Swamp Football Championship in Iceland's West Fjords

If the end of the Football World Cup has left you feeling glum, then we may just have the answer, thanks to the remote Icelandic town of Isafjordur, which hosts an annual Swamp Football Extravaganza!  The annual European Championship is held in the largest town in the West Fjords, over the weekend of July 31 to August 2. A children’s tournament takes place the weekend before.

According to organisers, the championship is a mixture of a serious competition and fooling around. 

Organiser Gylfi Olafsson is keen to encourage female participants, saying, 'we especially encourage women to come and participate; there are usually fewer women'. He admits that this might have something to do with the attire of the female players (ahem!), but that, 'they also have a different approach to the game'.   He continues: 'participants don’t have to have practiced any sport to be good at swamp soccer... it follows different principles'.  

This year participants can also compete in swamp long jump and swamp bungee.

If you're interested in visiting the beautiful West Fjords of Iceland, football fan or not, then our 'Best of the West' itinerary might just appeal!

Any Cricket fans out there?

I am an avid cricket watcher. During in the summer I play at any given opportunity and am currently counting down the days until the start of the new season. I have been known to go to some strange lengths in order to get some free time to play or watch cricket  - none more so than staying up until 1am to watch the start of a game between England and New Zealand.

I must admit - England were useless (as per usual) but one thing that struck me was the beauty of the country. During the lunch interval Sky did a piece on the wonders of New Zealand and I must admit, the country looks unbelievable. Having watched 'The Lord of The Rings' trilogy religiously , I was aware that some of the film was shot in NZ, but assumed that most of the scenery was done using C.G.I. However, the images that were on Sky were unbelievable. What struck me most was the wide range of geographical features; volcanoes, mountains, forests, beaches, glaciers - that abound this rugged and beautiful country.

I have been to New Zealand once before but was very young at the time so can not remember any of it. I can say that without a doubt it is next on my 'wish list'.

Having said all that - England still lost the cricket (which went on until 8am) so it was not really worth my time loosing all that sleep and being useless at work the following morning.

If you would like to visit New Zealand, click here.