WORLD pigeon champion Eric Laidler was enjoying home comforts back on Tyneside yesterday after flying around the world on a birds judging marathon.

Eric, who grew up in Cullercoats in North Tyneside, is the reigning holder of the World Fly Cup Competition, which involves training “rolling” pigeons.

The aim is to fly a “kit” of 20 Birmingham roller pigeons and to train as many as possible to descend at the same time from height in a head-over-heels somersault motion.

The sport has spread worldwide and after winning the title it was 62-year-old Eric’s duty to judge the contenders vying to be his successor.

That saw Eric set off for the United States where his packed itinerary saw him start judging in Phoenix, Arizona, then flying to New Mexico, two small Texas towns and then Houston, before driving to Louisiana, and flying to Kentucky.

That was followed by another batch of judging in Arkansas, driving to Nebraska, followed by Las Vegas, four days in Hawaii, then 10 days on a judging tour of California.

A flight to Calgary in Canada was followed by judging in Minnesota, New York State, and North and South Carolina, and finally finishing off in Toronto in Canada.

Eric was allowed to rest up at his home for six weeks before embarking on another globe-trotting judging epic to Holland, then to England, Belfast and Dublin, followed by a flight to Serbia, then Croatia and on to South Africa for two weeks of adjudicating.

The final leg of his judging tour was to Australia, taking in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

Today Eric will be on a plane again flying out of Newcastle to his home in the Danish town of Hvide Sande. He settled in Denmark after spending three months in the town while the engine of his fishing boat was being repaired, during which he met a local girl and went on to work as a fitter, building wind turbines.

But Eric returns home to Cullercoats to see father Jackie, aged 93, and his brothers and sister.

He said yesterday: “On my trip to North America I experienced everything from an aircraft cemetery in the desert in Texas and floods in Louisiana and the snow on the mountains in Utah, to the dryness of California and the lush countryside of Kentucky.”

Eric mainly stayed in the homes of fellow pigeon enthusiasts.

He said: “Some people, mainly those who had been at sea or in the forces, had heard of Newcastle and the North East, but others had not and I just said it was near Scotland, which gave them an idea.

“People were very hospitable and everywhere I went I avoided things like hamburgers and tried the local dishes.”

Highlights of the second part of his world tour included sampling wine grown by the Croatian pigeon men made from grapes grown on their allotment plots.

“They have big plots with little wooden houses instead of huts. On one plot the wooden house had a verandah which looked out from the top of the hill down into the valley. It was fantastic. In South Africa, so many people insisted that I stay with them that I was in a different house virtually every night for two weeks.

“Once it was all over it was odd after so much travelling and living out of a bag to get back to a normal routine and not have to think about flights. But the opportunity to travel so much and judge was fantastic and I really enjoyed it.”

The result of Eric’s judging is that the new champion will be Kevin McKinney, from Belfast.