Day 35: April Fools Day

Distance: 17.6 miles
Ideas for a stat: 0

So it's April Fools Day today and Al got me with a good one. He told me that our walk today would be 14 miles. But it was really 17.6! Hahaha! Our friend Tom also got us with a good one in the comments on yesterday's blog. Very convincing and had us going for a few minutes. Thankfully not true.

Today's walk, aside from being longer than expected, was quite nice. The temperature has come down, but the sun's still out. We are really getting into the heart of the country. There are more cars on the roads and more people in general. I guess it's no surprise since we're only about 30 miles from Manchester.


We found out from our host this morning that Cheshire is dominated by cattle and dairy farms because the grass here is so good. I think he meant regular grass, but we did come across an exceptionally mellow herd toda


We also met another herd that followed us as we walked through their field. At first they moved away, but then we turned around and they were right on our tail. It's a bit unnerving! Al took this photo


and noted that it was like watching the Ewoks meeting C3P0, just not as furry (them) or shiny (me).

The South Cheshire Way continued to be an excellent path. These way marked paths are mainly through farm fields (hence the close encounters with livestock). When you go from one field to the next, you usually have to cross a fence. This is often accomplished with a simple stile. We can go over dozens of these in a day.


As you can see, they are expecting only giant hikers or are trying to keep us shorties out. Well, better luck next time!

I got an email today that pointed out that we totally failed to talk cheese when we were in Cheddar on day 19. We did have cheddar in Cheddar and it was unspectacular. I think we are spoiled because the vintage white Tillamook that we eat at home is so good. The cheddar in Cheddar was as good, but not better than the Tillamook. I have noticed that the cheddar in England is never coloured orange. It's only white. A couple of days ago, Al had a Shropshire Stilton and mushroom lasagna at a pub in Whitchurch. He said it was excellent. Sadly, our cheese consumption has been limited. All restaurants offer cheese selections for after the meal, but they also offer sticky toffee pudding, so, ya.

Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to a day of flat walking along the Macclesfield Canal. Al says it's 13 miles. We'll see.