Darlington Travellers Rest 2 v Heighington 3 - 18/02/17 - ground #430 - Longfield Academy of Sport 3G

due to a last minute fixtures change, I had to abandon plans to recomplete the Eskvale & Cleveland league and luckily have a local 3G to tick off!  I'd already paid a visit to this venue, but not the 3G pitch which many count as a "new ground", so that gives me a few more local ticks to do! :)
I headed to darlo north road on the 12.26, same train & station as quite a few Billy Town fans on way to Darlo RA. My game was the semi-final of the Colin Waites Cup, in the other direction but about same distance walk, in which darlo travs took an early lead. after that the away team took advantage of some sloppy defending goin 3-1 up. Travs made a game of it again in last 20 mins but could only pull 1 more goal back. after the the game, I got a local arriva bus from over the road into town. made my usual visit to sainsburys for the evenings cans (inc for 1 on the train home) & then onto the Old Vic Real Ale pub.

there's usually 3 or 4 real ciders on, but on this occasion, there were only 2, both dud! so just had a half of Happy Daze 4.5%, then made way to station for the 16.30 back to thornaby. this was my 12th darlo ground, tomorrow should be my 13th as I head back to darlo to watch darlo 1883 reserves at their new 4G pitch :)

season 2016/17 - 18 new grounds , 83 goals :)

transport -
142087 thornaby - north road

3a longfield road - town centre
142026 darlo - thornaby

Alston Moor Sports Club 5 v Darlington Travellers Rest 0 - 28/05/16 - ground #412 - Tyne Willows Playing Fields

I made my way to Darlo on the 10.02 train, which gave my ample time to do the 45 min walk to Cockerton, and even had time for pepsi in The Travellers Rest pub. Met up with the team in the car park & got my lift to Alston, a ground not doable by public transport, unless its a sunday!
 Thanks to an end of season fixtures balls up, this game had to be played on this day. The Travs were players short due to holidays & mountain of injuries. They Kicked off the game with only 9 men, the hosts needed a win to gain promotion ahead of Evenwood Town. From the start they did nowt but moan & hack their way through the game. The ref must've forgot his cards as alston deserved more than a few ! The Travs played well & can be proud of the way they played, despite the scoreline.
after the game, we headed back to Darlo, I was dropped off at sainsburys to get the cans in. which was nice. got to the station for the 17.31 train back to Thornaby.
So, thats the Crook & District league completed, 6th North East League completed in total :)

season 2015/16 - 33 new grounds , 166 goals.

Transport -
142079 thornaby - darlo

156438 darlo - thornaby

Wolsingham 1 v Darlington Travellers Rest 4 - 21/05/16 - ground #411 - Wolsingham Recreation Ground

my 3rd & final Weardale ground in the Crook & District league ticked off :)
after getting a lift back from Wearhead last week, I was informed there would be room if I needed a lift to other hard to get to games. So I got an arriva day ticket & headed to Darlo to the pick up point. it was pissin down at darlo, but by time we passed thru west auckland, the sun came out to play !
as like last saturday, Darlo travs led 1-0 at HT & a goal rush in 2nd half.  got a lift back to darlo, headed home on buses :)

season 2015/16 - 32 new grounds, 161 goals

transport -
X66 stockton - darlo
2 darlo - cockerton
2 cockerton - darlo
X66 darlo - stockton

Wearhead United 1 v Darlington Travellers Rest 5 - 14/05/16 - Ground #410 - Wearhead Recreation Field

There's 3 Weardale grounds in the Crook & District League, I did Stanhope last month, Wearhead on this trip, Wolsingham being the other one (where I hope to visit for my next game!).
As with Stanhope , it meant startin off the day on the 10.24 train from Thornaby to Bishop, followed by the 12.00 bus to Stanhope. because of the country roads that follow, its a smaller bus that does the Stanhope - Wearhead leg of the journey. a 55 min fester was required in Stanhope, with no public toilets (apart from those in pubs for customers only and I had to save my pennies for later) I walked out to the Weardale Community Hospital to use use their facilities. The hospital was rather nice, reminded me of a day hospital I used to work in years ago! arrived back in the market place with with about 15 mins left to wait. Finally the bus arrived, the bus driver said he knew where the ground was & would drop me off outside of it. which was nice.as I stepped of the bus, some of the Darlo lads gave me an ovation for makin the long trip ! :)  I'd only been there a few mins when I was asked by a Wearhead offical if I would "run" the far line, offering me the flag, but I politely declined. a local man & his dog took up the duty instead.
Darlo Travs led 1-0 at the break thanks to a well taken free kick. In the second half, the Travs went on abit of a blitz and finished off 5-1 winners. There's a nice clubhouse at the ground, which aswell as changing rooms & toilets,  has photos of differnt parts of their history , a new framed shirt next to a top from the 60s !
Thankfully, I was offered a lift back to Darlo, which saved me a few hours travelling !! was dropped off in the town, went to sainsburys for the evenings refreshments, then headed to the train station. I was tempted for a pint but as the train was due in less than 10 mins, I decided to make haste & get the 17.31 train back to Thornaby, and enjoyed a nice can on the way :)

season 2015/16 - 31 new grounds , 156 goals

transport -
142020 thornaby - bishop auckland

101 bishop auckland - stanhope
101 stanhope - wearhead
142020 darlo - thornaby

Darlington Travellers Rest 4 v Glaxo Rangers 3 - 12/03/16 - ground #406 - Hummersknott Academy

Travellers Rest have been using this venue whilst the weather has been crap, so I was glad to tick off a bonus ground ! the game was a cracker, the score could've been much bigger on both sides. The academy was about 30 mins walk from town, thankfully it was a canny day. I popped into the old vic before the train home & ticked off 2 ciders, also had a winner cider on the train back to thornaby :)

season 2015/16 - 27 new grounds, 131 goals :)

transport -
142022 thornaby - darlo

142091 darlo - thornaby

Darlington Travellers Rest 5 v Sunderland Hall Farm 4 - A.E.T (FT 3-3) - 26/09/15 - ground #392 - Darlington School of Maths & Science

A short train journey to darlo then a 10-15 minute bus ride to Branksome, took me to this Durham Minor Cup game, and what a game !!
Darlo took the lead with a quality indivual goal. Then in the 2nd half, Hall Farm stormed into a 3-1 lead which included a belter of a free kick! Darlo didn't give up, and with the help of some dodgy keepin, got in back to 3-3. Extra time produded 3 more goals, Darlo scored 2 goals in the 2nd half, 5-3, then Hall Farm pulled 1 back in last minute. A great game full of goals & Drama :)

only 10 Crook & District grounds remain now. Next saturday, I'm off at Heighington to tick another 1 off :)

season 2015/16 - 13 new grounds, 57 goals :)

transport -
142096 thornaby - darlo
2 darlo - branksome
2 branksome - darlo
142091 darlo - thornaby