40 Miles Of Bad Road
Sep. 9th, 2018 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eiffel_71To Hertfordshire to see Orient Ladies play Stevenage. The game was being played in a village called Colney Heath, which, as far as at could see from Google Maps, was three-and-a-bit miles from the nearest station. With no bus service on Sundays. Combined with the already substantial walk between home and my nearest station, that was going to add up to over 10 miles of walking during the day. I'm not financially flush enough to splash out on Sunday taxi rates, and wasn't about to miss my women's footy fix, so pulled on my stout trainers and set off early this morning.
On the train journey, having tweeted about all the walking I'd be doing, got a shout-out on Twitter from a women's football fan site account : "If he can do this, you can get to a game near you". Cool.
The trek from Hatfield station meandered along a main road and through a residential estate, skirted an out-of-town shopping mall then took me along a couple of long country footpaths. Eventually I emerged onto Colney Heath's main street, and the Crooked Billet pub hove into view. A billboard outside advertised Sunday roasts. I went for a pint of Young's Special and roast beef. The wall by my table was festooned with Arsenal photos. The QPR supporting barman persuaded me to have a couple of scoops of ice cream for dessert.
The venue having been billed as Colney Heath Recreation Ground, I'd expected a park pitch. I was pleasantly surprised to find a proper non-league football ground with covered seats and a clubhouse. I sat alongside Sam, Mike and Groundhopper Dave, the latter of whom kept up chat during the game about grounds he's visited. Orient won 2-0, Lisa scoring both. Quick word with Lisa after the game, then the long hoof back.
Arrived back at Hatfield station with 25 minutes till my train went. Nipped across the road to the Great Northern pub for a Worthington's Creamflow.
Just arrived back home. Out of curiosity, looked up Colney Heath FC in the Non-League Directory and found there's a station, Welham Green, only 3.6 km away. Should have looked at the Google map in more detail.
On the train journey, having tweeted about all the walking I'd be doing, got a shout-out on Twitter from a women's football fan site account : "If he can do this, you can get to a game near you". Cool.
The trek from Hatfield station meandered along a main road and through a residential estate, skirted an out-of-town shopping mall then took me along a couple of long country footpaths. Eventually I emerged onto Colney Heath's main street, and the Crooked Billet pub hove into view. A billboard outside advertised Sunday roasts. I went for a pint of Young's Special and roast beef. The wall by my table was festooned with Arsenal photos. The QPR supporting barman persuaded me to have a couple of scoops of ice cream for dessert.
The venue having been billed as Colney Heath Recreation Ground, I'd expected a park pitch. I was pleasantly surprised to find a proper non-league football ground with covered seats and a clubhouse. I sat alongside Sam, Mike and Groundhopper Dave, the latter of whom kept up chat during the game about grounds he's visited. Orient won 2-0, Lisa scoring both. Quick word with Lisa after the game, then the long hoof back.
Arrived back at Hatfield station with 25 minutes till my train went. Nipped across the road to the Great Northern pub for a Worthington's Creamflow.
Just arrived back home. Out of curiosity, looked up Colney Heath FC in the Non-League Directory and found there's a station, Welham Green, only 3.6 km away. Should have looked at the Google map in more detail.
