A long flight from Auckland to Copenhagen via Dubai, four nights on ferries, a majestic rail journey from Oslo to Bergen and three wonderful days in Iceland brought me back to Scotland by a very different from normal route. I was accompanied throughout by stunning scenery, excellent weather and the Euro Football Championship.
I watched a couple of live games on the flight from New Zealand and others from my hotel rooms in Copenhagen and Reykjavik. On each ferry crossing in the evening, people gathered around the TV in the lounge and on one of the Danish ferries there was a special football zone. Scotland by then had sadly followed the usual pattern of elimination in the group stages and once again arrived home before the postcards. The passion of the supporters, the atmosphere and the volume of sound from all the matches have been impressive.
England have stuttered through all their matches but are still in contention by reaching the quarterfinals. The English media and many fans have been less than impressed with the way the very talented team have performed and keep hoping for a spark from their team. In Scotland, there is never great enthusiasm for their Sassenach neighbours.
The tournament has been one for underdogs with Slovenia almost snatching victory in the final minute against the much higher-ranked Portuguese team following a saved Ronaldo penalty only minutes earlier. There was to be no Slovenian miracle with the Portuguese goalkeeper Diego Costa saving the first three penalties in the shoot-out to secure victory for Portugal.
With football dominating British media, and with the start of Wimbledon and the Tour de France, it was hard to find information about the British Athletics Championships doubling as the Paris Olympic trials.
