Groundhopping journeys

 It shows how little the World Cup means to me, that instead of staying at home and rooting for England, I got on a train to North Wales for a pre season friendly vs Whitchurch Alport. To me, this is real football whereas the World Cup is fantasy football. The journey there was smooth, with a short stoppage in Chester I had enough time for a bacon sandwich before moving onwards. I had another change of train at Llandudno Junction (by the way this is nowhere near Llandudno, do not try and walk from here) and was in Llandudno for 1130. The game was a 2pm kick off so I had a little wander into town, I bought four or five drinks from the pound land shop, given the mercury was through the roof still in this never ending heatwave. I then got a ham salad sandwich and a raspberry turnover that I saved for later on for my tea, due to the lack of anything remotely near to Chester train station. I then had a quick walk down to the promenade and then turned around and headed to the ground. Ide...

 With a lack of football again, in an admittedly brief close season for me, it was my second Rugby League game in a week and this time I was hoping the match actually finished. It was touch and go whether I made the game, finishing work at 1pm, although I was very nearly late due to being stuck in traffic for Bramham Horse  Trials. However I did make it, also navigating the notorious York Ring Road, with half an hour to spare before kick off. Heworth is an excellent little club, with a nice club house and food on offer, a big plus in my opinion. Admission was £4 and £2, with a good car park, steak pie and an Irn Bru came to £4.60. There was a good crowd in attendance for the visit of top of the table West Hull. The game was very one sided, West Hull coming into it with a record of 10 out of 10 wins and 11 was never in doubt, 28 without reply to the good at half time and winning in the end 60-0. Heworth meanwhile are struggling with only Rochdale Mayfield below them in the tabl...