In a tale that might well have been lifted straight from the pages of an Enid Blyton story, members of the LBTB team set off to explore the Creamy Lancashire Cheese Trail on a glorious evening in May. Starting from Chipping with sun beating down, this 4 mile 'jolly romp' took the team through some beautiful countryside - locally known as the 'milk fields' of Lancashire. We were soon joined by a plucky little dog who lead us over stiles (we nearly missed) and across open fields - we were now officially the Secret Seven!
Unfortunatley our furry companion was fully committed to joining our walk and couldn't be deterred from following us on to the road. When all efforts failed Suzi (who deserves a badge for her girl guide initiative) fashioned a rather clever lead from her belt to stop our little friend from being run over.
Luckily we were yards away from the Gibbon Bridge (had we known that the walk was going to pass so closely we may well have scheduled a 'Ginger beer' stop) and were able to alert the owner that his dog 'Dizzy' had escaped. Dog and owner were reunited and we were able to continue on the trail.
...And so we continued the cheese trail over streams, through farm yards, along tracks and across open fields following the helpful little 'cheese' marker signs. In the late evening sunshine we spotted several hares making a dash across the fields and few baby rabbits hopping along the track in front of us (not to mention the hundreds of bleating lambs, a herd of inquisitive cows, an angry dog on a chain, and a cat with kittens!)
We only had two moments of confusion in regards to the direction of the trail (usually when it involved walking through someone's property), but luckily Sarah, our chief map reader, and my handy compass came to the rescue and we were on our way in no time.
The end of our evening was in sight but not before a dinner at the Three Fishes (yes I am slowly working my way through the menu) where we celebrated the evening's adventure! Lashings of Dandelion and Burdock all round!
I had the Ribble Valley Steak burger, real chips (cooked in dripping of course), tomato relish and pickles - which I devoured very quickly! Other members of the team tucked into fish pie, fish & chips, veal and sauage & mash - It was all hearty Lancashire food much appriciated by weary walkers! Surpisingly, after following a cheese trail for the previous two hours, the only cheese we ordered was as a topping on the fish pie (Mrs Kirkham's).
If this good weather holds out we might well end up trying the Creamy and Crumbly cheese walks before the summer is out!
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