River Arrow - McMuffin's and Musomania

If you’re anything like me, you will have noticed that indulging in a late night cheeseboard can sometimes lead to some freaky dreams, such as this mind dump with the picture on the right !!

A side stream off the river Arrow I'd not even noticed before, where after and sat there bitless after chub on the main river, I was led away by an attractive lady who had a tame otter with her. She kept looking behind her saying, "follow me, follow me !!!" with the otter egging me on too. 😁

Then I was rudely interrupted by early riser Ben,  🙈 just as I was getting in to it !!!

Now while it’s not entirely clear why this is the case (it hasn’t been scientifically proven) there is enough anecdotal evidence from our cheesemongers, customers and the internet to have us wondering… why do we get weird cheese dreams?

The myth has been kicking around since the Dickens era, when famous protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge blames a bit of blue cheese for his freaky visits from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

That would be enough to make anyone lay off the Roquerfort late at night!

Back in 2005, the British Cheese Board tried to put the rumours to rest with a little study of their own.
While not particularly scientific in their approach, the Board gathered 200 volunteers and fed them 20 grams of cheese each about half an hour before their bedtime, then asked them to record their dreams and sleep quality (it’s worth noting there was no control group involved here).

Of the 200 studied, 67% recalled their dreams clearly and none of those participants reported having any bad nightmares whatsoever.

What they did find, however, was interesting - that the type of dreams you have depends on the type of cheese you eat! Stilton will reportedly make you trip out. There were reports of talking teddy bears, soldiers using warrior kittens in place of guns and a vegetarian crocodile who was distressed that he couldn’t eat children featured among those dream diaries. Freaky !!

Cheddar will allegedly make you dream about celebrities, a good choice if you’d like to solve world problems with the Kardashians while you sleep. There was no research into why exactly cheese might cause weird nocturnal visions but one internet theory makes sense to us - that the bacteria and mould contained in cheese (particularly potent in blue cheeses) might have psychoactive effects on the brain’s chemicals (It certainly works for mushrooms!) 

Another interesting outcome from this informal study was the finding that cheese can actually help you fall asleep. It contains an amino acid known as tryptophan this same chemical compound is found in turkey, and is to blame for those unavoidable afternoon naps after Christmas dinners

Tryptophan helps the body produce melatonin and serotonin, both hormones which contribute to a restful night. Just so long as you choose the right cheese, it appears! If you’re interested in exploring the world of weird cheese dreams, give it a go it works for me. 

Anyway what I didn't expect was that Sam was ready to go not much after 7.00am to have a go down the Arrow. I'm sure it was the promise of a Sausage and Egg McMuffin which he polished off rather quickly and he's literally the world's slowest eater.

The Bloggers Syndicate BBQ match was on today and sadly we couldn't attend as we had a BBQ to go to later ourselves as it was my nieces 2nd birthday. So a few hours max roving this small river to try and pick up some chub on ledgered bread flake. It was very clear indeed but most small rivers like this one have deeper areas and cover where the fish often hold up.

It took three swims to get the first bite though and the weir didn't produce which I was surprised at. After a few tentative plucks tight to some cover the tip pulled round confidently but Sam struck in to nothing sadly. Shame he didn't connect because he did everything right.

As the morning went on it was clear things were going to be tough but after that missed bite Sam and I had two more opportunities and both landing fish of similar size. This one I'm holding really did a good job on me initially and I thought it was much bigger when I eventually landed it. To be fair it's a snaggy swim but boy what a fight.

I thought it done me over good and proper at one point because the line was singing but I gave some slack and it swam out luckily. A lovely fish around 3lb in weight where after that fish we tried a few more spots without any more bites. An enjoyable morning though and Sam wants to go again soon so hopefully with the weather no improving he will be up for some more trips out going forward. 

"Daddy, why do you play the dance music so loud"

"It's the only way Son !!!"