Update from the World Alternative Games 2014 in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales

Calendar of events announced and new World Alternative Games Facebook page launched for 2014 Games.

This year's World Alternative Games will see over 60 different sports and activities taking place between Friday 8th and Monday 25th of August in Britain's smallest town - Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales. 

The organisers of the 2014 World Alternative Games have launched a new Facebook page for the 18-day festival of sport.

Among the sports people can compete in will be Finger Jousting - with the World Finger Jousting Federation hosting its first official World Championship on Sunday 10th of August.

The Finger Jousting competitors at the World Alternative Games 2012

In 2012 Emily and I organised the World Alternative Games Finger Jousting Championships that saw competitors from five countries take part in the first Finger Jousting tournament on UK soil! Check out the World Alternative Games 2012 Finger Jousting Championships report on the WFJF website for more info, results, photos and facts & stats from the event.

The crowd looks on as Chief Umpire Emily officiates the Finger Jousting contest between Joachim Davidse (NED) and Alain G (FRA) at the 2012 World Alternative Games

We had a brilliant time in Llanwrtyd Wells and can't wait to return to be a part of the excellent event.

Other sports on offer include Bog Snorkeling, Wife Carrying, Man vs Horse Race and a huge number of other interesting, weird, wacky and wonderful sports and games and designed to appeal to a wide-range of people of all sporting abilities.

As well as organising the Finger Jousting I also competed in the Egg Throwing Championship alongside Jas Kukielka and we took a very surprising Gold Medal in the event!

Jas Kukielka, me and Seve Kukielka with our World Alternative Games medal haul for Egg Throwing at the 2012 Games

The World Alternative Games calendar of events for 2014 is available online and you'll be able to see the vast array of activities on offer!

For further information about the World Alternative Games 2014 check out the website and Facebook page of the games.

The website also has details of places to stay. In 2012 we stayed received a very warm welcome at the Bryncelyn Guest House and had a great (gluten free) meal in the restaurant at the Lasswade Country House hotel in the town.

One of my favourite pubs in the world is the town's Neuadd Arms Hotel - which is also the Headquarters of the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Me and Jas Kukielka outside the Neuadd Arms Hotel in Llanwrtyd Wells - Headquarters of the Monster Raving Loony Party!

Links:

- World Alternative Games 2014

- World Alternative Games 2014 on Facebook

- World Alternative Games on Twitter

- World Finger Jousting Federation

- World Finger Jousting Federation on Facebook

- World Alternative Games 2012 Finger Jousting Championships report

- 'Dame' Julia Galvin, sportswoman extraordinaire

Related blog posts:

- 2014 World Alternative Games in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales

- Becoming a World Champion in Egg Throwing!

- Finger Jousting to feature as a sport at the 2012 World Alternative Games!

FootGolf is heading to Luton!

Tea Green Golf Club to launch new FootGolf course in Spring 2014.

My local golf club, Tea Green Golf at Wandon End, near Luton, is branching out and will soon be a FootGolf venue!

The sport of FootGolf is played on a golf course, with player's aiming to get the football into the hole in as few shots as possible.

Tea Green is always a good spot to visit and I enjoy my 'friendly' rounds of Mini Golf at the club against Lester and Scott, so I'm looking forward to giving the new game a go too.

As well as the brand new FootGolf course Tea Green Golf is home to a great 9-hole Par-3 Golf course, a driving range, 9-hole Minigolf course, practice Putting Green, a clubhouse and bar serving food throughout the week and a range of social events throughout the year.

I first heard about FootGolf last September while I was playing Crazy Golf at the 9-hole course at Stonham Barns in Suffolk.

Links:

- Tea Green Golf

- UK Footgolf Association

- Tea Green-related Blog Posts

Great gluten free food & drink at the Gluugle launch party

Great food and drink at the Gluugle gluten free review website and app launch party.

The gluten free review site Gluugle held a launch party at The Truscott Arms in Maida Vale, London last night and as one of the reviewers I was invited along to meet the team and fellow coeliacs & gluten intolerants, and sample some of the great gluten free food available at the pub.

Upon arriving I was very impressed by the menu at The Truscott Arms, as the vast majority of it is gluten free, or has a GF option available. I'll be heading back there for a full meal soon and I heard the Sunday Roast dinner is brilliant.

Its always great to meet with fellow coeliacs to share tips and especially so when you can also scoff some great food and beer!

The beer at the Gluugle launch was supplied by Celia lager, a beverage I am a big fan of. The food included a selection of what's available on the menu at the pub, with fish & chips, beef shin chips, 'fake rye bread' bruschetta and black pudding scotch eggs!

Some of the Fish & Chips and Celia lager from the Gluugle launch event - I was too busy eating to get photos of all the food!

I also noticed that the pub serve Pork Scratchings too! Another snack I'm a big fan of.

It was a shame that my appetite and capacity to eat more has been somewhat decimated by being a Coeliac or I would've eaten a LOT more of the fantastic food laid on by The Truscott Arms and the brilliant Doughnuts from Wild Thexton - the first Doughnuts I've had since 2009!

A selection of the brilliant doughnuts from Wild Thexton - a shame I'd filled up on savoury food else I would've scoffed a fair few more of these tasty treats

Gluugle.com - the ultimate place to share and discover great gluten free places - is packed full of reviews and recommendations of places to dine out gluten free. You can also download the Gluugle iphone app for free.

Gluugle links:

- Gluugle

- Gluugle on Twitter

- Gluugle on Facebook

- The Gluten Free Foodie

Other links:

- The Truscott Arms

- Celia lager

- Wild Thexton bakery

- Simply Cook

- Gluten Free for Tea

- Gluten-free Gorging

Related blog posts:

- Check out Gluugle for Gluten Free Reviews

- Gluten Free

- Coeliac

- Gluten Free Lager at CELIA Time in London

- Gluten Free Fish & Chips that we've found on our travels

- Gluten Free Ales, Beers & Lagers

The Abandoned Shoe of the Week Award

Picking up the second in a pair of #abandonedshoe of the Week awards.

Today I heard via Twitter that I'd won the 'Abandoned Shoe of the Week' Award for last week!

The prestigious prize is awarded by the Abandoned Shoe Spotter @abandonedshoes for the best abandoned shoe spotted that week. The victory came after I submitted a photo of a turquoise coloured Flip-Flop (right foot) that I spotted on Oakley Road in Leagrave, Luton.

The award winning #abandonedshoe

The backdrop to the photo adds another layer of intrigue!

Last April (where has the year gone?) I won my first of the pair of 'Abandoned Shoe of the Week' awards for spotting a pointy leather, or pleather, shoe (also a righty) near the Luton Town centre stop of the Luton-to-Dunstable Busway.

The UK abandoned shoe count currently stands at: 2,236.

Links:

- Abandoned Shoes on Twitter

- Abandoned Shoes on Facebook

- #abandonedshoe

Related blog post:

- Abandoned Shoe Of The Week!

UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2014

Date announced for the 2014 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships.

The team at Wacky Nation have announced that this year's UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships will take place on Saturday 4th of October at the Green Man Pub, Central London!

Entries are now open and will see 128 athletes battle it out to be the UK's numero one best Janken player.

Emily and I have competed in a number of Wacky Nation RPS events and have always found the organised chaos to be great fun.

Richard Gottfried (San Marino) takes on his arch-nemesis in RPS Neil 'Razor' Ruddock (Man Lab) in an International Rock Paper Scissors 'friendly' match in 2012

The UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships will take place from 6 til 10pm on Saturday 4th of October you can currently register for early bird tickets to compete in the 8th annual spectacular on the Eventbrite page.

More details can be found on the UK Rock Paper scissors Facebook page and website, and over at the Wacky Nation site.

Rock Paper Scissors Fact - If you come from Woking, Surrey you stand a very good chance of winning the event. Ask Max Deeley if you don't believe me.

The host venue - The Green Man is a very good Wetherspoon pub too.

Links:

- Wacky Nation

- UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships

- RPS-related blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files

Mini Golf days in 2014

Miniature Golf dates for your diary.

This year National Miniature Golf Day (a quasi-official US holiday) will be on Saturday 10th of May.

This year the BMGA British Minigolf Championships will be held at the excellent 18-hole Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, with the two-day event taking place on the 10th and 11th of May!

Playing hole 1 at Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate

Miniature Golf Day will be on Sunday 21st of September.

The 18-hole Pirate Adventure Golf course in Hastings, East Sussex is the host of the BMGA British Open this year which concludes on the 21st of September.

Playing some Minigolf in Hastings. In 2013.

Last year saw the fourth edition of Minigolf Tag (Minigolf Day) in Austria. Keep an eye out on the Minigolf Tag website for details and the date of the 2014 event.

If you're looking for inspiration on where to play then do check out the links below (and on the right hand side of the blog) for a range of Minigolf websites from around the world.

Related blog posts:

- Miniature Golf Days in 2013

- Happy Minigolf Tag 2013 (Minigolf Day)

- British Minigolf Association Tournament Calendar for 2014

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date

Links:

- National Miniature Golf Day on Wikipedia (within ‘Miniature Golf’ article - the first edition was in 2007)

- Miniature Golf Day on the Holiday Insights website

- Mini golf, crazy golf, miniature golf and adventure golf courses worldwide on MiniatureGolfer.com

- The Putting Penguin - Minigolf reviews from around the world

- A Couple of Putts - Minigolf blog from the USA

- British Minigolf Association

- World Minigolf Sport Federation

Awfully Posh Pork Crackling #ilovethis #winning

Winning some Awfully Posh Snacks from Whole Foods Market.

I'm a regular shopper at the Piccadilly Circus branch of Whole Foods Market and on a recent visit I spotted a chance to win a product they sell.

My favourite is definitely the Pork Crackling from Awfully Posh Snacks, and luckily for me after I tweeted a selfie of me with a packet of the snacks I won!

I first found out about Awfully Posh Pork Crackling in December 2012 and was incredibly pleased to once again eat Pork Scratchings - not having been able to have any due to being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in 2008 and the fact that almost all pork scratchings are produced with the addition of dreaded gluten.

There are two varieties of Awfully Posh Pork Crackling and both of them are gluten free. You can choose either Anglesey Sea Salt, or Scorchingly Hot Chilli.

Both are great and go very well with a gluten free beer.

Related blog post:

- Gluten Free Pork Crackling!

Links:

- Whole Foods Market

- Awfully Posh Snacks

New Pub Sport Portal Video - Meet the characters from the professional world of crazy golf!

Meet the characters from the professional world of crazy golf!



Links:
- Pub Sport Portal
- British Minigolf Association (BMGA)

Related blog posts:
- Check out Minigolf on the Pub Sport Portal
- Minigolf interview with the Pub Sport Portal

- British Minigolf Association (BMGA)

- How to join the British Minigolf Association

British Minigolf Association Tournament Calendar for 2014

Competition dates for the British Minigolf Association’s 2014 season announced.

The British Minigolf Association’s calendar of Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf events for the 2014 Tour season has been announced, with nine competitions taking place at eight courses.

The 2014 Miniature Golf competition season officially teed-off at the BMGA Star City Open at the 36-hole indoor Minigolf complex at Adventure Island Mini Golf in Birmingham on the 26th of January, an event won by Oxford’s Michael Smith.

Emily playing hole 2 on the Lost Hut Trail of the Adventure Island Mini Golf course at Star City in Birmingham

The first outdoor event of the season will see the BMGA British Masters played at the 18-hole Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing, West Sussex on the 13th of April.

Playing the Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing

Next up will be the BMGA British Championships at the 18-hole Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent which begins on the 10th of May.

Hole 1 of the 18-hole Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate

This will be followed by the Bluewater Challenge Cup Pro-Am competition at the Pirate Cove Adventure Golf course at Bluewater Park on the 25th of June. The course will also be the venue for the BMGA British Matchplay Championship on the 6th of July.

Emily playing the Pirate Cove Adventure Golf course at Bluewater Park in Kent

The 18-hole Pirate Adventure Golf course in Hastings, East Sussex will host three tournaments from the 19th of September, with the BMGA Players Championship, BMGA International Players Championship and the BMGA British Open titles being contested.

Emily playing in the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament on the Pirates Adventure Golf course in Hastings

In October the BMGA Tour will be back in Hastings for the Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships played on the 18-hole Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course and teeing-off on the 25th of October.

Playing the 5th hole - The Windmill aka The Turbines of Death - of the 18-hole Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Hastings. The course is the host venue of the World Crazy Golf Championships

The BMGA Tour returns to the Lost Island Encounter Adventure Golf at World of Golf in Sidcup for the Kent Open on the 9th of November, with the Kent Minigolf Club’s Invitational Tournament concluding on the 8th.

Playing the Lost Island Encounter Adventure Golf course at World of Golf Sidcup

Rounding out the 2014 Miniature Golf season will be the BMGA British Club Championship held once again at the Basingstoke Golf Centre’s 9-hole Minigolf course in Hampshire.

Playing the last hole of the 9-hole Mini Golf course at Basingstoke Golf Centre in Hampshire

There are also a number of Club ‘Open’ Minigolf competitions to be confirmed, along with the BMGA British Doubles Championship.

For more details of the British Minigolf Association and the BMGA Tour Calendar please visit the BMGA website.

You can also "Meet the characters from the professional world of crazy golf!" in this great video by the Pub Sport Portal.

Emily and I have visited and played at all of the BMGA Tour’s 2014 tournament venues on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, check out the links below for details from our visits:

- Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Course Visit #181

- Course Played #34 Margate (Strokes) - Adventure Golf -Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- New Course Visits - Pirate Cove Adventure Golf at Bluewater!

- Hastings Seafront - 18-Hole Pirate Adventure Golf Course- Minigolf Played #219

- Course Played #39 Hastings (Seafront) - Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Archives

- Lost Island Encounter Adventure Golf at World of Golf Sidcup - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Courses played 205 & 206

- Basingstoke Golf Centre - New Mini Golf courses played onthe Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:

- British Minigolf Association

- BMGA Roll of Honour for the 2013 Season

Related blog posts:

- How to join the British Minigolf Association
- British Minigolf Association blog posts

Minigolf Report: Gottfried’s begin new Minigolf Season at the 2014 BMGA Star City Open in Birmingham

Luton Minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried teed-off in the first event of the 2014 British Minigolf Association (BMGA) Tour season on Sunday 26th of January at the BMGA Star City Open competition at the Adventure Island Mini Golf centre at Star City in Birmingham.

Richard scored a three-round total of 101(-7), having scored 36, 33 and 32 to finish in 11th place in the 40-player field.

Richard Gottfried playing Hole 9 at the Adventure Island Mini Golf course at Star City in Birmingham

Emily scored a three-round total 109(+1) after rounds of 40, 36 and 33 to finish in 20th place overall.

Emily Gottfried plays Hole 2 of the Lost Hut Trail course at Adventure Island Mini Golf in Birmingham

The 2014 BMGA Star City Open tournament was played over three 18-hole rounds on the Lost Hut Trail course at the Star City venue, and was won Oxford’s Michael Smith. Cambridgeshire’s Adam Kelly was runner-up, with Kent’s Andy Exall third.

Richard still jointly holds the official BMGA course record of 28(-8) on the Lost Hut Trail which he set in 2010 at the BMGA National Open.

Richard and Emily are now in their eighth-year as BMGA Tour players. Last season Richard finished the year in 11th place of 163 players in the 2013 BMGA Official Strokeplay Order of Merit Rankings, with Emily in 48th position.

Ends

How to join the British Minigolf Association

Details of how you can join the British Minigolf Association for the 2014 Tour Season. Membership is available as a BMGA Tour Pro, or in a free online option.

British Minigolf Association Tour Players at the Midlands Opening Tournament in Dorridge 2012

The British Minigolf Association (BMGA) is the National Governing Body for Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf sport in the UK and offers two membership options for players - 'Free' & 'BMGA Tour Pro'.

- The 'Tour Card Membership' costs £20 for the season (rising to £25 if purchased from the 1st of February 2014) and entitles players to discounted pre-event practice rates at tournament venues on the calendar (some venues will offer these rates all season) and priority entry to selected events (subject to availability) before entries are opened to non Tour Pro members and the general public.

- The 'Free Membership' option is available via an online registration on the BMGA website and allows members to receive regular newsletters on forthcoming events, ranking updates and results from competitions on the BMGA Tour.

The 2014 BMGA Tour season tees-off on Sunday 26th of January with the Star City Open competition held at the Adventure Island Mini Golf course at Star City in Birmingham.

If you have any questions about British Minigolf Association membership or official tournaments please contact the BMGA via its website.

Check out these videos from the 2013 British Minigolf Association Tour

Videos from the BMGA British Masters Minigolf Tournament in Worthing and the BMGA British Club Championships in Basingstoke during the 2013 British Minigolf Association Tour season.

Filmed by the team at 2 Dog Imaging the first video shows action and highlights from the 2013 BMGA British Masters national miniature golf tournament that was won by Adam Kelly and held at Worthing's Splash Point Mini Golf course in Denton Gardens.

Filmed by Craig Rodhouse from the Pub Sport Portal the second video has action and interviews from the final event of the  British Minigolf Association 2013 season, the BMGA British Club Championship Minigolf tournament held at Basingstoke Golf Centre in Hampshire.

Links:
- British Minigolf Association
- 2 Dog Imaging
- Pub Sport Portal

Related blog posts:
- How to join the British Minigolf Association
- Film of the 2013 BMGA British Masters Minigolf Championship in Worthing
- Check out Minigolf on the Pub Sport Portal

The Cereal Quest breakfast cereal blog

The Cereal Quest blog - one man's quest to eat every type of breakfast cereal available in the UK.

Fellow Crazy Golfer Phil Botto is renowned in the Minigolf world as the man who plays the World Crazy Golf Championships with a different 'themed' Putter each year!

In previous events he's used everything from a Black & Decker Strimmer to a converted camera tripod, a bit of wood and even a ukulele!

At the 2013 World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings he used a very irregular club made out of cereal boxes!

Phil is on a "Cereal Quest" to eat every main UK cereal and he's into his second year of the adventure! He's documenting the quest on his fun blog/diary and raising money for The Trussell Trust - a UK charity that that works to empower local communities to combat poverty and exclusion in the UK and Bulgaria.

Check out The Cereal Quest website for more details and posts. You can view a list of Cereals he's scoffed so far (in a chronological order) here.

My favourite breakfast cereal is a gluten free one made by Barkat and called Chocolate Pillows. I view them as less of a breakfast item though and more of a chocolate snack!

Once Phil has eaten his way through the 'mainstream' cereals he may consider giving the gluten and wheat free ones a try. I notice from the very first blog post on The Cereal Quest that he's an IBS sufferer, he may find that the gluten and wheat free breakfast options may alleviate some symptoms...

Links:

- The Cereal Quest website

- The Cereal Quest's Just Giving page

- The Trussell Trust

Darts in London - Arrers and Ablutions

Playing some darts at the White Horse and Bower pub in London.

First off Happy New Year to all.

For my first blog post of 2014 I’ve avoided two of my normal topics – Minigolf and Gluten Free stuff – and the suggestion from Anthony Pope on Twitter for a blog about #PacketHam, to bring you a post about a recent visit to a pub in London last year for a game of Darts.

Quite apt too, considering the PDC’s Ladbrokes World Darts Championship has just finished and this weekend sees the start of the BDO’s Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship.

On the 17th of December Emily and I met up with friends and fellow Minigolfers (and sometime bloggers) Oliver ‘The Machine’ Thomas and Seth ‘Clockwork Purple’ Thomas in London for some pre-Christmas drinks. We all wanted a game of Arrers and so we consulted the excellent online resource that is Justin Irwin’s Capital Arrows website.

One of the latest listings was for the White Horse and Bower pub at 86 Horseferry Road in the section on pubs with dartboards in Victoria and Pimlico.

At the Darts

Arriving at the pub in dribs and drabs we couldn’t instantly see the dart board, but after Emily asked the man behind the bar where it was we were shown it was at the back of the pub behind a screen. As Capital Arrows said, it was in a secluded spot.

If you do head to the White Horse and Bower do take your own darts as the pub issue ones were not a matching set. Ever the mercilessly competitive character Oliver had brang his own darts, while Seth and I hadn’t. Oddly for a Darts meet-up in December Seth had also failed to bring his Pool Cue! Emily hadn’t brought any darts with her as she was to play the part of Tony Green for the evening.

In the three-player tournament the first round of qualifying saw all three of us playing in a 301-match. Oliver and his own darts won, meaning Seth and I had to battle it out to meet him in the final.

Seth got the win against me after some dismal efforts at getting the double, setting up a clash with The Machine.

The final saw the players face-off in a best-of-three legs match that was quite the battle. In the end Oliver chalked one up in the win column with a victory over Seth and his new purple dyed hair. A precursor to the colourfully coiffed Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright’s loss in the PDC World Final perhaps.

A great fun start to the evening that was only marred by the fact that the only working lavatory in the White Horse and Bower pub on our visit was the disabled facility! All the other toilets were out of order!? This was unfortunate on a number of levels as the disabled toilet was right behind the Oche, so our matches were interrupted on a number of occasions by other patrons doing their ablutions.

We Minigolfers love our darts and we’ve played a number of events amongst ourselves both on and off the BMGA Tour, with outdoor ‘Links Darts’ at the seaside in Hastings and a couple of Christmas tournaments too. Our great Minigolf rival, Links Darts Champion and friend Sean ‘The Sandman’ Homer also rocked up to a PDC qualifying event for the UK Open tournament once!

Tim 'Ace Man' Davies at the Oche at the now demolished White Rock Gardens Adventure Golf course in Hastings. Venue for the first, and to date only, Links Darts tournament in 2008. Also pictured are Ace Man's opponent Rich 'The Bass' Hopkins (in black) and Sean 'Freebird' Homer (in orange, scoring) look on.

Check out the links below for further details about the great sport of darts.

Links:

- Justin Irwin’s Capital Arrows

- The White Horse and Bower pub on the Shepherd Neame website

- Darts-related blog posts on the Ham & Egger Files

- Professional Darts Corporation (PDC)

- British Darts Organisation (BDO)

Visiting the new Crazy Golf course at Verulamium Park in St Albans

Miniature Golf course visit number 543 on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On a very rainy Saturday afternoon Emily and I made the latest course visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour as we visited the Crazy Golf course in Verulamium Park, St Albans.

The park was the location for the 17th course ever played on the Tour, way back in April 2007. I also revisited in November 2010 and noticed a couple of changes to the Minigolf.

Since that last visit the old course has been replaced by a new course. The new layout is still a 9-hole course and of the same fibreglass construction, but each of the holes is in the shape of a letter in the words "Crazy Golf".

Unfortunately that great Minigolf character 'Humpty' is now missing from the course :-(

The Verulamium Park Crazy Golf was the first we've been to that uses this particular layout. Although down the road in nearby Hemel Hempstead there is a Minigolf course at Gadebridge Park where each of the holes is in the shape of its number!

Related blog posts:

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Course Played #17 St Albans, Hertfordshire (Verulamium Park) - Crazy Golf

- Humpty Crazy Golf obstacles spotted on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour 2007-2013!

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date

Links:

- Abbey View Golf Course

- DK Fibreglass