Despite the torrential rain this morning and the forecast of even more to come, I dragged my rather reluctant self out of bed and having donned the waterproofs and put an extra jacket and glove liners in the rack pack in case additional layers were required, set off to meet up with my cycle group for what turned out to be a 30-something mile ride around the Vale of Taunton Deane, stopping for coffee and cake at a garden centre.
Sounds good, non? It was. Especially the cake. There was, however, one slight problem. It didn't rain. It stopped just before I left the house but rather than regrouping and letting rip, the dark clouds looming overhead as I cycled into town decided to give it a rest and instead gave way to their paler, rain-free cousins, even allowing the sun to break though on occasion, making the still sodden leaves on the trees glow like beacons. Very pretty - and pretty darn miserable for anybody who was dressed for rain.
On the plus side, I managed to cause some confusion amongst the animal-loving but food-ignorant visitors to the garden centre when I went to say hello to its resident pigs and having charmed the aforementioned animal-lovers by chatting to the pigs and giving them back and chin scratches, gave them one final scritch and bid them farewell, saying (in a loud voice) that it was time for a cuppa and a bacon sandwich.
In the end, I didn't have a bacon sandwich as the cake selection was too appealing.
It took me ages to decide but in the end went for what has to be one of the best creations ever - a toffee apple flapjack, which consisted of a layer of cooked apple sandwiched between two 'slices' of moist and delicious flapjack, topped with a generous layer of toffee. It turned out to be the perfect choice, not least thanks to the chaos caused by what I thought was a perfectly simple coffee order - a large Americano with only a single shot of expresso, with milk. I was given a large mug of filter coffee and a small cup of expresso. After much
from me and the woman who served me, it turned out that they don't actually sell Americanos. I tried to make the point that if they'd just told me that when I placed the order, I would have changed it but it all got very complicated for reasons I still don't understand so I gave up and accepted what was given with good grace, much to the relief of everybody else who was waiting for their drinks and cake to be brought to the table.
Despite the coffee confusion and the contrary weather, t'was a good ride, especially as we went down a hill we normally go up.
And did I mention how good the cake was?