Lost in translation

We love travelling around the UK and in the last month we've travelled to Scotland and Wales and noticed a lot of dual language signs.

I always really enjoy driving in Wales as you know you're in a foreign country when you see the first ARAF on the road.

ARAF

On the doors of the toilets in the games-room of our hotel in Cwmbran there was a confusing situation!

Toileting abroad

It didn't help that neither of us could remember which symbol (depicted on the dragon tails) was the right one for male/female!? I suppose blue is quite obviously the men's lavvy.

Rather unhelpfully when I contacted my personal Welsh to English translation service by text I received a reply of "Men and Women". It took a second text to clarify the correct way round! Thank goodness neither of us had to go at the time.

After Araf (for 'Slow') and Allan (pronounced "Achlan", the Welsh word for 'Out' as in an exit) I like seeing signs for Canol y dref.

A brown sign pointing to Crickhowell's Canol y dref

We enjoyed our visits to Abergavenny (Y Fenni) and Crickhowell (Crug Hywel) and while in Builth Wells (Llanfair ym Muallt) we took a snap of Emily's new favourite Welsh words.

A Welsh Bus Stop in Builth Wells

Back in 2009 we went on a brilliant roadtrip around the Welsh coast and visited some great places - including Tenby, which in Welsh has a great name - Dinbych-y-pysgod - which means little town of the fishes / little fortress of the fish.

Check out our blog post about English to Welsh translations for Mini and Crazy Golf that we spotted on the trip.

This time we were in Wales for the World Alternative Games (Gemau Byd Arallddewisol) in Llanwrtyd Wells (Llanwrtyd). At the Games we ran the Finger Jousting (Ymwan Bys) Championships, played Portaputt (Portaputt) and competed in the World of Grip (Byd Gafael).

We're looking forward to many more roadtrips around the UK.

Related blog posts:
- Wales
- Minigolf etc. - English to Welsh translations
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played

Crazy Golf at Callendar Park in Falkirk, Scotland

A visit to the Crazy Golf course in Falkirk's Callendar Park.

The final of the fourteen Miniature Golf courses we visited on our holiday in Scotland was at Callendar Park in Falkirk. The course became the 576th visited overall and the 233rd unplayed course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Unfortunately as we visited after spending the day out in Glasgow it was closed when we arrived. It looked like a good layout and similar to courses we've played in Motspur Park in London, Wimbledon Park and Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.

You can follow the Brown Signs to Callendar House and the park too.

Link:
- Falkirk Community Trust - Callendar Park website

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date
- Scotland

A trip to High Wycombe

A visit to High Wycombe’s two Chair Museums.

Q. How interesting can furniture be?

A. Very

Ahead of visiting a friend’s housewarming party in High Wycombe I asked her what else was interesting, or a ‘must see’ when in the town. She said that amongst the good shopping on offer and nice walks (if the weather is nice) that there is a Chair Museum. She said that the Buckinghamshire town is famous for its chair making, much like Luton is renowned for its hat making tradition.

Checking online for details of the museums and also on twitter to see if they had a presence I also found out a number of other people talking about the High Wycombe Chair Museums, most notably via the Crap Towns* twitter feed (linking from a blog post), and the book’s author Sam Jordison who was keen to hear all about it.

So here goes...

Driving into the town on the West Wycombe Road the Brown Tourist Sign for the Chair Making Museum was nice and prominent, so as soon as we had parked up we knew exactly where to head to. The Chair Making Museum actually had seven Brown Signs that we could see (including one right outside!), Amanda at the Follow the Brown Signs website would be in her element.

On our arrival we spotted another brown sign advertising the museum and a nicely crafted door. 

On entering the showroom for Stewart Linford Furniture Maker and museum upstairs we were welcomed by the ‘curator’ Tom who was intrigued by our story of how we had found out about the museum. 

He let us know that if we wanted the full tour of the Chair Making Workshop it would be £6 each, but he was happy to give us some background information about Chair Making and also a variety of chairs in the showroom – including the Winston Churchill chair (with secret compartment) and a one-of-a-kind anthropomorphic rocking chair! 

The most comfortable chair I've ever sat in

We also found out why chairs have an H-frame and why a top hat should be kept top-side down. Intriguing stuff.

The Chair Making Museum is open seven days a week and we were advised to book ahead and perhaps visit on a weekday to get the full experience.

Ironically in the road right next door to the museum was an old chair, upturned and used to block a drain!?

After a break wandering around the town we headed to the town’s main museum. This is in Castle Hill House on Priory Avenue and very close to the town’s railway station. 

The museum had some fascinating exhibits about the chair making industry, the people involved in it and the town itself. 

There was also an excellent sporting exhibit (running until the 8th of September 2013) on the town’s football team – Wycombe Wanderers (aka Chair Boys) - to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Fellow Minigolfer, Bar Billiardist and Skittler Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley was also due in the town to report on the Wycombe Wanderers F.C. versus Northampton Town F.C. but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Amongst the displays, information and trophy cabinets there were interactive elements, including a table football game (Emily beat me in the best of 3-points game and I won 3-2 overall) and a penalty shootout game which I won 2-nil, although Emily made the save of the match by using her face!

The High Wycombe Museum and Gardens are well worth a visit if you’re in the town, it really was a very well maintained and interesting set-up and gave me some good inspiration for the Crazy Golf Museum.

We had a great day out in High Wycombe and there was plenty to see and do, though no Coeliac-friendly places to dine out gluten and wheat free (a real shame). We’ll be heading back again to visit the Hell Fire Caves which we spotted advertised on a Brown Tourist Sign on the drive in.

Links:

- Stewart Linford Furniture Maker and Chair Making Museum

- Wycombe Museum

* My home town of Luton, Bedfordshire won the title of ‘Crap Town’ in 2004 (beating the likes of Windsor and Sunderland and 47 other UK towns) and I recently found out that in winning the ‘honour’ the town was NOT bestowed with a plaque or trophy of some sort! Hopefully the next winner, wherever it may be is given something tangible to mark the distinction.

Milestones and Brown Tourist Signs spotted in Upper Largo, Scotland

Spotting some more points of interest on our travels.

On our way from St Andrews towards Kirkcaldy during our tour of Scotland in April we drove through the villages of Upper Largo and Lower Largo and noticed a few interesting signs and milestones.

At the main junction in Upper Largo there were a pair of Brown Tourist Signs pointing just to ‘East’ and ‘West’, rather than any particular sites of interest! I believe these are for the Fife Coastal Tourist Route. They are also another set of signs spotted for the Follow The Brown Signs website.

A pair of Brown Tourist Signs in Upper Largo, Scotland

At the same junction of Main Street, Saint Andrews Road & South Feus was a milestone that showed distances to 15 places, the closest being Mounturpie at ‘no miles away’. I wonder if The Milestone Society has it logged on their database.

A Milestone in Upper Largo, Scotland

Having a 'wander' around Upper Largo on Google Street View you can see that above the Milestone there are another couple of Brown Tourist Signs, along with the other side of the milestone. One of these Brown Signs showed that 'Scotland's Secret Bunker' was 11 miles in the direction we had come from!

In Lower Largo we saw a ‘Welcome’ sign which stated that Lower Largo was twinned with Robinson Crusoe Island! A little research showed the South Pacific Ocean island to be “The most famous "deserted" island in the World” and the inspiration for the book Robinson Crusoe after the Scottish Sailor Alexander Selkirk, who hailed from Lower Largo, was stranded on the island for four years, four months! The twinning connection was made in 2004 to mark the 300th anniversary of Selkirk's marooning on the island!

Links:

- Follow The Brown Signs

- The Milestone Society

- Largo Area Community Council

Related Blog Posts:

- Visiting a further 49 Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in England and Scotland

- Unplayed Minigolf Courses on our Roadtrip to Scotland & Back

We Spotted a Brown Tourist Sign for a Milestones Museum in Basingstoke...

One of the Brown Tourist Signs we spotted on our way to the launch of the new minigolf course at Basingstoke Golf Centre

...although the museum is of the living history variety, rather than a museum of milestones!

Another brown tourist sign spotted for the Follow the Brown Signs website though!

We didn't have time to visit on this occasion as we were heading down to Southsea.

Links:
- The Milestone Society
- Follow the Brown Signs
- The Milestones Museum, Basingstoke

Related Blog Posts:
- A Landmark On Our Travels - Photographing Our First Milestone
- The Brown Sign Way - A Website and Blog Dedicated to Tourist Attraction Signs

Crazy Golf at Alexandra Palace in London - Course played #282

On Monday 19th December 2011 Brad Shepherd and I made a visit to Alexandra Palace to have a play of the Crazy Golf course set up there.

The 18-hole course became the 282nd played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Playing hole 10

Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd playing hole 3 at Ally Pally

Brad and I faced-off in an 18-hole one-round contest on the course. Over the front-9 holes I scored 15, with Brad hitting a 23. Brad struck back on the back-9 and scored a 22 to my 26. However, I managed to defeat him 41-45.

The course is owned by Moneypenny Events and features some of the holes/frames as the Minigolf courses we previously played at Devonshire Square in London (#155 & #155.5/visit 199b). The company also own the course that has appeared at the o2 (#210).

Photos of the course:

Alexandra Palace is also home to an interesting looking Pitch & Put Miniature Golf Course. Some of the holes are played up/down hill! There is also a Putting Course there. They are both on the 'to play' list, hopefully sometime in 2012...

Links:
- Minigolf & Crazy Golf in London
- Alexandra Palace
- Crazy Golf at Alexandra Palace
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour