Hard Cheese!

Hard cheese and a Carradice saddle bag?

Out on an evening bike ride, summer I recall, riding my trusty touring club bike, fixed gear as always at that time, I was on a circuit taking in Hindley, Haigh hall Blackrod and Rivington.

All was going well with no problems encountered, what’s not to enjoy on an evening bike ride in nice warm weather. Bike rides sometimes can turn out to riven with mini disasters, punctures, broken chains, mashed gears, fortunately not all these things occur at the same time though at times it seems like it. On this evening my enjoyment would be unexpectedly enhanced.

Slowly climbing a minor hump I looked up to see a van approaching me at a very fast speed, white van man at his best, when almost level with me he hit a pothole that bounced the van with great severity. To my surprise a large box also bounced out of the van landing with a dull thud on the tarmac beside me. I looked at the disappearing van, the driver oblivious to his loss.

Curiosity soon had me dismounting the bike eager to see what the bouncing box contained. Not another soul was about to witness the bouncing box so I looked at the object, no labels on, nothing to indicate what it may contain. I figured it wasn’t a bomb, it was still in one piece, so too was I of course. On opening the box to my surprise it was filled with one pound packs of ‘Lancashire Cheese’, around twenty I think.

I looked down the road, no sign of a returning van, I looked at my Carradice saddle bag, yep I reckoned the box and bag matched in size. Emptying the bag of it’s contents I then slid the box in, a perfect fit and the rest of my kit was laid on top, here the versatility of the long flap camper saddle bag came in handy, the full bag was now secured using the long flap and secondary straps, all neat and snug.

The extra weight of twenty pounds or so on the bike did have an effect on the handling of the bike but once accustomed proved not to be a problem.

On reaching home I unpacked the box on the kitchen table I quickly realised that as much as I liked Lancashire cheese too much of a good thing can lead to a dislike. I decided that a few of the clarion members, being Lancashire lads and lassies may have their Sunday club run enhanced by a bit of shared luck. So it was that on the next club ride my saddle bag again was filled with cheese, though my fridge was well stocked also thereby allowing a much lighter bike. Big cheesy grins all round greeted the unexpected distribution, extra enjoyment of the club run that day.

So there we have it, the unexpected mating of Lancashire Cheese with the legendary Lancashire made Carradice camper long flap saddlebag, long may the continue.