However... dozed for another hour as hadn't slept much, was ready and out the door at 10.30ish.
Couldnt decide wether to go to the Boat Shack or try out Aunte Rita's... the Boat Shack at Upton Warren has a nice balcony infront of a kayaking/boating lake, ideal for sunshine but... as I hadn't been to Rita's before I chose to go there instead.
The ride down was nice enough however, I came across a road closure on Cur Lane, surface dressing... yes that's right, those shitty stone chips they cheaply throw over the top of the road and then just leave for traffic to roll over and bed in... total crap road surface for weeks on end with stone chips flying everywhere! At that point I knew I would likely come across closed roads again on the way back and kinda wished I'd have chose the Boat Shack instead.
Apart from that it was a fairly quiet and traffic fee route down to Rita's, the route included crossing two fords, one of which I had never crossed over before, it had a lovely little offroad trail over the bridge.
I arrived at Rita's to find only one small wooden table with 2 chairs and one round glass table with a couple of retired geezers having lunch. Very mismatched and sparse frontage considering the amount of space there is, I didn't find the frontage too inviting really - definately missing a trick there! Inside it is good, a very twee English tea shop kinda thing with cups and saucers and doilleys etc. Couldn't fault the service, only a choice of two cakes though, I gave my order (tea and cake £4.50) and I sat at the small table outside, about 5 minutes later my order arrived, a pot of tea for one (complete with real tea leaves and teacup strainer oooh!) and an ample slice of Victoria Sponge. The Cake was very nice and home made, the tea however wasn't too hot, by the time I poured my second cup it was just warm. Had a mini chat with the geezers on the other table, I had my Wiggle finishers t shirt on and they asked if I had taken part in last years televised Wiggle Honda cycling race haha! 😁
Cafe verdict = Nice enough place but I wouldn't go mad about it, 6.5/10
The sun was really shining on the return trip, as suspected I came across the road closure on the way back and had to detour onto a busy looking B road near Redditch, luckily it was only 10 minutes before I rejoined my route again and the traffic was fairly quiet at that time.
Todays Fuel:
2 x toast, 1 topped with nutella and the other with jam. (Pre ride brekkie)
4 x fig rolls
1 slice of Victoria Sponge
1 x nutella on 1 x white bread
1 Hi5 gel
1 ltr SIS Go Electrolite energy/water mix
