ROUTE 11 HARLE YDAY

THE ROUTE 11 KITCHEN, ON THE A11 JUST NORTH OF ATTLEBOROUGH IN NORFOLK, IS EASY TO MISS IF YOU DON'T KNOW IT'S THERE, SET BACK OFF THE BUSY ARTERIAL ROUTE TO NORWICH ONLY A SMALL SIGN A FEW HUNDRED YARDS BEFORE TO LET YOU KNOW IT'S THERE.

Once you know it's there though, it's always worth stopping, especially of a weekend when the car park's heaving with bikes. The food's good, the coffee's excellent, and there're often some really interesting machines parked up that you don't see at other biker hangouts in the east of the land . Back in August they had a Harley Day there, held in conjunction with the Harley Club Norfolk, and so I dragged the silly-sided Bandit out of its lair, and ear'oled up the duller-than-brown A11to have a look-see. The place was packed , as I'd kind o' expected, and folk continued to come in all day, dropping in for a brew, a burger, and a snout about . There were lots of stock-looking Harleys of course (although, as I'm sure you know, most H-Ds are never actually stock as people change bits on them far more than on any other brand), but there were a few very groovy out-and-out customs too, and they were well worth looking at. Myfaves were Mole from NCC Norfolk's survivor Trident chop (not a Harley, I know); Briz's Montana Red; the fat-wheeled flippainter withthe upside-downies; the blue Shovel with the fishtails; the little black Pan' bobber with the whitewall back 'oop ; the Walking Deadesque Speed Triple with the knobblies (also, yes, not a Harley);and Chris' 'Broken Doll' 750/4, but there was a lot more cool stuff there than there's room to mention here. As I write this it's the beginning of October and , like most bike places, things're winding down a little at Route 11,but they're staying open through the cold months so it's still worth a visit if you're passing or want somewhere to go on a quiet day. Check out their website at www.route11kitchen.co.uk or check out their Facebook page for details of their events for next year.