A BALLOON race entry went up, up and all the way to Germany.

Its incredible 872-mile journey started in The Bonny Inn, Salesbury, and finished in a forest on the border of Germany and Poland near the small town of Jänschwalde.

The balloon race was held at the Ribchester Road pub to celebrate three years of the A59 Club, a social club for single, separated, divorced and widowed friends, at the end of July.

Most of the high-fliers landed in Clitheroe, Accrington, Blackburn and Preston, but another travelled 672 miles to Bremen, Germany.

But the club members were ‘amazed’ when they discovered that one of the balloons had travelled even further.

It finally landed in undergrowth and was found by the Sabath family whilst they were out mushroom picking on August 29.

Kathrin Sabath wrote to the club organiser Christine Snape to claim her prize of €10 for finding the balloon that had travelled the furthest.

Ms Snape, who started the group in June 2007, said: ”I was astounded when I returned from a holiday in Cornwall to find two letters- one from Bremen and the other from Jänschwalde.

I wrote back to the family straight away with a nice letter and their prize money.”