Tag Archives: travel

Persistence

30 Monday Mar 2026

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Wednesday 31st December 2025 ko 12:30

Cymru North

PENRHYNCOCH 1 (Owen 86)

RUTHIN TOWN 1 (Holland 24)

Att 140 at Cae Baker, Penrhyn-coch

Entry £7

Programme online/downloadable

For those of you that ask, yes I do question my sanity, and driving as I was, on New Year’s Eve through Snowdonia with the temperature dropping alarmingly as I climbed the mountains. It got to point where I drove through Troedyrallt and so white was the scene outside that I couldn’t imagine that the game was still on. But I was committed, 3 hours in to my drive from Oxford, with no alternate game to divert to.

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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

29 Sunday Mar 2026

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Saturday 27th December 2025 ko 14:00

Somerset County League

WATCHET TOWN 0

STAPLEGROVE 2 (Hibbert 86 Bidgeway 90+6)

Att 65

Free Entry

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed

The light-house top I see?

Is this the hill? is this the kirk?

Is this mine own countree?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797)

As is normal for Robyn and I, we split our time over Christmas between family in Oxford then family in Bristol, so that those days between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve tend to be spent in Knowle West. Or putting it another way, I do tend to see quite a lot of the Somerset County League at this time of year, and Watchet Town had been on my to-do list for quite a while.

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Stur

28 Sunday Dec 2025

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Tuesday 18th September 2025 ko 19:45

Western League Division One

STURMINSTER NEWTON UNITED 5 (Lane-Leney 19 52 Bevis 20 57 Hall 54)

WELLS CITY 2 (Wright 13p Taylor 44)

Att 144

Entry £8

Programme £2

In so many ways a visit to Barnett’s Field left like tidying up loose ends. You may recall I’d visited this corner of Dorset to visit Sturminster Newton’s former home, the War Memorial Recreation Park 10 years ago. That was to see a game in the now sadly defunct Blackmore Vale Sunday League, and in the days when I was a fairly regular visitor here, that league never failed to provide me with interesting games to go and see.

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The Famous Shed

05 Friday Dec 2025

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Monday 25th August 2025 ko 14:00

West Lancashire League Premier Division

TEMPEST UNITED 3 (Firth 19secs Pendlebury 29 Monson 86)

ROSSENDALE 2 (Wylie 9 Foster 21)

Att 470

Entry £3

Programme £2

From CMB it was both unusual and gratifying to see so many people walk the quarter-of-a-mile through Lostock to Tempest United. The is named after the road the ground is in but with there being little or no parking at The Famous Shed, it solved what could have been an logistical nightmare. That said we did walk past a pub on the way; it was closed and would undoubtedly done a roaring trade if they’d have known who was walking past. Still, their loss was the football club’s gain…

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If You Must Make a Noise, Do It Quietly

18 Tuesday Nov 2025

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Saturday 23rd August 2025 ko 17:00

West Lancashire League Division One

ULVERSTON RANGERS 2 (Harrison 23 Lawlor 63)

SLYNE WITH HEST 1 (Hollings 7)

Att 307

Entry £3

Programme £2

If there was one place on the West Lancs Hop I could anticipate is was Ulverston. Other than being where Glaxo SmithKline is based in the UK, Ulverston Rangers play at the Glaxo Sports & Social Club, its also the birthplace of Stan Laurel.

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Furness

09 Sunday Nov 2025

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Saturday 23rd August 2025 k0 11:00

West Lancashire League Division

ASKAM UNITED 0

CROOKLANDS CASUALS 1 (Armstrong 19)

Att 374

Entry £3

Programme £2

With my duties for the West Lancs Hop mainly adding up to driving I felt the sense of anticipation keenly. Craig, Robyn and I formed the GroundhopUK advance party ferrying boxes of programme packs for those ticket holder who’d opted to miss the Wren Rovers game but also to offer help where needed. Truthfully, I don’t remember anywhere that needed our help. Glorious redundancy is a good thing sometimes!

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Randomness

29 Wednesday Oct 2025

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Saturday 16th August 2025 ko 13:45

North East Wales Senior Challenge Cup 2nd Round

CPD YR WYDDGRUG 2 (Summer 25 North 33)

RHYDYMWYN FC 3 (Whelan 59p 80 Farron 83)

Att 20 at Gwernymynydd Village Centre

Free Entry

One of the great joys of a day out with Chris Garner is that he shares my liking for making the game as random as possible. Where doesn’t matter too much, or at what level, in fact if it’s in a league we don’t know- all the better. Here though the idea was straightforward- we picked the most unpronounceable game (to English ears!) we could find!

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Let’s Go ‘Ome

07 Sunday Sep 2025

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Saturday 14th June 2025 ko 12:30

Esliiga B

NARVA TRANS U21 3 (Besirgkis 3 Bahval 41 Reivik 72og)

PAIDE LINNAMEESKOND U21 0

Att 84 at Narva Kalev-Fama Staadion

Free Entry

I’ve always found frontiers fascinating, and I’ve little doubt that the border between Estonia and Russia is nothing if not interesting. Being based near to Tallinn’s main station, Balti Jaam was more than handy as our train left at 6.15am! The little K-kiosk near the platforms was, as ever, handy for an extremely early breakfast- there are no buffet cars on Estonian trains.

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Sportland

02 Tuesday Sep 2025

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Wednesday 11th June 2025 ko 18:00

Estonian “Tipner” Cup Round of 64

JK TALLINNA KALEV u21 6 (Lasn 28 Väjlas 60 Kirss 69 Oja 78 Tammepöld 80 81)

RL VANA HEA PUUR 0

Att 27 at Sportland Arena, Lilleküla Football Complex, Tallinn

Free Entry

We’d made good use of the Ühiskaart public transport cards. A combination of tram and bus had taken us roughly 6km north of Tallinn centre to the TV Tower in the village of Pirita. It was a fascinating place, built in 1980 to relay footage of the sailing competition of the Moscow Olympics based nearby!

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Balti Jam

29 Friday Aug 2025

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Tuesday 10th June 2025 ko 17:00

Estonia U19 Eliitliiga Esilliga

TALLINNA JK LEGION 1 (Blinov 82)

TARTU FC HELIOS 0

Att 73 at Wismari Jalgpallistaadion, Tallinn

Entry Free

It was interesting approaching Estonia having arrived from Sweden. I found myself making comparisons with Stockholm rather than the UK. There is a clear Scandinavian influence, but I was most interested in their past as being part of the USSR before their independence was regained in 1991. You’ll hear Russian spoken, roughly a quarter of Estonians speak it as their first language, but that percentage alters massively depending on where you are, as we were to find out later.

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