Minigolfing in Oxford's Parks

A look back at three minigolf courses in Oxford's Parks.

On this day in 2009 we played three Swedish Felt Mini Golf courses in Oxford.

We first visited the three Swedish Felt type minigolf courses in my home city on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in December 2008. We got to play them on the 13th August 2009 at the start of a nine-day road-trip that took us around the coast of Wales. Back then you could find layouts in Bury Knowle Park in Headington, Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park and Florence Park in Cowley.

Mini Golf in Bury Knowle Park, Headington.

Emily playing the first of many crazy golf holes we played on the holiday

This Swedish Felt Mini Golf was called Crazy Golf...

...and Putting!

A lesser spotted type of rules sign

Spectating

Swedish Felt Mini Golf courses contain some tricky optical illusion obstacles

Here's another lane that requires precision

Mini Golf at Florence Park in Cowley.

Teeing-off on the second of three courses in Oxford

Emily playing a very tricky obstacle

A nice line

Mini Golf at Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park in Oxford.

At the third Swedish Felt Mini Golf course in the third park

Another long, straight shot required

And another!

An uphill dog-leg lane

Mini Golf in Oxford

Sadly the Florence Park Minigolf course was removed in March this year.

The course at Cutteslowe and Sunnymead Park is now Crazy Croc's Mini Golf.

As far as I'm aware the course at Bury Knowle Park in Headington is still there.

Other places to play minigolf in Oxford include Gravitee Adventure Golf at the Ozone Leisure Park and Junkyard Golf venue in the Westgate Centre.

Earlier this year I found out there's also a minigolf course at the Fulbrook Centre at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

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Urgh Street Art!

It was brilliant to find this superb piece of tile art by Angus while down in Camden back in February.

Mini Golf at Canoe Lake in Southsea

A look at the Mini Golf course at Canoe Lake in Southsea, Hampshire.

The 12-hole course was the 669th visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in August 2015.

It was one of the best grass putting courses I've played on my travels and the sort of course I could play all day long.

We've now visited 954 courses since September 2006. The very first course was also in Southsea!

It'll be marvellous when we're able to get back to the seaside.

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Krunchy Fried Chicken in Manchester

Another Krunchy Fried Chicken spotted in Manchester.

You can find a 'KFC' on Bloom Street in Manchester city centre.

Krunchy Fried Chicken

A funny old sign

NO TIPPING at the Stockport Pyramid.

While having a wander around the Stockport Pyramid I noticed a funny sign near the gates - it must've been up for years as it had the old Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council logo on it.

NO TIPPNG

The other NO TIPPING sign on the opposite side of the driveway was spelt correctly.

NO TIPPING

Both signs are likely to be almost 30 years old. That's a long time for a typo like that to be hidden in plain sight!

The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport was founded in 1974 and the Stockport Pyramid was completed in 1992 after five years work.

Sadly traces of the old Metropolitan Borough of Stockport logo are becoming few and far between. There was one on an old noticeboard on Adswood Road in Cheadle Hulme until it was destroyed in a road traffic accident last year!

  

Thanks to Natalie Ainscough for letting me know about this sign with the old logo on at Woodford Recreation Ground.

Today is World Elephant Day

The 12th of August is World Elephant Day 🐘

World Elephant Day was launched in 2012 to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.

We've seen a few elephants at courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Elephants on minigolf courses in Worcester, Stourport on Severn, Brean and Great Yarmouth

Holidays at home - Stockport, 2020

Who needs the Giza Necropolis in Egypt or the Luxor in Las Vegas when you've got the Stockport Pyramid in Kings Valley.

With nowhere to go on holiday this year we've been exploring the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport even more than usual. We had a nice walk around the Stockport Pyramid and along the Trans Pennine Trail yesterday evening 

The Stockport Pyramid was completed in 1992 and was originally planned to be the first of five pyramids in Stockport's own Valley of the Kings.

That plan didn't come to fruition and the Stockport Pyramid sits on in the Kings Valley industrial and trading estate next to the M60.

Until last year the Stockport Pyramid was home to The Co-operative Bank. It's now To Let.

I do like seeing quirky buildings and local follies.

The Pyramid is one of a number of superb landmarks and interesting buildings in Stockport.

New Crazy Golf course opening in Aylesbury

A Crazy Golf course is opening at the new Flip Out trampoline and adventure centre in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.

The indoor Crazy Golf course will be among a number of activities within the attraction at the Flip Out venue opening in the old BHS shop in the town centre.

Flip Out in Aylesbury will also be home to the UK's first glow-in-the-dark ice rink!

Flip Out's Aylesbury adventure park is scheduled to opening in November this year.

We look forward to giving the Crazy Golf course a play on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future. The ice skating sounds cool too.

Check out the Flip Out website for more information.

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A bench at the Stockport Pyramid

What a spot for a nice sit down.

The bench is nestled between the Trans Pennine Trail, the River Mersey and the Stockport Pyramid.

World Alternative Games 2021

The countdown is on until the 2021 World Alternative Games in Llanwrtyd Wells.

The World Alternative Games were due to take place in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales this month. The fifth edition of the Games have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and are now scheduled for August 2021.

The festival of strange, obscure and interesting sports takes place over three weeks and sees thousands of athletes and spectators descend on the town to compete in, and marvel at, the sporting action.

The first edition of the World Alternative Games were held in 2012 to celebrate the huge year of sport and offer an alternative to elite sport with an open-to-all event. The second edition took place in 2014 and every two years thereafter. There were 35 events in 2012 and 60 titles up for grabs in 2014.

The competitors from the first-ever Finger Jousting Championships held on UK soil back at the 2012 World Alternative Games

The Games are a superb mass participation multi-sport event and really do encourage everyone to get involved. Many spectators end up as competitors and the serious obscure sports enthusiasts very often take up a new sport after visiting.

The medalists from the 2014 Finger Jousting World Championships

Some of the sports included at previous editions include wife carrying, chariot racing, cheese rolling, pooh sticks, underwater hockey, archery, office chair racing, hay bale tossing, finger jousting, stone skimming, underwater rugby, space hopper racing, horseshoe throwing, bog snorkelling, crazy golf, worm charming, conkers, world of grip, zombie fun runs, plank racing, rock paper scissors, hide n seek and toe wrestling. There have been many many more contests and the 2021 event will be packed with a wide range of different sports and games to play.

World of Grip was a tough challenge!

I have been a competitor, volunteer, organiser, advocate and promoter of the World Alternative Games since the first event in 2012.

With my Corinthian medal from competing in the World of Grip events

I organised the World Finger Jousting Federation Championships at the first Games in 2012. Prior to that tournament I took part in the Egg Throwing Championships with my team-mate Jas Kukielka and we ended up winning the World Title!

On the World Alternative Games podium

It just goes to show that anything can happen when you're at the World Alternative Games!

The champions cooling down after the event

Spot the egg...

Visit the World Alternative Games website to find out more.

As well as being the UK's smallest town Llanwrtyd Wells is famous for being the host venue for a number of quirky and unusual sports and games, including the World Bog Snorkelling Championships and the annual Man versus Horse Marathon.

See more of my blog posts about the World Alternative Games.

Puttstars Mini Golf in Rochdale

A look at the new Puttstars Mini Golf venue in Rochdale.

The new Puttstars Mini Golf centre at Rochdale Riverside was recently completed and the exterior signage is in place.

The approach to Puttstars at the new Rochdale Riverside shopping and entertainment centre

We're looking forward to having our first games at a Puttstars course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

You can find Puttstars Mini Golf next to the Rochdale Town Centre tram stop

As well as the new Rochdale location you can find Puttstars Mini Golf courses in Leeds and York.

A bit of tram nerdery!

Check out the Puttstars Mini Golf website for more information.

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New Crazy Golf course opening in Cardiff

A new Boom: Battle Bar venue is opening at the Brewery Quarter in Cardiff.

The second Boom: Battle Bar is opening in Cardiff's Brewery Quarter later this year. The indoor competitive socialising venue will be home to a crazy course, darts, axe throwing, ping pong, shuffleboard, VR games, arcade games and more.

Two of the things that also caught my eye about this particular Boom: Battle Bar is that it will also offer players Bar Billiards and the German game of Hammerschlagen.

Bar Billiards is a brilliant old cue sport and quite rare to find outside of the south of England and the Channel Islands.

Hammerschlagen is a game where players compete to hammer nails into a wooden beam!

Check out the Boom: Battle Bar website for more information.

We're looking forward to visiting and playing some games there in the future.

You can see photos of Norwich's Boom: Battle Bar in this blog post - Boom: Battle Bar at the Castle Quarter in Norwich

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The Tyne & Wear Metro turns 40 today

The Tyne and Wear Metro light rail system is 40 years old today.

The The Tyne & Wear Metro system opened on this day in 1980. The network was opened in stages between 1980 and 1984 with the trains running on a mixture of old railway routes and new track to bespoke stations.

A Tyne & Wear Metro train crossing the Queen Elizabeth II bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne

The first route to open was Haymarket to Tynemouth.

A Tyne & Wear Metro service heading into Newcastle from Byker

Street art on the Tyne & Wear Metro

We were in Newcastle and Gateshead for the World Transplant Games last year and while in the area went Space Invader hunting. Three of the mosaic tile pieces by the French street artist Invader can be found at Gateshead Interchange Tyne & Wear Metro station.

Space Invader NCL_21 downstairs in Gateshead Interchange metro station

A closer look at Invader NCL_21

NCL_19 is above ground at Gateshead Interchange

Invader NCL_20 is deep underground at Gateshead Interchange

New indoor minigolf course in Seaton Carew

A new indoor minigolf venue is now open in Seaton Carew, Teesside.

Drive & Putt has opened at the Sports Domes in Seaton Carew, Hartlepool.

In September 2018 we tried to play the Golf Trail adventure putting course at the Golf Dome in the town. Sadly it had closed down.

The venue is now under new ownership.

It's another new minigolf course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future.

Visit the Drive & Putt Facebook Page for more information.

Minigolf in Seaton Carew

As well as the new Dive & Putt course you can also play outdoors at Lofty's Crazy Golf.

On our first visit to Seaton Carew in 2009 we looked for the old Crazy Golf course but found no trace of it.

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International Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2012

Looking back at the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London.

We competed in the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London eight years ago this week. Time flies.

International Janken action

We teamed up with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Dave Barry and his daughter Sophie from the USA to take part in the huge event.

The San Marino Rock Paper Scissors team

More than 150 athletes from 16 teams competed in the Wacky Nation organised tournament held at the Knight’s Templar Pub on Chancery Lane in London.

As we couldn’t play as a combined "UK-USA" team we decided to represent the plucky nation of San Marino instead.

Prior to the start of the competition I challenged football hard man Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock to a 'friendly' RPS contest to warm-up. Needless to say I won the shootout! It was an ill-tempered clash with plenty of foul language and gamesmanship. The heated battle almost resulted in a knock-out punch too!

Clash of the titans

International Rock Paper Scissors

Matches in the Round Robin stage of the main-event were played in a ‘first to four points’ format with each player in the team taking it in turns to win a point by competing in a ‘best of three’ Rock Paper Scissors game. Our team managed to rack up a win loss record of won four, lost one.

Before any teams could advance from our pool a play-off was required as Austria and Lapland A had also finished with four wins and one loss!

Thankfully our team was able to win both matches to advance alongside Lapland A, with the Austrians sent home.

The first semi-final saw San Marino take on the Vatican City team in a ‘first to six points’ match.

Unfortunately we lost and were therefore unable to go for gold.

Sadly we just missed out on the podium, suffering defeat to Great Britain in the repechage to ultimately finish in fourth place.

The final was a battle between the might of Lapland A and the Vatican City, with the Laplanders finishing on top and grabbing the gold medal.

Getting to the semi-finals of the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships was the furthest I ever reached in an RPS tournament having been knocked out in the preliminary rounds of national competitions held in 2010 and 2011.

The perfect socially distanced sport?

Thinking about it, Rock Paper Scissors could be the perfect sport to play in these time of social distancing.

As a non-contact sport it's played by opponents standing apart from each other. The distance between them could be increased to 2 metres or more, they could wear PPE without impairing their throws and/or a protective screen could be placed between the two players.

If anyone ever fancies a game of Rock Paper Scissors via a video call do let me know...

Benches in the time of Coronavirus

A look at two benches in the time of social distancing.

We saw a few different social distancing signs on our walk round Colne in Lancashire on Sunday afternoon, including these two on benches in the town centre.

Minigolf balls

A look at a few of my favourite minigolf balls.

Clockwise from top left, balls from Holeymolies, Minigolfnews, the Putter King, KISS Minigolf, the Asian Open Championships and the World Minigolf Sport Federation

As is often the way in sport you will find a wide-range of specialist equipment to use to play the game. While most people will use the club and ball provided at the course, tournament minigolfers will delve into their bag of balls to find the optimum one to make the best attempt at a hole-in-one.

In the world of competitive minigolf specialist balls are big business. 10,000+ minigolf sport balls have been produced in the last 80 years!

Each ball has different properties including bounce, hardness and surface finish and will react differently based on temperature.

These special qualities allow for a variety of shots to be played on the range of different courses and obstacles - the balls range from 'dead' where there is no bounce, through to super bouncy balls for multiple rebounds.

Sometimes though, the most important factor is whether it has a cool or interesting graphic, design or logo on it.

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