Nothing I like better. (Hug a Mug, Lingwood)

Hug A Mug,

Lingwood,

Mon - Thurs 8:45-3:00,

Recommended

I had recently been contacted by Jean from Hug-a-mug cafe at the Village Hall in Lingwood suggesting I give them a visit. There is nothing I like better than a community run cafe as the cakes are always made by the local villagers and therefore often of a high standard. I was therefore keen to try it out and arranged to go with Mrs Crusader today.

However there is nothing Mrs Crusader likes better than a round of golf and our planned ride clashed with a golfing opportunity making her unavailable to be selected as my cycling guest. Fortunately Andrew, who is notoriously hard to please, had not had any better offers so signed up for the trip as there is nothing he likes better than a bike ride (except of course a rant).

The only problem now was that the ride would start from Hard to Please House in Aylsham and not from Crusader Towers in Norwich meaning the route was transformed from a pleasant 30 mile loop through southern Broadland to a 50 mile ride via some busy roads as we needed to cross many rivers and there are few options that avoid spending time on the A149 (which we did).

One of the many rivers to cross, this time at Potter Heigham

I had not seen Andrew for several weeks so there was much to catch up on. This was not easy due to a particularly noisy wind making Andrews rants harder to hear than normal although he manfully stuck at it.

The wind was also against us so it was a bit of a slog for 30 miles until we found Hug-a-Mug at Lingwood Village Hall just as Jean had promised. She told us it had been opened over a year so, as the self appointed number one cycle cafe reviewer in the Norfolk area, I felt I was failing by not knowing about it sooner.

Outside the Hug a Mug cafe. Our host Jean was a bit camera shy so hid round the corner

We went inside to check out the cake selection. It wasn't the biggest but all looked extremely good. We both opted for the chocolate cake which Andrew accompanied with a cup of tea.

Today's good looking cake selection

We agreed that the chocolate cake was excellent getting a high cake quality mark. Andrews tea was obviously awarded the standard cup of tea mark, while my hot chocolate was a solid offering. Although not part of my cafe rating system Andrew said his cheese toastie was one of the best he had had so all in all a very good stop and I recommend a visit.

Todays cake and drinks although my hot chocolate mug was wrongly labeled

We said goodbye to Jean and fully refreshed set off to complete our 50 mile loop. Due to the river crossing issues we again had a few busy roads to go on as we returned to HTPH, however one advantage of busy roads is you tend to go faster as you can't ride side by side or have a chat, therefore we completed our 50 mile route in quick time. 

A second bonus was went past a number of cafes I had previously visited so I took the opportunity to pop into number 14 at Wroxham for some scone action in my continuing search for Fruit Scone of The Year. I was glad I did as it rated highly and went into the current top 8 of potential finalists (see Cake Crusader website for more details).

Todays fruit scone to test from Number 14 at Wroxham. 

It had been a very enjoyable day, a nice fast ride, a good cafe and time to catch up on important rants. But it was all spoiled when Andrew told me his very plausible theory on the ending to the BBC drama Line of Duty, which, if he is right will spoil the final two episodes. Not wishing to ruin it for anyone else I won't let you in on his theory but will let you know if he's right. (Note. He wasn't).

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.9	7	7	8.1	7	7.20

Route

click Here to download 51 mile Aylsham Lingwood loop gpx file to your GPS

Poster Protests. (The Weavers Tearoom, Peasenhall)

The Weavers Tea room,

Peasenhall,

Thurs-Tues 9:00-4:00,

Recommended

It was a good day in the world of cafe cycle reviewing as all 3 of my current projects had activity.

First off I was able to continue my search for the top 10 free car parks from which to start a cycle ride from. Today's offering was St Helena car park. Fortunately this isn't on the Island of St Helena in the Pacific Ocean as, according to google, this would take 32 hrs and cost over £18,000 to get to (rather negating the benefit of the car park being free). No this is St Helena car park in Dunwich Forest which is about an hour from Norwich and costs nothing (as long as you get your cycling guest to drive and they don't charge you for petrol).

Todays cycling guest was Big George who drove to the car park and didn't charge me for petrol. The car park itself was excellent with lots of spaces in a lovely wooded setting. There are lots of places to explore from here including Southwold, Snape and Aldeburgh. It is also near a number of good national cycle routes so currently rates first (out of 4) in my top ten.

St Helena Car Park in Dunwich Forest

Once parked up we set off to tour the posh bit of Suffolk. It was a very pleasant route and we commented on how friendly and courteous the car drivers were.Then suddenly we turned a corner and Big George went red with rage. Big George is a passionate Scotsman and the last thing he expected to see on a ride along the Suffolk coastline was a campaign against Scotland having more power. It is already a pretty unimportant backwater (Scotland not East Suffolk) so who would begrudge it a bit more power I thought. Well apparently the people of Suffolk would.

An anti SNP poster in Suffolk

Big George immediately twitted Sturgeon to warn her and tried to keep calm down as we headed past more anti Scottish posters plus some more for another campaign against the building of Sizewell C. They clearly like a good poster protest campaign around here.

After a few more miles we arrived at today's target cafe which was The Weavers tea room in Peasenhall. It had a nice outdoor seating area but it was far too cold for that today so we went inside.

Outside the Weavers Tea Room

Here we found a reasonable cake selection on a cake selection displayer dresser with 4 good looking sponges.

Today's cake selection

Best of all there was a large fruit scone for me to test out in my fruit scone of the year comp #FSOTY and it turned out to be both large and tasty.

I opted for coffee and walnut cake while Big George had an americano and a cheese sandwich. Although a cheese sandwich plays no part in my cycle cafe review system Big George said it was a very good one although he thought his coffee was rather ordinary.

Todays cake and drinks

Both my hot chocolate and coffee and walnut cake were very good as both had excellent flavour. It was therefore a good stop and I recommend a visit.

We still had 20 miles to go to complete the ride which covered some lovely scenery, the highlight being crossing the river at Southwold on a footbridge. 

Crossing the river Wold near Southwold

Fortunately we were now out of the protester posters hartland so were nicely calm and relaxed as we returned to Dunwich forest and my number one rated best free car park to start a bike ride from.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.4	5.9	6.1	8.3	6.9	6.94

Route 

Click here to download 47 mile Dunwich, Snape, Southwold loop gpx file to your gps

Bladder Training. (Kenninghall Bistro, Kenninghall)

Kenninghall Bistro,

Under new management as Twin Teapots

In case I've not mentioned it (recently) then last weekend I ran 3 marathons in 3 days across the Dorset Coast path. This meant that I was currently in recovery mode. However on hearing the news Big George seemed overly keen to arrange a cafe cycle ride today and one that was over 40 miles. I assumed this was so he could get a blow by blow account of my adventure, as it turned out this was not the case although he got one anyway.

I had recently been recommended to try the Kenninghall Bistro, which just so happened to be just over 40 miles away and in the correct wind direction so nicely fitted the requirement. A couple of years ago I had gone there when it was the Kenninghall Coffee House and it had been distinctly average so I was hoping for better today. But before then we had the twenty mile part of the ride into the wind. 

It soon became apparent why Big George had been so keen on a ride as with my 3 marathon legs I was certainly struggling today and he clearly wanted to make this payback time for all the occasions I had left him behind. At the slightest sign of me launching into a marathon based tale he would sprint off leaving me floundering as I was still sore from last weekend's exertions. I feared he would teach me a cycling lesson I won't forget but he hadn't thought his plan through.

Big George likes to spend his Thursday nights out with the 'boys' at his local pub but now in to his later years his waterworks are not what they used to be so after each burst of cycling activity I was able to catch him up as he had to stop for a series of comfort breaks.

In this stop start style we soon made it to Kenninghall Bistro and I had managed to keep up. 

Outside Kenninghall Bistro in the outdoor continental style seating area

While Big George went off to powder his nose I checked out the cakes and it was a fine selection with two enormous sponge cakes plus a selection of tray bakes and scones.

A fine cake selection on display

I obviously took a fruit scone home to test out for fruit scone of the year.#FSOTY. It was a good, if rather crumbly, one.

Kenninghall Bistros Fruit scone

For todays cake choice I opted for salted Caramel cake while Big George had an Americano and a breakfast sandwich. As a breakfast sandwich is clearly not cake Big George played no further part in cake reviewing activity today.

We choose to sit in the outdoor continental style seating area and lap up some rays, where are refreshments soon arrived.

Cake and drinks

My hot chocolate was very large making me nervous that it would be just a hot milky drink, so I was relieved that it was still pretty chocolaty, although a bit stronger and a little smaller would have been best for me. My salted Caramel cake was again very large but also very tasty receiving a high cake taste quality (CTQ) mark.

Big George had been a bit sniffy about returning here as he had remembered it's previous incarnation but he not only ate his breakfast sandwich but his words as he though his coffee was top drawer and, although not part of my cafe rating system, said his breakfast sandwich was one of the best he had had.

We were both pleasantly surprised at how good the Kenninghall Bistro was and highly recommend a visit.

It was now wind behind on the return journey but as this was the longest ride we had done for a while Big George soon started to fade and with the addition of coffee to his bladder then several more pit stops were required and I had avoided a cycle based thrashing. Hopefully normal service will be resumed when we ride again next week.

Scores Based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.2	8	7.7	8.85	7.09	7.57

Route

Click here to download 44 mile Norwich Kenninghall loop gpx file to your gps

Admin. (Snettisham Park Farm Tea room, Snettisham)

Snettisham Park Farm Tea Room,

Snettisham,

Mon-Fri 10:00-4:00,

Sat-Sun 10:00-5:00 

Last Monday I had to give myself a good talking to as so far this year I have only been averaging one ride per week instead of the 3 or 4 I have done in the past.

So on Tuesday I persuaded Mrs Crusader to join me on a windy ride as we went in search of fruit scones for my 2019 fruit scone of the year contest. I knew the Piano Tearoom at Kettering Hall would be a great source but on arrival I was shocked to find that it had closed down in January. As a plan B we decided to go to a new cafe I had meaning to test out off Unthank road in Norwich. On arrival I was shocked to find that this too had closed down, before I had even had a chance for a first visit.

I know it is sad when cafes shut up shop but it also causes me a great deal of admin as there are blogs to update, maps to alter and forms to fill in which meant the rest of the day was taken up with paperwork.

On Thursday I had better luck when I went to Hard to Please House in Aylsham to meet up with Andrew for a trip to Holt to test out the scones there. Despite the by now gale force winds it was a successful trip with scones obtained from Byfords, The Owl and Horatio's. They were all of similar quality with Byfords being marginally the best.

The Holt scones.

This left Friday for my third ride of the week, the purpose of which was to continue my search for the top ten best free car parks to start a bike ride from. For this ride I was joined by Big George as we set off to Burnham Market to park on the green.

Parking on the Green at Burnham Market

There are a series of free spaces in the centre of the village and although it was a cold and windy Friday in early March it was still very busy with only a few spaces remaining. I imagine on a nice summers day that spaces would be at a premium. Compared with the other two car parks in my current top ten then I didn't find it as aesthetically pleasing so combined with the potential capacity issues this car park could only manage 3rd place in my top 10.

The ride itself was a 40 mile loop with a choice of 3 new (to me) cafes to be visited in the Sandringham area. I offered big George the choice of a visitors centre, twee tea shop or farm shop cafe. I was worried that none of them would do a fried egg sandwich (on white, no garnish) which is Big Georges favourite mid ride fuel. By making him decide which we would go to then if no fried egg sandwich was available I could claim that the other venues had them and blame him for his choice. Very cunning I thought.

It was another windy day and hard work as we left Burnham Market in a clockwise direction heading for Sandringham on a rectangularly shaped route.

You can see how windy it is by how fast the windmills are going round in the photo

After we had completed the more windy South and West sides of the ride we arrived at our first potential stop which was at the Sandringham visitors centre. Big George didn't like the look of this one as the car park was full of tourists (he doesn't like tourists), the tea room looked too visitor centre cafeteria in style and it was shut so we decided to move on to option 2.

This was a tea room a couple of mins down the road and although many people had recommended it to me it was far too pink for Big George so without evening stopping we pushed on to our 3rd choice of Snettisham Park Farm Tearoom which met with his approval mainly because we had run out of any other options and he was hungry.

Outside the tea room at Snettisham Park Farm Tea room.

Things looked promising as there were several signs saying they welcomed cyclists (which we were) and they had a nice large outdoor seating area (although it was too cold and windy to bring it into action today).

Outdoor seating area

We parked in the special cycle parking area zone right by the entrance and went inside. I went straight to check out the cakes (which was a reasonable selection) but Big George had been distracted as the farm also did deer safaris and as Big George is a huge fan of Disney's Bambi he was keen to go on one. Sadly I had to explain we didn't have enough time so, in a sulk, he came and ordered his refreshments but refused to have any cake with his coffee meaning I had to do cake rating on my own. Then to cut off his nose and despite it being available he refused to have a fried egg sandwich and went completely off piste by ordering pasty and beans.

Today's refreshments

We both thought our drinks were at the lower end of the drink rating continuum but I did think my Victoria sponge was excellent. Although not part of my scoring system we both thought our lunches were very good and felt re energised ready to tackle the remainder of the route.

When I got back to my secret underground office at Crusader Towers there was yet more admin as I wrote up this blog, car park info and cafe review plus updated associated datasheets before having to fill in two 'cafe visited but not stopped at' forms. Hopefully next week there will be more riding and less admin to do.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5.2	5	6.3	7.4	6.5	6.08

Route

Click here to download 40 mile Burnham Market Snettisham loop gpx file to your GPS

More Car Park Action. (Antiques and Coffee Shop, Stradbroke)

Antiques and Coffee Shop,

Stradbroke,

Mon-Sat 10:00-4:30,

Sun 10:30-4:00

Recommended

As I have mentioned several times recently it has become increasingly difficult to find new cafes to cycle to from Crusader Towers in Norwich or Hard to Please House in Aylsham. Therefore I have recently started to drive to the start of the rides to open up new areas to explore. Today was such a day as I was joined by Mrs Crusader for a trip to North Suffolk.

As a result of this approach I have been able to start a new feature (and associated spreadsheet) as I go in search for the top 10 best free car parks to start a cycle ride from. On this trip I identified my 2nd free car park which was in the centre of the village of Mendham and went straight into the top 10 at number 2.

Todays free car park to start a cycle ride from was at Mendham

I am currently adding this feature to my blog and website so let me know where your favourite free car park to start a cycle ride from is.

The ride itself was a good one, albeit a bit windy, as we enjoyed the more rolling countryside this area offers. We also cycled down a very appropriate named road which I felt must be a good omen for the day

Todays stop was at the Stradbroke Antiques and Coffee shop in Stradbroke. We were able to take the bikes round the back before entering the establishment through the outdoor seating area, which wasn't in operation today. Inside were two seating areas and a lot of 'Antiques'.

Outside the back entrance to the Stradbroke Antiques and Coffee shop

The cake selection was split between a display fridge and counter unit and had most cake bases covered. 

The fridge part of the cake selection

I opted for a dark hot chocolate and caramel cake while Mrs Crusader had americano and chocolate cake.

Todays cakes and drinks but can you spot what was wrong?

Everything was very nice without being exceptional although Mrs Crusader thought her coffee was one of the better Americanos she had had and scored it highly. However everything was not well in the cake serving department as for the first time this year my cake had arrived on its serviette and we all know what I think about that! Remember #Keepcakeoffserviettes. 

Cake on serviette, arghhhhhhhh!

Despite this the Stradbroke Antiques and Coffee shop had performed well and I recommend a visit.

It was also good that there were scones available for testing as I continue my hunt for fruit scone of the year #FSOTY. After a slow start I have now tried 10 scones so far so have already eliminated 2 as only the top 8 will make it through to the knockout stages at the end of the year. I bet you can hardly wait, I know I can't.

Today's scone enterent

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.95	7.3	7.1	7.0	6.7	7.01

Route

Click here to download 33 mile Mendham Stradbroke loop gpx file to your gps

Revisited. (The Nest Egg Cafe, Wymondham)

The Nest Egg Cafe,

Wymondham,

Mon-Sat 9:00-3:30 (closed Wed),

Sun 10:00-3:00

Recommended

After last weeks gales the weather seems to have settled down in time for some cafe cycling opportunities this week. I therefore persuaded Mrs Crusader to join me on a trip to the newly opened Nest Egg cafe in Wymondham.

I have now been doing this blog for over 5 years and in this time this is the 3rd change of ownership (and name) of this cafe. Just after it had opened in its previous incantation (as the Garden tearooms) I took Mrs Crusader there as a treat for forgetting our 25th wedding anniversary the day before (I even bought her a fruit scone and let her try my chocolate cake) see Marital Bliss.This time I needed no such excuse (although I did recently forget our 29th anniversary) as we repeated the route from that trip via Attleborough 

On arrival at the Nest Egg we were pleased to find that they still let you take your bicycle round the back to a secure garden area.

Outside the Nest Egg Cafe

Inside not too much had changed and the library style indoor seating area was still there and was empty so we decided to treat ourselves and sit on  comfy sofas. 

Opted for the comfy sofa library style indoor seating area

Learning from my mistake when I last bought Mrs Crusader here I let her have a fruit scone AND chocolate cake. I went for the coffee cake and also a fruit scone to try out in my fruit scone of the year search #FSOTY.

Todays cakes and drinks

The cakes were proper homemade ones and very good. My hot chocolate was of Cadburys type so didn't score too well but Mrs Crusaders black americano coffee was a good solid effort. The scones were the largest and tastiest to date this year, if a bit on the crumbly side.

Excellent fruit scone

After totting up the scores then the Nest Egg Cafe had scored 0.1 higher than its predecessor so if you liked the Garden Tea rooms you should like here as well, by 0.1 more in fact.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5	7	6.1	7.87	7.2	6.63

Map of route

Click here to download 31 mile Norwich Attleborough loop gpx file for your GPS