren't bothered, as I made a final effort to the top and another stage win under my belt.

The next stage will be at the end of June as we head to Newmarket where the route is sure to favour the sprint teams.

Scores 

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.3	7.5	7.7	7.8	7.0	7.46

Route

Click here to download 121 mile Norwich Hunstanton loop gpx file for your gps