Stranded. (Knead Food cafe at the Blue Egg, Great Bardfield)

Knead Food Café (at the Blue Egg),

Great Bardfield,

Opening times Mon-Sat 09:00-17:00,

Sun 10:00-16:00  

Highly Recommended 

I'm currently writing this post in the waiting room at Ely station. When I set off on the ride, with today's cycling guest Andrew (who, is notoriously hard to please), the waiting room at Ely station was not part of my plans but not only do we find ourselves here but there is every chance that when the next train arrives in 45 minutes time that we will not be allowed on board and we maybe stuck here for sometime or possibly ever. But how did we find ourselves in Ely?

It had been nearly 2 weeks since my last cafe cycle ride as I had been away on a snowboarding trip. Whilst away, and much to the shock of the snowboarding community, I announced my retirement from the sport, as it now seems to mainly consist of lying on your back in the snow.

With one less sport to worry about I can now concentrate even more of my efforts on finding the best cafes for you to cycle to. For the first ride back I had planned another of my 'cycling celebrity recommends' features with a trip to the Blue Egg in Essex which famous cyclists Mark Cavendish and Alex Dowsett both claim to be their favourite place for a cafe stop when they go out on a ride.

It meant an early start for me and Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) but we both got to Norwich station ready to catch the necessary train to Cambridge from where we would begin. As on so many previous occasions we had no problems loading our bikes on to the train letting it take the strain on the way south.

On arrival we alighted (got off) the train and attempted to make our way to the requisite cycle path. After a short while we found the cycle path which runs alongside a very high fence and led to today's cycling guest cycling top tip.

Cycling Guest Cycling Top Tip 44. When aiming to cycle along a cycle path that runs along side a very high fence it is important that you and your bike are on the cycle path side of the fence.

Sadly I had not followed cycling guest cycling top tip 44 and it took 20 minutes and two miles of aimlessly cycling until we eventually found ourselves on the right side of the fence and able to speed out of Cambridge on a several mile stretch of flat cycle path.

At this point I foolishly said to Andrew that although I was enjoying the flat fast ride a few hills would be nice to add a bit of variety. This was a mistake as round the next bend we met a steep rise and it was nothing but hills for most of the rest of the day.

Nice views but nothing but hills for most of this ride

When riding in these tough up and down conditions it came as no surprise when we came to the village of Debden which was twinned with Tang Ting a village in Nepal. 

I stopped to chat with a local Sherpa who told us about the many expeditions he had led in the Debden area before leading us off again in the right direction.

Thanks to the cycle path delay, a puncture and the hilly terrain we were a long way behind schedule when we arrived at the Blue Egg farm shop where we found the Knead food (I see what they have done there) cafe.

Outside the Blue Egg Farm shop which includes the Knead Food Cafe

Inside it was packed including a large number of cyclists who had hung their bikes on the bike rack outside.

This cafe is a magnet for local cyclists

We grabbed one of the few remaining seats before checking out the cake selection. It was a good selection with a number of interesting items but none of the sponge cake classics. They also had an equally good gluten free selection but as a lover of gluten I paid them little attention. Overall I awarded a good effective cake selection (ECS) score.

Very interesting cake selection

With the cafe being so busy I was worried our food, cakes and drinks might take a long time to come and threaten further the chances of catching our train. I needn't have worried as the staff were both friendly and ruthlessly efficient so our cakes and drinks soon appeared

Cakes and drinks ready for tasting

My hot chocolate was good but Andrew reckoned his cappuccino was one of the best he had had and gave a 9 out of 10 for his guest hot drink quality (GHDQ) mark. Our cakes (chocolate cheesecake and chocolate oat slice) were both top draw too also attracting high cake taste quality scores.

All in all the Knead Food cafe had proved to be worth the journey and moves into my cafe top ten being highly recommended.

I also noticed that Mark Cavendish (world road champion) and Alex Dowsett (former 1 hour world record holder) had both donated shirts re-enforcing their cycling celebrity cafe recommendation. If you are a cycling celebrity and want to recommend a venue for me to try then let me know.

Cav's world champion rainbow jersey

It was time to set off back but there wasn't much time for chat as we put our heads down for a 30 mile charge back to Cambridge to try and make the train.

Fortunately we rode well and arrived back at the station with 15 minutes to spare. With a spring in our step we proudly pushed our bikes down the platform after another excellent ride. As we approached the train the guard smugly informed us that we couldn't put our bikes on the train as the allotted bike space already had bikes in it and he had been trained not to let more than 4 bikes on the train. Clearly his training had been excellent as despite a number of other cyclists joining in our protests he would not allow any more on board. 

A train like the one we were not allowed to get on

We were forced to take an alternative train but it meant having to risk being able to get a connection from Ely and, even if successful, we would still be home nearly an hour later than planned.

So I now find myself in the Ely station waiting room not knowing if we will be allowed on our connecting train with bikes, as we have been told it is only a little one, or if we will ever actually get home. 

Stop Press: 
We were and we did, phew.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.00	9.00	7.50	8.50	6.50	7.70

Route to be published if I ever get home

click here to download 63 mile Cambridge Great Bardfield loop gpx file for your gps

Where's the sea? (Stiffkey Stores, Stiffkey)

Stiffkey Stores,

Stiffkey,

Opening times 08:30-17:00,

Highly Recommended 

For the last week or so regular cycling guest Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) has been laid low with a so called 'virus' and apparently has had to spend most of this time tucked up in his bed reading magazines rather than being out on his bike like he should have been. Fortunately the amount of wind and rainy weather we have had recently made cycling pretty unpleasant so he hadn't missed much.

However yesterday was the first time for a while that the winds had dropped and when I contacted Andrew about a ride he declared himself fit enough to be my cycling guest, as long as we could start the ride from Hard to Please House. Which we did.

Andrew would be in charge of our destination and route. I was hopeful that Andrew had done some quality research and planning after having nothing better to do whilst lying in bed all week. So I was pleased when he reported that when reading Coast magazine (yes it really is a thing) he had come across an article entitled the top ten cafes by the sea. One of the selected cafes was Stiffkey stores which was only 20 miles away. Inspired by the article he had chosen this as our venue. That was as far as the planning had gone and our route, and his map, unfolded organically as we went.

On the way Andrew demonstrated his bird watching skills as he spotted 2 kestrels, a buzzard and an owl (which he made me photograph). I didn't spot any birds as I was focused on cycling like he should have been.

Unnecessary time lost while photographing an owl.

Despite the unnecessary delays getting as one with nature we successfully arrived at Stiffkey were we found the stores on the main road. I was a little surprised by the location as we had come here based on Coast magazine claiming it was one of the top cafes by the sea but there was no sign of any sea in the immediate vicinity. In fact, once I had finished researching on Google maps where the nearest sea was, I found it to be nearly 2 miles away. If I told my friends I was going to spend the day by the sea I think they would imagine me in a deck chair a few paces from the shore line and not in a field a couple of miles away needing a decent pair of binoculars to have any chance of a glimpsing a wave. I will not now be able to rely on anything else in Coast magazine (not that I have ever read it). However this is between me and Coast magazine and would not detract from my review of today's cafe.

Outside Stiffkey store with no sea in sight

As we locked up our bikes in the Stiffkey courtyard I liked the look of what I saw as it was the second ride in a row when I had come across a shed based out door seating area after my visit to the HenHouse at Wymondham on Saturday which also provides this type of facility. However Andrew pointed out that as we were in North Norfolk and only 2 miles from the sea they were actually not sheds but beach huts. All we needed now was a beach.

Apparently these were not sheds but beach huts

We went inside to find that Stiffkey Stores was another popular post office/stores/cafe combination of which I have now come across many. This one had a a nice old fashioned wooden interior giving a cosy feel on a cold day. There was a big indoor table and bench seating area which combined with the excellent out door space and warm welcome meant I awarded a very high atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) score. As always I first checked out the cake selection which wasn't the biggest and had no big sponge cakes but I was glad to see flapjack available which I could include in my search for flapjack of the year 2016. 

Fairly small cake selection

I ordered some peanut butter blonde and we both had flapjack. As it wasn't really beach weather we decided to stay inside rather than make use of the beach huts so took our drinks and slices over to the indoor large table seating area.

Drinks and slices

Both my hot chocolate and Andrew's cappuccino were very good with plenty of flavour, they could have been a bit hotter but both good high hot drinks marks. The Peanut butter blonde and flapjack were of a good size and both went down very well with excellent energy giving properties for the return ride. 

Despite Coast magazines inaccurate location description we both thought the Stiffkey Stores was an excellent stop with good cakes, drinks and AAA. I recommend a visit but leave your bucket and spade at home.

Despite his recent 'virus' Andrew performed well on the way back once again demonstrating the recovery powers of cycling and flapjack. Maybe he should have tried them sooner. 

Cycling Guest cycling top tip No 43. For a quicker recovery from a so called virus don't waste time resting but try going for a bike ride and eating flapjack

For those in other parts of the country here is the link to the full list of Coast magazines top 10 cafes 'by the sea' but I can't be held responsible if you don't get to actually see any water. (coast magazine top 10 cafe by the sea)

Scores based on 3 ratings

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.33	8.33	6.30	8.29	8.57	7.77

Route

Click here to download 45 mile Alysham Stiffkey loop GPX file for your GPS

Compulsory Hummus. (Amandines cafe, Diss)

Amandines Cafe,

Diss,

Opening times Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00,

Highly Recommended 

Due to the amount of high winds we have been having recently it has been difficult to get out on a ride with out putting my cycling guests into potential danger. I can think of nothing worse than setting off on a cafe cycle ride only for my cycling guest to be blown off their bikes and suffer a serious wind induced cycling guest injury (SWICGI). I would then have no one to rate the guest hot drink at the cafe stop and the ride would have counted for nothing. It just isn't worth the risk.

Fortunately, although the winds today were still fairly strong, they were below the speed at which I felt a SWICGI was likely and therefore the planned ride could go ahead with today's cycling guest Big George. As the wind was from the south we decided to head down to Diss so we could be blown home on the way back.

Like me Big George has opted for a two bike strategy with a lighter summer bike and a more heavy duty one, with tough tyres and mudguards, for wet and slippery winter conditions. I changed to my winter bike back in October and have suffered no punctures or wet backs since. Big George, on the other hand, has had several of both and only today finally got his winter bike out leading to today's cycling guest cycling top tip.

Cycling Guest cycling top tip No 43. To get best use form your winter bike try learning which months correspond to which season. (To find out more then the ladybird book of weather is a good source).

My most regular cycling guests; Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) and Big George both used to follow the way of the vegetarian but where as Andrew has stuck to his principals Big George has lapsed due to it being too much faff to cook veg for himself and dead things for the rest of his family. However I knew given the choice he still likes the way of the vegetarian best so as a treat we would be going to Amandines Vegetarian cafe today.

We battled into the wind down to Diss, safe in the knowledge that a puncture or untimely skid was unlikely, where we found Amandines cafe in a little courtyard area.

Outside Amandines cafe about to put bike security measures into operation

There didn't appear to be an outdoor seating option so we headed inside to find two indoor seating areas; a more cosy set of tables near the counter or a bigger indoor atrium seating space. The place was busy and represented the most vegetarians I had ever seen at one time. We both liked the whole feel and set up so gave Amandines a high atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) rating.

Actual Vegetarians in the indoor atrium space

I was looking forward to some actual vegetarian cake to see how it compared to the normal meat eaters cake I was used to so I checked out the available cakes in order to decide on the effective cake selection (ECS) rating. To save space the cake display only had one slice of each type of vegetarian cake making it look a little sparse. There was vegetarian carrot cake and vegetarian courgette and lime cake which I understood as I know carrots and courgettes are vegetables. I was a bit more confused by the other cakes on offer. First there was Tunisian orange cake but I know an orange is a fruit not a vegetable, with the final offering being chocolate fudge cake and chocolate and fudge are neither fruit or vegetable so not sure what this was doing in a vegetarian cake selection. As there were not many cakes available I could only give a moderate ECS score.

Vegetarian cake selection although not all the cakes had vegetables in them

Big George obviously went for one of the cakes with vegetables in, courgette and lime, to go with his filter coffee but I went for the Tunisian Orange cake to accompany my hot chocolate. As it was lunchtime we also had a jacket potato each. Big George explained that in a vegetarian restaurant it was compulsory to have something called hummus so I did and it was very nice.

Jacket potato with compulsory hummus

Our drinks were both very large which in some establishments can sometimes lead to a weak drink but this was not the case at Amandines cafe and we were both impressed by the strength and taste of our drinks leading to high drinks marks.

Nice large and strong drinks

On the cakes front, despite the lack of vegetables, I found my Tunisian orange cake to be quite excellent. Big George liked his lime and courgette cake too, but not quite as much as mine, leading to a high cake taste quality (CTQ) mark.

Tunisian orange and courgette and lime cakes

I very much enjoyed my visit to Amandines cafe and experiencing the way of the vegetarian. It had rated very well and I recommend a visit even for non vegetarians like me.

Due to my excellent planning it was now wind behind on the way home and this combined with the energy giving powers of compulsory hummus meant we were back in no time at all.
Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.50	8.00	5.50	8.00	7.50	7.30

Route

Click link to down load 57 mile Diss Loop gpx file to your GPS

Wrong day (Hamptons at the Barn, Bawdswell)

Hamptons at the Barn,

Bawdeswell,

Opening times Mon-Sun 10:00-17:30,

Highly Recommended 

Now that I have visited over 140 cafes or tearooms in the Eastern region, plus another 40 odd world wide, it is difficult to keep track when cafes close or change hands. I'm therefore always grateful to people who notify me of such changes, as happened recently when I was informed that a Cake Crusader top ten rated Cafe, Hamptons in Reepham (see come back in 3 years) had moved to Bawdeswell and was now called Hamptons at the Barn. 

This was the first time I had come across the same cafe, new venue scenario so I had to check the big book of cycle cafe rules to see what to do in such circumstances. Apparently the original scores should be voided and a new set of ratings started. Therefore in order to keep Hamptons on my list I would need to go to their new home. I had originally reviewed Hamptons with Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) and as he had agreed to be yesterday's cycling guest it seemed like a good opportunity to make the 47 mile round trip and see if Hamptons, now at the Barn, would remain in my top 10.

I normally go riding with Andrew on a Thursday but due to another engagement, and the gale we were experiencing, we would be going on a Windsday. As we set off from Crusader Towers it was hard going as we were being buffeted in the wind so it was disappointing that we were slowed further when Andrew had an early puncture, although it did give me another opportunity to publish a photo of a man mending a bike,

Man mending a bike

It also led to a useful Cycling guest cycling top tip

Cycling guest cycling top tip No 42. To make sure you can get your freshly mended wheel smoothly on to your bike then put it back on before pumping up or the newly inflated tyre won't get past the brakes.  

On this occasion re-inflating was well under way before Andrew remembered, just in the nick of time, to use cycling guest cycling top tip No. 39, thus saving both time and the need for a rant.

Once we were able to set off again the wind continued to try and limit our progress so we had to pedal extra hard until we arrived at Hamptons at the Barn in Bawdeswell.

Parking bikes by the edge of the outdoor seating area

We parked our bikes on the edge of a nice looking outdoor seating area before heading inside. Hamptons at the Barn is both a cafe and home furnishing shop. The cafe bit was packed but the home furnishing bit completely empty. 

Cafe packed whilst home furnishings area remained empty

We were asked if we had booked a table and sheepishly had to admit that we had not. Unfortunately they had no free tables. This was not good but I did notice there were some breakfast bar style seats tucked under the cake counter so I asked if we could perch there and just have a bit of cake. To my relief the Barista took pity on us and kindly said that would be fine before clearing some of the cakes away to make space.

Perching at the cake selection area

Now at close proximity I checked the cake selection and it was excellent having a large number of items including some very interesting ones. I was able to awarded a very high effective cake selection (ECS) rating consistent with it's rating from back in the Reepham days.

Part of the excellent cake selection

I asked if they were always this busy and the Barista said they were even on a cold January day like this one. I did think they should convert the customer free home furnishings part of the barn into an indoor seating area but then I'm more cake than cushions so probably a little biased on that front, even though I'm clearly right.

To go with my hot chocolate I ordered courgette and lime cake and to go with his cappuccino Andrew went for chocolate, berry and beetroot brownie. They didn't have any flapjack to be rated for flapjack of the year 2016 but they did have something called a chocolate Nancy that looked like flapjack. I took some away for further examination at home and can now report that although it was very tasty and oat based it wasn't sticky enough to qualify as flapjack.

Although not part of my rating system we did order some baps for lunch causing more cakes to be removed from the cake display area to make room for us. I'm not sure we could now be considered as 'just perched having cake' but were actually causing full blown kitchen chaos, fortunately all the staff seemed very good humoured about it.

Hot chocolate and cappuccino

Our drinks were both very good and scored highly. Next we tried our cakes. Andrew was clearly still confused and disorientated by us not cycling on our normal day as to my amazement, rather than going into a normal cake based rant, he claimed his brownie was the best he had ever had and wanted to give it an unprecedented 10 out of 10 for cake taste quality (CTQ). It was an excellent brownie but praise like this was most unlike him and he had to go for a little walk to calm down. I get even more worried when I found him in a daze browsing for scented candles in the hopefully soon to be converted shop area.

Although my cake was very nice it wasn't as good as the brownie but with scores combined it still added up to a very high CTQ score.

Cake and best brownie ever

I entered the marks for Hamptons, now at the Barn, into the cafe ratings spreadsheet on my phone to find that Hamptons had performed even better in Bawdswell than it had in Reepham enabling it to move up into my current top 5 rated destinations. I not only highly recommend a visit but, to avoid disappointment, highly recommend booking as well.

As we set of back to Norwich the wind seemed to get stronger and the clouds darker giving some dramatic looking Norfolk skys to enjoy.

Dramatic sky to enjoy

It was still obvious that not doing our ride on the normal day of the week was causing Andrew issues. Not only had he given unusually high marks, stopped ranting the whole time and shown an unhealthy interest in home furnishings but was now talking about putting the bins out when he got home, which I happen to know would be a day early. We will definitely be going back to a Thursday for our next ride so that normal service can be resumed.

Scores based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.00	8.00	8.45	8.63	7.00	8.02

Route

Click here to download 49 mile Norwich North Elmham loop gpx file for your GPS

Start at the very beginning. (Number 1 Cafe and Deli. Clare)

Number 1 Café and Deli,

Clare,

Recommended

One of my most exciting cafe cycle based projects is to try and visit cafes named after their street numbers from 1 to 100. So far I've done Numbers 5, 7, 14, 24, 28 and 51 so with 94 cafes still to go I thought I needed to pull my finger out and get more numbers under my belt. 

Over Christmas I was once again able to enjoy watching the Sound of Music on the television. During the viewing I had been inspired by the wise words sung by Maria while out on a sportive with the von Trapp family. She sang "Start at the very beginning, its a very good place to start" before going on to describe what a series of random things (e.g a doe, ray, tea, me, far, sew etc) were. Why this particular set of things I have no idea but I did feel she was spot on about needing to start at the start. Therefore I decided to see if I could find a Number one cafe to visit next. Some extensive internet research found several such establishments but I was most excited to see the nearest was in Clare in Suffolk which (with the help of the train) would only require a 55 mile round trip.

The weather forecast did not look good when I met Big George, today's cycling guest, at Norwich station and he was already questioning if going for a 55 mile ride in the wind and rain was a good idea. Fortunately there is an old Chinese proverb for just such a dilemma: "don't worry about the rain until it actual starts, as it often does not" which I quoted to him. As it hadn't started to rain yet then this seemed to do the trick, and inspired by these wise words he agreed to come along. Before he could change his mind I quickly bought our tickets and we got on the train to bound to Stowmarket just as it started to rain.

Windy and raining conditions, although you can't tell in the picture,
at Stowmarket Station

On arrival at Stowmarket station I was begin to think it may have been better to call off the ride after all, as the wind had got up and the rain was quite hard but I can hardly be a Cake Crusader and then quit over a 'bit of rain' so cursing those wise old Chinese I manned up as we set off into a gale. 

Early conditions were harsh with strong winds and heavy rain. I was just thinking to myself that the last thing we needed was one of us to get a puncture. Big George then got a puncture. 

Another photo of Big George mending a puncture

We were now really cold and wet but determined to make it. Fortunately for the remaining 20 odd miles to Clare the rain changed to a more showery nature offering tempting respite before starting up again. Even so we were mighty relieved to find the Number 1 cafe and deli on the corner of Clare High street just as the latest downpour started.

Outside Number 1 cafe and Deli plus a close up of Big Georges cold finger

It was quite hard to spot as there was no big signage or any sort of outdoor seating area. We went inside to find a cosy old fashioned layout, in a converted post office, with wooden tables spread amongst neatly laid out display units of jams and chutneys. It all felt very warm after our experience getting here.

Inside Number 1 cafe and deli

I checked out the cake selection which only had two proper cakes but a good selection of slices and brownies. As 2016 is the year of the flapjack it was great to see three varieties on show helping to boost the effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Cake selection majoring on slices

I went for some chocolate cake and sticky cherry flapjack. Big George was right on message and picked some date flapjack to go with his filter coffee. I taught him about how we would be rating flapjack this year in the build up to the flapjack off in December. Using the three flapjack T's of quality (taste, texture, and topology) these flapjacks scored very well. The date flapjack had particularly good topology being a double decker.

Cakes and Flapjack featuring the date double decker

Our drinks were both good and warmed us up nicely. My chocolate cake was excellent so combined with the top quality flapjack I gave a high taste cake quality (CTQ) score. I was pleased that Number one Cafe and Deli had set a good standard at the head of my street number cafe project.

The drinks line up

While we had been inside the rain had really picked up so we were now in for a proper soaking. To help morale I shared another old Chinese proverb with Big George. "When the sky's turn black, the rain comes down and you will get very wet". Which like most Chinese proverbs was spot on and we did. 

The roads were now turning to rivers but fortunately with the energy giving properties of flapjack inside us we powered through the rain back towards Stowmarket.

Very wet conditions

Once safely on the train I Googled 'Cafe Number 2' but the only Cafe Number 2 I could find was in Copenhagen. Work has therefore started on persuading Mrs Crusader that she has always wanted to visit Denmark, especially by bike.
Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.00	6.00	6.00	8.50	7.50	7.00

Route

Click here to download 56 mile Stowmarket Clare loop GPX file for your GPS