Relfy's tour bus was leaving Hailsham at 2pm on Friday…destination Germany!

To get ready for the journey, I decided to have a very late night of heavy metal at the Islington Academy watching American rock band Tesla.

So after arriving home in the early hours of Friday morning, this was the perfect preparation for my little drive later that day.

At 2.30pm, our tour got underway, with Tony Ayres and a friend, Scott, arriving at my house.

We loaded up the cases (and their supply of dubious magazines!) and headed over to Hastings to pick up Adrian Gray.

The journey went really well, and we arrived at our hotel in Oberhausen at around 8pm. We quickly checked into our rooms, then headed off out to get some food and chill out after half a day stuck in the car.

Saturday morning we had arranged to be up for 8.30am, as we had to try to find the venue in Dinslaken. The three of us that were playing were absolutely fine.

Scott, however, was looking a touch worse for wear…he had decided to stay in our hotel bar for a nightcap after we returned from our meal. Some nightcap!

He and a few others who shall remain nameless got to bed at 4am. Anyway, we headed off for Dinslaken and despite having a fright from an oncoming tram, we found the venue. The media make a big thing of people driving onto railways in the UK because their Sat Nav said to do so.

Well, in Germany the trains drive down the road, and nobody says a word!

My first day's opponent was Peter "Snakebite" Wright, a colourful character with hair that is similar to the markings of a Macaw – each week he changes his colour, at least you can't lose him in a crowd.

I didn't play very well on the Saturday, and lost first round. He went on to have a good run in the tournament, which was eventually won by Andy "The Pieman" Smith, who also hit a nine-darter on the way.

With all three of us going out in the first round, we headed back to the hotel, and spent the afternoon wandering around the largest shopping centre in Europe (which was opposite our hotel) before settling down to sit in the sun with a nice cold beer.

The evening was spent in an Irish Bar – as you do when in Germany! At least the evening was authentic when a number of the Irish players arrived and livened up the proceedings.

Sunday, I was drawn against a German player, Deiter Bubos. I played pretty well, and soon found myself 5-0 up.

All I needed was double 5 to win the match… nine darts later and I eventually leave double 2.

Up I step, and after some serious concentration, I nail the double 5 first dart (you did read that right – I'd forgotten I'd left double 2!) What a muppet, anyway I won six legs to one in the end, so was happy with that.

Next up was Matt "Superman" Clark, a TV regular, and currently ranked 39th in the world. To my amazement I was soon 3-1 up and hitting everything. Matt came back to 3-3, and then I went 4-3 ahead.

I had chances to win every leg but as the finishing line got closer, I began to think about the next round.

That was probably my downfall as, despite having shots to win, suddenly I was dropping just under the wire. Matt won the match, and I think this was due to his experience – I'm getting closer though.

My win has launched me up to the dizzy heights of number 204 in the world, my aim of breaking into the top 200 this year is on track.

Adrian and Tony also lost in the second round, so our German adventure was at an end and we headed for home. Mark Walsh won the tournament, a man who is very much in form at the moment.

This weekend many of the players are flying out to Las Vegas for the Desert Classic. To say I'm jealous is an understatement. Having played there last year I really wanted to go back – unfortunately other commitments mean I have to miss it this year.

Tuesday night our Harvey League team from the Kings Head extended its unbeaten run with a great win over the Golden Cross. Captain Sheebo is getting excited!

Wednesday was Superleague, and finally our Pebsham team have got it together and produced a decent win against a strong team from Bexhill. We won the match 7-2, with Adrian Gray getting man of the match with a 29 average.

I had a 3-1 win over Bob Bartholomew with an average of 26.57. So all in all a good week for me, and now we have a few weeks' rest from PDC events.