Blogiversary of the Ham and Egger Files

Today marks eleven years since the Ham and Egger Files began.

Playing hole 5 of the 11-hole Crazy Golf course at York Golf Range in Towthorpe near Strensall earlier this year. The course was #764 on our travels

I'm often asked how a blog that is (predominantly) about minigolf has the name the Ham and Egger Files? Well, it didn't initially start out life as a minigolf blog.

Back on the 21st December 2006 I published my first post about how I planned to participate in as many obscure and minority sports as I could and see what would happen with the modicum of sporting ability I have!

The term 'ham and egger' has connotations ranging from that of 'ordinary person' to that of 'loser'. The origin of the term stems from prize fighters whose modest skills wouldn’t let them win large purses. Therefore, the fighter or their manager (who received a percentage of purses won) were never able to afford to eat better than ham and eggs.

My second ever blog post was also on the 21st December and about the fine sport of Finger Jousting.

This post is the 2,750th!

Last year I celebrated my blogiversary by playing the Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton. The course was #720

Our interest in minigolf and what would become our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour had actually begun on the 30th September 2006, but I didn't publish a post about the sport until the 29th January 2007 when I announced my joining of the British Minigolf Association - a competition circuit I made my actual debut on in Southend-on-Sea on the 28th April.

Emily putting at the 11-hole Pirate-themed Adventure Golf course at the Funland Themepark in 2008. The course was the 69th played on our tour. The blog post about our visit doesn't include a single photo of me, that's a rarity!

Since my first year of blogging Emily and I have visited nearly 800 miniature golf courses, played in hundreds of tournaments and competed in lots of different sports and games. I've won quite a few titles along the way too, not too bad for a Ham n' Egger.

This year I won The Butler Cup Holiday on the Buses Crazy Golf tournament in Prestatyn, one of two tournaments I won in Wales

Thank you to everyone who has ever read a post, commented, shared, or guest blogged on the site, it's very much appreciated.

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

Minigolfnews.com blog - End of the minigolf season – and the year ahead...

Check out my new blog post on Minigolfnews.com.

Ten years of The Ham & Egger Files

Today marks the tenth anniversary of The Ham & Egger Files blog.

On the 21st December 2006 I wrote the first post introducing the blog and outlining my participation in many obscure and minority sports with the aim of having as much fun as possible with the modicum of sporting ability I have! The second post was about Finger Jousting.

I've had a lot of FUN blogging over the last ten years

Since then the 2,381 posts I've written have received 1.1 million page views from people in 110 countries.

Our travels have taken Emily and I to twelve countries, 500+ places in the UK, 220+ seasides and 719 miniature golf courses.

While many of my blog posts have been about Crazy Golf and Minigolf, I've also blogged about Coeliac Disease and living on a lifelong gluten free diet, travel, social history and a lot of other sports and games.

Related blog posts:
- My most viewed blog post - Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London
- Sports and Games played

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

The Game That Got Away sports blog

My friend and minigolf rival Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley has started up a new sports blog.

The Game That Got Away is dedicated to Rugby League and will include opinion, analysis and features on the sport.

Marc (left) and me outside the now demolished Greyfriars Bus Station in Northampton during the epic year of sport that was 2012

Find out more about Marc's blog here.

Links:
- The Game That Got Away blog
- The Game That Got Away on Twitter

Related blog posts:
- Marc Bazeley
- Blog
- Blogging

Celiac Awareness Day 2015

Celiac Awareness Day is on 13 September.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) is the group behind Celiac Awareness Day, taking place on Sunday 13 September.

Coeliac Disease (Celiac in the US and Canada) is a lifelong autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten and the only treatment is to adhere to a strict lifelong gluten free diet.

In the UK it's estimated that 1 in 100 people have the condition, in the USA the figure is 1 in 133.

It's important to know and remember that Celiac/Coeliac is NOT an allergy, it's NOT a preference, it's NOT a fad, it's NOT a diet, it's NOT an intolerance, it's NOT a choice - it's an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE.

I've been a Coeliac (and a Celiac when in the US) since May 2008

Visit the Celiac Central website for more information on their work and Celiac Awareness Day.

Check out my blog post about Celiac Awareness Day 2014.

In the UK, Coeliac Awareness Week is taking place from 11 to 17 May. For more information check out the Coeliac UK website and the Awareness Week page. Last year I was Minigolfing gluten free in Margate during Coeliac Awareness Week.

Related blog posts:
- Read my Gluten Free Journey blog on the Udi's gluten free website
- Celiac Awareness Day 2014
- Coeliac UK Awareness Week 2014 and the Gluten-free guarantee
- Minigolfing gluten free in Margate
- What a Day, Week and Month! (2013)

- Awareness Week: Coeliac Facts from Udi's Gluten Free

- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Links:
- National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) / Celiac Central
- Coeliac UK

Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina

I recently received a nice surprise in the post - some great merchandise and ephemera from my fellow minigolf bloggers at A Couple of Putts!

What a fine array of minigolf merch

This year Robin Schwartzman, one half of the A Couple of Putts team, has been the Hub-Bub Artist-in-Residence and created a brilliant looking and free to play miniature golf course called Sparkle City Mini Putt in downtown Spartanburg in South Carolina, USA.

The scorecard from Sparkle City Mini Putt looks great

Sparkle City Mini Putt sounds like a marvelous idea. Hopefully one day we'll get to play the layout on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Visit the A Couple of Putts blog to follow the travels of Tom Loftus (aka Mr. Tee) and Robin Schwartzman (aka The Pink Putter) on their minigolf travels.

Check out the links below for more details on the 9-hole minigolf course. To play the course you can take along your own putter and ball, or call in at one of five local business where you can borrow some equipment for free.

Links:
- A Couple of Putts blog
- Sparkle City Mini Putt website
- Sparkle City Mini Putt on Facebook
- Sparkle City Mini Putt / Hub-Bub on Twitter
- Sparkle City Mini Putt – Spartanburg, SC blog post on A Couple of Putts

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour is now on Facebook too

Check out the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook.

We've started a Facebook page to share our blogging and adventures around the UK's mini, crazy and adventure golf courses.

Check out the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour page.

Playing the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Skegness, Lincolnshire. Course #234 on our tour

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- List of courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

The London Allergy and Free From Show 2015

A review of the The London Allergy and Free From Show 2015.

On Friday 3rd July I travelled to Olympia for the London Allergy and Free From Show. Last year was my first time visiting the event and I was interested to see what new products would be on show.

I was pleased to see some new gluten and wheat free ice creams available. On our recent two-week holiday around the south west coast of England I had only managed to find suitable ice cream tubs in two places! Fingers crossed the ice creams from Sweet Rebellion and Jollyum get stocked in more places as they were very tasty.

The Jollyum Ice Creams were very nice

Earlier this year Emily visited Spain and brought me back some Sin Gluten goodies and so it was nice to see the team from Esgir at the show with their range of five gluten and wheat free products that are suitable for Coeliacs. I was so impressed that I bought some of the products.

A good haul from Esgir. I bought one of each of the products that include gluten free croutons, crunchy crumbs and choco snack sticks

I spotted some new gluten free beers from exhibitors including Estrella Damm Daura (with their new Märzen variety), the Wellington Bomber Porter beer from Glebe Farm, Outlook by Stringer's, and Hepworth & Co. While Green's have updated and refreshed its branding. I also got to try CELIA Lager's new Dark variety. Very nice it was too.

The brand new Märzen gluten free beer from Estrella Damm Daura. It tasted great

CELIA Dark was very nice. Martin from CELIA tells me it's a great beer to accompany autumn and winter meals too

The updated branding on the Green's Gluten Free Beers range

I enjoyed the new Wellington Bomber Porter from Glebe Farm

Check out my compilation blog post on all the gluten free beers, ales and lagers I've found since I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease (the list currently stands at 89!).

Stringer's Outlook gluten free ale, one of the GF beers I'm yet to try

It was also good speaking with the team from Can I Eat There? and finding out more about their allergy and intolerance aware restaurant listings and review website.

I did feel that too many of the exhibitors at the event were trying to sell sell sell, rather than doing something a bit different to engage with the audience. The show offers from Esgir were very good, while many other stalls were selling at not much less than a supermarket price. Couple this with the fact that it was baking hot, and while in London people may not want to carry around lots of shopping (including raw meat, or frozen products) so it would be really nice to see the brands trying something new.

Another thought is that because the show is catering to so many different audiences (all with their own varied needs - some lifestyle, some medical) there will be some clashes. This was evident in some of the exhibitors who I know have products that are not suitable for Coeliacs due to manufacturing processes and/or potential cross-contamination - but are labelled as gluten and wheat free. I think that if you're going to offer gluten and wheat free you should go 100%. No half-measures. Granted, there are people with wheat intolerance and non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity etc. who may be fine after consuming these products, but there is a larger proportion who won't be. It leaves a Coeliac like myself with a bitter taste, to be tempted with GF & WF packaging, only to be let down when reading the small print.

As a 'veteran' Coeliac I check, double check and then check again before I take a bite or a sip of anything. Having been glutened on a number of occasions I know it's not worth the risk, so I hope some of the rookie Coeliacs at the show didn't make any errors, or get carried away, in their sampling.

The next food fair I'll be visiting is the Home Counties Gluten Free Food Fair organised by the Herts & Mid Beds Coeliac UK Volunteer Group. Hopefully there'll be lots of new and interesting gluten and wheat free products on show and to sample there.

To round off a very pleasant day in London Emily and I had another brilliant gluten free meal at Honest Burgers.

Check out the Allergy Show London website for more information on the event.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac
- Home Counties Gluten Free Food Fair 2015
- The Allergy and Free From Show 2014 at Olympia
- Sin Gluten
- Gluten free beer

Links:
- Allergy Show London
- Coeliac UK

Celiac Awareness Month 2015

May is Celiac Awareness Month.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) is supporting Celiac Awareness Month that will take place throughout May.

Coeliac Disease (Celiac in the US and Canada) is a lifelong autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten and the only treatment is to adhere to a strict lifelong gluten free diet.

In the UK it's estimated that 1 in 100 people have the condition, in the USA the figure is 1 in 133.

It's important to know and remember that Celiac/Coeliac is NOT an allergy, it's NOT a preference, it's NOT a fad, it's NOT a diet, it's NOT an intolerance, it's NOT a choice - it's an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE.

I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in May 2008

In the UK, Coeliac Awareness Week is taking place from 11 to 17 May. For more information check out the Coeliac UK website and the Awareness Week page. Last year I was Minigolfing gluten free in Margate during Coeliac Awareness Week.

Visit the Celiac Central website for more information on their work and Celiac Awareness Day.

In the USA Celiac Awareness Day is on Sunday 13 September. For more information visit the Celiac Central website and see my blog post about Celiac Awareness Day 2014.

Related blog posts:
- Coeliac Awareness Week 2015
- Celiac Awareness Day 2014
- Coeliac UK Awareness Week 2014 and the Gluten-free guarantee
- Minigolfing gluten free in Margate
- What a Day, Week and Month! (2013)

- Awareness Week: Coeliac Facts from Udi's Gluten Free

- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac
- Read my Gluten Free Journey blog on the Udi's gluten free website

Links:
- National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) / Celiac Central
- Coeliac UK

596 minigolf courses visited to date

Nearing the landmark 600th minigolf course visit on our tour.

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Charter Members Emily Gottfried and Christopher Gottfried at Treasure Island in Southsea - the location of the first two course visits on the tour

Back when we started travelling around the UK we wanted to visit as many seaside resorts and towns as we could - there are over 500 and we've been to 193 to date.

In May 2009 the 100th course we visited overall was at Pops Meadow in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk. When we played the Crazy Golf course in June 2010 it was the 174th we had a round on

The 100th course played was Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf at South Shields, Tyneside in June 2009

The Masters Putting Green in Southport was the 150th course played when we visited in September 2009

The first stop-off was Southsea to visit my little brother. While there we played the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course on the sea front and when we got home we found the excellent minigolf resource MiniatureGolfer.com that listed around 600 courses in the UK.

In September 2010 the Curse of the Mummy in 3D indoor blacklight Crazy Golf course at Xscape Yorkshire in Castleford became the 200th course played on the tour

The 400th course visited overall was at Salthouse Fields in Clevedon, North Somerset in July 2011. The Crazy Golf layout was the 258th played

In total we've visited 596 miniature golf courses and played 360 of them, some of them many times over.

In April 2012 we visited the world's first miniature golf course - The Himalayas at St Andrews

In July 2012 the Minigolf course at Wonderland in Telford, Shropshire became a double landmark course as it was the 300th played and 500th visited overall

The second hole at Wonderland Telford was made of wooden planks!

We've visited and played minigolf in each of the home nations, and so far 21 of the courses we've visited have been overseas - including locations in Finland, the USA, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Hong Kong.

Emily plays hole 18 of the 250th course played on the tour in June 2011. This was in Stockholm, Sweden while we were on international duty as part of the Great Britain team.The 50th course played was also a 'Beton' style of minigolf course while we were playing for GB in Tampere, Finland in May 2008

In total, our travels have taken us to 458 different places in the UK, and that's not including the many many many little places we've stopped at briefly. And of the 193 seasides we've been to so far we've played, or visited, minigolf courses at 120 of them.

The Swedish Felt B-Run style of minigolf at Mead Open Farm in Billington, Bedfordshire was the 350th course played on the tour, and 584th played overall when we had a game there in October 2014

Where will the 600th course be...?

Link:
- MiniatureGolfer.com

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Types and Variants of Minigolf
- Landmark minigolf courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

A new minigolf blog by The Putting Penguin

My fellow minigolf enthusiast Pat Sheridan has entered the world of blogging.

Having had his entry to the USPMGA US Open tournament accepted, pro-putter Pat Sheridan is readying himself for a tilt at the title. In the lead-up to tee-off he'll be keeping the world up-to-date on his new blog.

Since 2001 Pat and his colleague Mandy Ranslow have operated the world's largest miniature golf course review website - The Putting Penguin.

Veteran minigolfer and rookie blogger Pat Sheridan about to tee-off at Putt in the Park in London, England

The 2015 US Open competition will be hosted by the Champions Golf Learning Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina on 15 and 16 May.

Pat has played in 36 minigolf tournaments in his career, winning three events in 2011 - the Ice Breaker Tournament, Ocean's 18 Tournament and Mulligan's Warm Up Tournament. In USPMGA events Pat recorded a 12th place finish at the 2014 US Open, and was 5th in the 2014 Maine State Dolphin Open.

Read the first posts of the new blog at 'The Check is No Longer in the Mail' and 'What's in a tournament? (Part I)'. I'm looking forward to following his progress and wish him all the very best in the US Open.

The Pro Minigolfers at Putt in the Park

Last month Emily and I had the pleasure of meeting Pat while he was on a trip to the UK. We had a fun round at Putt in the Park in Wandsworth, London.

Links:
- The Putting Penguin blog
- The Putting Penguin website
- US Pro Mini Golf Association (USPMGA) website
- Champions Golf Learning Center website

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf with The Putting Penguin at Putt in the Park
- The Putting Penguin

'Shove it, Chuck it, Toss it...' pub games blog

Check out the 'Shove it, Chuck it, Toss it...' blog about traditional pub games.

Playing a game of Northamptonshire Skittles while at a pub in Bedfordshire

Travelling around the country as much as we do we get to visit lots of new and interesting places. When heading to a new town we'll have a look to see what sports or games are available to play in the pubs or parks there.

While our main aim is to visit every miniature golf course in the UK we do like playing pub games.

The Pub Games blog 'Shove it, Chuck it, Toss it...' is a brilliant site, full of details of places to play traditional pub games.

Some like bowls, cribbage, darts, pool and dominoes will be familiar to many people, others including Devil Amongst The Tailors, Nurdles, Daddlums and Put and Take are more obscure or particular to a region.

One of the games with regional variations is skittles, which can be found in Bedfordshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire and Rugby.

My home town of Abingdon is a bit of a hot bed of Aunt Sally - a game that isn't really played much outside of Oxfordshire, save for a few places in Warwickshire and the West Country.

Links:
- 'Shove it, Chuck it, Toss it...'
- Rockingham Forest Cider

Related blog posts:
- Pub Games
- Pub Sports
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in Pub Beer Gardens
- M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course in Bedford

Gluten free Gnocchi from Rustichella d'Abruzzo

Cooking up some dishes with Rustichella d'Abruzzo senza glutine Gnocchi.

While on a recent visit to the West Berkshire town of Newbury we popped into Oldbury's Deli for a look round and were pleased to see they had a gluten free section. It was also nice that there were some interesting and different products on sale.

The one item that really caught our eye was the gluten free Gnocchi. Something that is not a stock item in most shops. Emily has tried to make Gnocchi before, with mixed results, so we decided to buy a bag and give it a go.

Gnoccho di patate senza glutine from Rustichella d'Abruzzo

The Gnocchi (senza glutine) is from Rustichella d'Abruzzo, and is made to strict standards to avoid cross contamination in the production process.

Gnocchi with a tomato and basil sauce

Emily cooked up two sauces and prepared the Gnocchi two ways. We had boiled Gnocchi with a tomato & basil sauce, and a fried Gnocchi with a lemon & sage butter. Both were delicious. I really liked the fried version.

Gnocchi with a lemon and sage butter

Being on a strict life-long gluten free diet can be frustrating and a little boring so it's great when Emily and I spot something new to cook and eat. The 500g bag of Gnocchi cost £5.80. We would buy it again.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Emily's Cooking

Links:
- Rustichella d'Abruzzo website
- Rustichella d'Abruzzo on Twitter
- Oldbury's Deli website
- Coeliac UK

Coeliac Awareness Week 2015

This year Coeliac Awareness Week is 11 to 17 May.

Coeliac Awareness Week is taking place from 11 to 17 May. For more information check out the Coeliac UK website and the Awareness Week page over the coming months.

Last year I was Minigolfing gluten free in Margate during Coeliac Awareness Week.

Minigolfer, blogger and (unfortunately) a coeliac. Last year I was playing in a national minigolf tournament at Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate during Coeliac Awareness Week

Coeliac Disease is a lifelong autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten and the only treatment is to adhere to a strict lifelong gluten free diet.

In the UK it's estimated that 1 in 100 people have the condition.

I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in May 2008 and have been living on a strict, lifelong gluten free diet ever since

It's important to know and remember that Celiac/Coeliac is NOT an allergy, it's NOT a preference, it's NOT a fad, it's NOT a diet, it's NOT an intolerance, it's NOT a choice - it's an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE.

Check out the blog posts and links below for more information on Coeliac Disease and Gluten Free.

Related blog posts:
- Celiac Awareness Day 2014
- Coeliac UK Awareness Week 2014 and the Gluten-free guarantee
- Minigolfing gluten free in Margate
- What a Day, Week and Month! (2013)

- Awareness Week: Coeliac Facts from Udi's Gluten Free

- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Funny things about being a Coeliac
- Read my Gluten Free Journey blog on the Udi's gluten free website

Links:
- Coeliac UK
- Coeliac Awareness Week 2015
- National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) / Celiac Central

Dinner time - a gluten free mystery meal

When you're a Coeliac what do you have at dinner (or tea) time?

Udi's gluten free asked on Facebook "Is your evening meal Dinner or Tea where you are? And more importantly....what are you making?"

Well, here in Leagrave (the sunny part of Luton) we call it dinner. When Udi's asked I didn't have a clue what we'd be having, but Emily obliged with the answer "It's turkey meatballs with tomato and basil sauce. All gluten free. Obviously."

And it was very good indeed. Absolutely delicious.

The rustic gluten free turkey meatballs with tomato & basil sauce, served with Gallo gluten free spaghetti 

As someone with Coeliac Disease every day can be a struggle to eat and drink safely. It can also be pretty stressful and annoying, so it's brilliant that Emily cooks up some brilliant gluten & wheat free meals for us to enjoy.

Check out the Facebook thread that started the discussion and have a look at the blog posts and links below for more information on the range of gluten free food from Udi's. They do some really great products.

My current favourite breakfast/brunch/lunch/snack/pudding is an Udi's gluten free Chocolate Chip Bagel, toasted and topped with a sliced banana.

Related blog posts:
- New products from Udi's Gluten Free
- Udi’s Gluten Free – more than just mince pies
- Awareness Week: Coeliac Facts from Udi's Gluten Free
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Emily's cooking

Links:
- Udi's Gluten Free UK
- Udi's Gluten Free UK on Facebook
- Udi's Gluten Free UK on Twitter
- Riso Gallo
- Udi's Gluten Free USA
- Coeliac UK

Gluten free Lebkuchen Christmas Biscuits

Baking some treats from the Gluten-free Baking at Christmas book by Samantha Stein.

One of the Christmas food items I've missed most since being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease is Lebkuchen. They are a tasty glazed - and sometimes chocolate-coated - gingerbread biscuit from Germany.

With my German-heritage I remember receiving hampers from relations in Germany and my favourite item was always Lebkuchen.

As there are no commercially available gluten free Lebkuchen in the shops I haven't eaten any since Christmas 2007.

I heard via twitter that fellow coeliac Samantha Stein (aka The Happy Coeliac) had included a recipe for gluten free Lebkuchen in her 'Gluten-free Baking at Christmas' book! As an early Christmas present I bought the book and it was delivered in time to get baking before the big day.

The Gluten-free Baking at Christmas book by 'The Happy Coeliac' Samantha Stein. The book contains 20 festive recipes

Emily is a great cook and budding baker and looked forward to cooking the Lebkuchen. As recommended in the recipe the dough mix was prepared 24-hours in advance an left overnight in the fridge so that the flavour could intensify.

We had to hunt for some Christmas-shaped cake cutters, but managed to track down a set in M&S so we could make the Lebkuchen festive.

The end result was a batch of very nice Lebkuchen and a very happy coeliac. As well as the glaze we topped some of them with melted dark chocolate. They really tasted of Christmas.

Gluten free Lebkuchen biscuits

You can buy the 'Gluten-free Baking at Christmas' book by Samantha Stein on The Happy Coeliac website. Check out the gluten free Lebkuchen recipe on the site too.

If you sign-up for free updates from The Happy Coeliac you will also receive a free 40-page eBook 'Gluten Free For Beginners'.

Related blog posts:
- Coeliac
- Gluten Free

Links:
- The Happy Coeliac website
- The Happy Coeliac on Twitter
- The Happy Coeliac on Facebook
- The Happy Coeliac on YouTube

Blogging for eight years today

As of today I've been blogging for eight years!

Richard Gottfried, veteran blogger

I've written 1,931 blog posts.

The blog has received almost 700,000 page views.

With readers from over 100 countries.

In that time Emily and I have travelled to 193 seasides.

We've played more than 30 different sports and games.

And visited 588 minigolf, crazy golf, putting and adventure golf courses.

Plus, I've found, tried and reviewed lots of gluten free food & drink.

Thank you all for reading, liking, commenting, tweeting, RT'ing, sharing and +1'ing :-)

Related blog posts:
- My first blog post "The Ham & Egger Files – An Introduction"
- My most viewed blog post "Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London"
- Behold...