The second Step is fully taken

So, here ends the second 'Step' on my non-league Quest.

As per the rules, I have visited every home ground and travelled around 1200 miles in total, and in so doing have watched seventeen games of Step 7/Level 11 football.

Saying this there are a couple of curiosities:

- I made one single visit to the Harton & Westoe CW venue, which is the shared home of both Harton & Westoe FC and also temporarily South Shields Reserves (and, to be fair, I chose to visit when the residents rather than the lodgers were home!) 

- I visited Kimberley Park in Prudhoe, luckily before the team resigned from the League. 

So the final league roster includes seventeen teams and I visited seventeen locations, albeit the two categories don't quite align! 

Just like I observed in the last stage, the quality of venue and entertainment varied widely, but nothing depressed me enough to quit the Quest. 

In fact, I'd voluntarily return to a few places for 90 minutes of unpretentious banter and simple sporting fare.

The 'Best & Worst' are listed elsewhere, but among the notable memories are:

- the various diversions in the countryside en route to Cleator Moor

- the multiple attempts to find the elusive Prudhoe ground

- taking my boy to Windscale (nothing to do with the game but just great to play hide and seek in Egremont Castle and share a long weekend together!)

- arriving at Stokesley to discover that I WAS the crowd 

- the curiously potty-mouthed West End fans on tour 

- the same people AT West End, who were really friendly when playing hosts themselves, so credit where it's due

The facilities were varied but generally an improvement upon the lower level, as one would expect. Catering, shelter and toilets were commonplace, albeit they still covered a wide spectrum of quality. 

The award for tallest trees is shared between Wolviston and Prudhoe. 

The crumbliest ground was probably Annfield Plain's Derwent Park, but its charm more than made up for that.

Away from the physical environment, it was the people - inevitably - that added the real character. Laughter and camaraderie, shouts of despair and encouragement, effing, jeffing and all manner of non-monastic language: in all these regards, it was exactly like Step 8! 

So, I move on now to the Northern League and Step 6 - although, as the FA is currently restructuring, I will wait to see what Step 6 actually ends up looking like next year!

I am grateful to all the folks of the Wearside League for their hospitality, integrity and commitment. 

I wish them all well. I wish the teams who expired a speedy recovery. Who knows, the most-impressive teams might yet follow me to a higher level? 

The Quest goes on: seventeen more matches, seventeen new places, seventeen great memories.