Tag Archives: travel

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 borders 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 as ever was 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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The Waterworks

19 Tuesday Aug 2025

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Saturday 7th June 2025 ko 16:00

Division 4 Stockholm Södra

NORSBORG FC 2 (Kelile 6 38)

Baysal sent off 67 (second booking)

IFK ASPUDDEN-TELLUS 4 (Vaitsis 35secs Hassan 15 Tavares 56 Birggersson 61p)

Att 88 at Kärsby BP

Free Entry

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £350 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

The merry band that was the 2025 Swedish Hop continued our tour into Stockholm’s southern suburbs. Norsborg is famous as being for where the capital’s waterworks is based- I’m now wondering whether we could do some kind of Swedish Monopoly Board Hop next year. But moreover Norsborg is also used as the name of a range of furniture at IKEA- is there anything in the world more Swedish than that?

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Ivar Lo

15 Friday Aug 2025

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Saturday 7th June 2025 13:00

Division 4 Stockholm Södra

STUVSTA IF (Labihouton 16)

SKOGÅS-TRÅNGSUNDS 1 (Thunberg 52)

Att 62 at Stuvsta IP

Free Entry

Free Programme (to Swedish Hop party)

The party also received either a mug or pennant each too

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £350 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

Saturday morning dawned as what this Englishman calls the Full Swedish breakfast was in order at our hotel in Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm’s southern suburbs. I’m not saying its for everyone, but the scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, meatballs and chicken sausages were lovely, and if you’re feeling adventurous, you could try a side of pickled herrings on crispbread. I did every time, but then Sweden and I do get along…

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Icelandic

13 Wednesday Aug 2025

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Friday 6th June 2025 ko 19:30

Division 2 Norra Svealand

NACKA FC 1 (Nisic 64)

IK FRANKE 0

Att 66 at Myrsjö I.P.

Free Entry

The Swedish Hop’s cost of £350 included bed and breakfast for two nights, all transport in Sweden, together with entry fees for all games, and a goodie bag!

The Swedish Hop minibus parked up in Sickla Kaj, in Stockholm’s ultra-hip Hammarby Sjöstad and the party had a short time to settle at the Best Western Hotel. Robyn and I have got so used to the place, and the area that it all feels as comfortable as old slippers.

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