Best and worst away trips

[amberaleman]

This is a slight variation on the heroes and villains theme. Anybody who follows his/her team away regularly can join in.

What are are your three favourite and three most disliked away trips in the league (i.e. the division your team play in this season)?

We'll all have our own criteria. Personally I like travelling to places of historic or geographic interest that have a good selection of pubs in the Good Beer Guide. As I nearly always travel by public transport, I also prefer grounds to be within a couple of miles of a station (though I don't mind a bit of a walk).

Here are Amber Aleman's top and bottom three in Nationwide South:

Best

1. Cambridge City. Not only a beautiful and historic seat of learning (though not quite as good as Oxford ;D ), Cambridge is one of my top ten drinking destinations in the UK. There are several excellent pubs (offering lots of beers from East Anglia ) en route from the station to Milton Road. I'm also rather fond of the compact and characterful ground - it would be crying shame if the developers have their way and turn it into flats or offices.

2. Lewes. My favourite Sussex town, and home of the wonderful Harvey's brewery. Lewes has several fine pubs (though you won't see me in the Lewes Arms so long as Greede King keep the Harvey's out ). The ground is also only a five minute stroll from the station. Although the ongoing "improvements" to the Dripping Pan are at the expense of character, it remains a lovely setting.

3. Salisbury City. Another beautiful city, with a top notch cathedral - and a pub on almost every corner! Spiritual home of the Hop Back brewery, another of my favourites. The trip loses a little appeal because the new ground is some way out of the city - but that's partly compensated for by SCFC having some convivial, ale-quaffing fans who are members of this forum.

Worst

1. Thurrock. Desolate, wind-swept location on the Thames estuary, in the shadow of the M25. No decent beer for miles. I know the 'fleetburgers' have a certain following on this forum, but when I tried one last season I found it loaded with grease. No convenient station - although if you want to witness Essex man and woman out shopping, Lakeside is just the other side of the motorway.

2. Yeading. Forbidding setting behind an industrial estate. In middle of real ale desert. Even though it's in Greater London, getting there is slightly awkward. The Warren has about as much atmosphere as an open air morgue.

3. Hayes. Difficult to pick my third choice, as there are several contenders. I've gone for Ha-yes (sorry, Stephen) because it's just rather dull. The best pub is the Wetherspoon's, which just about sums up the place.

[hannahcafc]

I'll cheat and just do a top and bottom 2, as i've missed a fair few away trips this season.

As most grounds in our league are, to put it nicely, complete and utter dumps, my criteria involves the most enjoyable away days.

Best

1) Worthing - our annual Robins seaside jolly-up. An absolutely fantastic day out, although i spent best part of the day on the receiving end of some severe p*ss taking! i managed to blag my way into the game for free as well which pleased me greatly ;D

2) Billericay - outstanding steak rolls. fan-bloody-tastic ;D

Worst

1) Ramsgate - need i say more? The ground's an absolute nightmare to find and when you've finally located it, the buggers don't let you leave because the neighbours park in such poxy positions that the coach can't get out for 20 bloody minutes! and if that's not enough, the highly intellectual inhabitants of this fabulous seaside resort, decide that lunchtime on a Saturday is obviously a rediculous time to open fish & chip shops and so force people into the local cafe, which serves full English breakfasts in installments. ::)as a result this means you have to run back to the poxy ground, which took nearly an hour of driving round Ramsgate to find in the first place, and miss kick-off!

2) East Thurrock United - Contender for most boring game of football i've ever seen, which takes some doing! Sh!t ground, no fans and generally a total dump. Cremated their burgers as well.

[coops]

Not done too many away trips this season but based on previous trips to clubs currently in The Conference:

BEST.

1. Weymouth. Absolutely gutted to miss it this season but the trips we made in the Dr Martens were the stuff of legends.

"Funky Monkey! Funky Monkey!"

2. Kiddy Harriers. Easy trip by train, good pub right next to the station, gentle stroll to the ground and we always seem to win! Fantastic.

3. Cambridge United. Actually I'm cheating here and basing this on a previous trip to City, but it's a lovely place, great pubs, found a fantastic restaurant and we won the league.


WORST.

1. Altrincham - Horrible open away end, no decent child friendly pubs and we always, but always, play like utter w**kers up there.

2. Graveyard of Busfleets Hate the place, don't want to say any more.

3. Satanage. A place with absolutely nothing going for it at all. I could go this season but I might pick my naval fluff instead.

[coops]

hannahcafc said:

2) Billericay - outstanding steak rolls. fan-bloody-tastic ;D

We went there when Chelmsford were ground sharing, it was the hottest football game I have ever been to I think, bloody boiling. It made the beer go down well though.

[stretfordendling©]

No offence taken, I admit we are a shiite town.

Best (In no particular order):

Bognor Regis Town - Apart from the OTT digital Scoreboard I think its an excellent little ground.

Eastbourne Borough - Mainly because of the splendid Clubhouse.

Worst (Again No order to these):

Hendon - Falling apart everywhere!!

Yeading - 'nuff said.

Maidenhead United - Ground not been changed since it was built apparently.

Edgware Town - Right next to a Holiday Inn and sunk into the ground with steep banks on three sides.

[ambersalamander]

hannahcafc said:

Worthing

Worthing! WORTHING!!! Jealous. The best thing ever to happen to me happened at Worthing ;D It was a pre-season friendly though, so it doesn't count.

Now for the difficult bit.

Best:

1) Eastbourne Borough
Apart from the god damn drums, I get a free hotel ;D just a few minutes' walk from the ground so don't have to worry about getting home; the food's nice, they often have Harvey's on (and if they don't I know where to drink), and one day we might win there so I can tease you-know-who. Maybe.

2) Newport County
It's crap, too far away and contains some bloody idiots, but there are many reasons why I like going to Newport, one of which is that my granny lives there and the away fixture is the only time I get to see her in the year. She's 87 this year, so I don't have forever. I stay the night there and we usually go to the pub for dinner. Lovely pub it is too. Apart from that, the food's nice at the ground and I once met a nice person there.

3) Bognor Regis Town
Because we never concede a goal there! And the burgers are amazing. And I often get to see Hawky, which is very nice. Pity it's always blowing a gale there when we go.

Honourable mentions go to Cambridge, Salisbury, Havant & Waterlooville, Dorchester and Hayes, for various reasons. Oh, it was so hard to choose!

Worst:

1) Yeading
Desolate, godforsaken poo-hole. No beer, no friends, no transport links

2) Eastleigh
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. And we always lose there.

3) Histon
Ugh.

[stretfordendling©]

3) Histon
Ugh.

Grrrr!!!

[davetscfc]

Not missed a game yet in our first season in Connie South. Just 4 away trips remaining - Welling(Dartford) , Sutton , Newport and Braintree to go, so shall have to compile a survey (as much as my shot-to-pieces alcohol blurred memory will allow) after that lot.

Good thumbs up for Lewes though. A few of us stayed over (with it being on friday night) and had a cracking time despite the result. Stayed at the Crown Inn and also visited the John Harvey Tavern, Gardeners Arms, Snowdrop, Volunteer, Lansdowne and Brewers Arms over the course of friday afternoon, friday night and saturday lunchtime. ;D

[Col ISIHAC.]

Compiled following a trawl of the memory banks; and rated according to the welcome, atmosphere (which to me means unspoilt and traditional - so even WLP would be a loser there I'm afraid!) beer and prevailing conditions - weather, result - that sort of thing.

Top three in no particular order - I'd happily go to any of them. Can't currently include Salisbury - not been there yet but the city and beer would make it a possible, though the Raymac might detract, being a tad modern.

Worcetcestecester.
St Georges Lane ticks all the boxes in terms of atmosphere; there's a perfectly adequate pub next door, and a stroll along the canal towpath into the city will offer more. Decent playing surface splendid place on a sunny day - more than adequate on a drizzly wet evening too. And there's Georgie at half time

Bognor Regis
Scores well among the TT fraternity - but we get to go there at Christmas! Reasons as stated by others - probably the best playing surface in the league, a bit ramshackle but great fun.

I really really want to cheat at this point and tie gangrene and Coldsore in third, but I suspect that doing so would cause far too much grief despite the fact that both offer a grand day out in every sense - so I'll compromise, give them both a distinctly honourable mention and cheat anyway. Third place goes to a ground I played at in the Sussex Prem;

Arundel.
Probably the most picturesque ground I have ever seen, the castle on one side, the river Arun on the other - an 8-page programme, with your name and brief profile in it, real ale in the tiny memorabilia-crammed clubhouse. Truly Tinpot, but proud of it. Love it.


Worst three
(Again in no particular order)
Sorry chaps but the "Our crowd is bigger than yours" and "Hey steward, let me through I want to punch some lights out" minority at The Lamb always made that a day out to dread.
And it's a bit tatty really innit?? It IS a miinority, but I can't ever remember enjoying the day out.

Grays.
Fortunately no need to go back. Well, for a while anyhow.
Some tool with a bell getting a free view from his flat balcony - and chucking some abuse into the bargain. Not being allowed to drape our flags, temporary terracing, a general manager with at least TWO attitude problems and a bunch of Johnny-come-lately chavs who thought that cheering for the home team while wearing a Chelsea shirt constituted being a footy fan.

Creepy-Crawley.
Modern, looks posh on the outside, a let-down on the inside. Food dire, fans dire, results dire.

Dire.

So there you have it.
If it were a regular event, then teh trip to Hucknall would sneak in on grounds of unbridled enthusiasm at all levels as being a goodun! Add in the delightful Nelson & Railway Inn at Kimberley,(just a few miles up the road) it being the original Hardy & Hanson brewery tap; and you have a weekend jaunt to remember.

Aah! Memories.

[pies]

Best, i love grounds in Sussex such as Eastbourne, Bognor and Littlehampton, as i like the look of the grounds, the people and most importantly the food

Don't like Essex grounds and Crapshalton.

[malxscfc]

The 'sparky' ones are always good. Let's call them
Quality - like the Welsh ones, and Kings Lynn.
No other, really, in the CS which figure bigly on that score.

Quaint? - Lewes.

Quirky? - Dorch, since it feels like a swimming pool with no water in.

Quizzical? - Braintree. How does that qualify as a League Ground?

Quite nice? - Fisher. Tidy ground at Dulwich. Be nice if they could get a few bodies in to decorate it, and absorb some of the echoes though.

Qrap? - Histon's is awful really. No atmosphere, no toilets, no fans, no reason why they should be going up automatically, not that I'm even vaguely concerned that they should have beaten us the wankers, f'ing charlatan football team twats and been promoted .... grapes... sour... grrrrrr.... yuk.... aaaahhhh. !.'!;.:

[DazaB_WCFC]

Hmmm, let's have a go then...
I'll stick to league games.

Best:

1. Hucknall

Many decent real ale pubs en-route to the ground, and a very friendly bunch of people at the football club.

2. Blyth

Very much as above, Oliver's is a good pub. Just a shame it's so bloody far away.

3. Stalybridge

The Bar on the platform at the Railway Station is by far the best in the league in my opinion.

Worst:

1. Vauxhall
Crap drinking holes, no atmosphere.

2. Kettering

Beeswing was expensive and I don't like being segregated.

Good bunch of fans though.

3. Worksop

Again, a good set of fans in the main. Just don't like the place.
bloody good food mind. 2nd best in the league behind Alfreton

[ambersalamander]

After today Salisbury will all say Sutton is the best

[bh]

If you were anything to go by sweetie, I recon they had good drink anyway!!

[Giggy of Telford]

Now that I've been everywhere this season I can post my Unibond views from the season. My views are largely how the fans were towards us though nice ground, etc did help them also. Each followed by very lengthy reviews. No offence intended to the bottom 3 where there were by vast majority loads of nice fans, day was usually ruined by small minorities causing trouble though.

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Top 3

1.North Ferriby United - Possibly my favourite place to go to away. We've been in the same league since reforming as we even got promoted at the same time. Will miss them next season. Nice ground, very very very friendly fans. Before the game they came to chat to us and most recent tie as we were quite early directed us to a very nice walk by the riverside next to the river humber and afterwrads came to chat with us again. Located in a lovely Humberside village NFU are a small but welcoming club where o nthe way in the stewards greeted us and asked how we were. We've had 3 matches with them but I was on holiday or the first but despite lsong 1-0 to an own goal by our new signing it was a nice day out. I found out myself that this was true next season despite another 1-0 defeat (to a dodgy free kick decision). In both games we played well. Most recently though we got a good result with a 2-1 win. They were still great and are a club that I would jump at the chance to visit again should they come up any time soon.

2.Marine - Another really friendly place. Fans are welcoming as are the locals. The nearby bakery made extra food because they knew we were coming. Good memories also as we played well and got a 2-0 win. Again their fans were brilliant despite this and though in the playoffs theywere understanably annoyed to lose 2-0 again to two 50-50 penalty decisions they still wished us well. Another team i'd like to come up next season.

3.Mossley/Leek Town (tied) - Couldn't choose between these two. Mossley is a ncie place with welcoming fans. Ground is basic but very pleasant and most recent visit I met a Mossley fan who I've spoken to through Buckschat & MSN. Game is always competitive and Mossley fans are always fair when they talk about a game and just pleasant to talk to. Also can both give & take banter. They went down this season but I hope they bounce back.

Leek again is a nice place to visit. A nice ground with friendly but passionate supporters. Their teams try to play good football which leads to an entertaining competitive game, even in the challenge cup where we went on to lose 11-10 on penalties with every player we had (we were down to 10 men through injury) scoring a penalty before, our reserve keeper who played that day took a surprisingly good penalty. Over the last few seasons they've started badly result-wise but then livened up and picked up lots of momentum near the end. God help the rest of the unibond when they start a season well. heard they are in trouble again which is very sad to hear. Hope very much that they pull through as I would with any club.

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Bottom 3

1. Fleetwood - Not a bad ground, a club on the up, most are a nice bunch but they have the most idiots by proportion. Home fans smuggled beer onto terraces and were getting drunk while the match was going on, acting somewhat threatening towards our fans. When we changed end at half time the end was littered with beer cans yet the stewards had the nerve to try to kick out a young (even by my standards) lad from Telford. When they came to the new bucks head they then turned up drunk having drunk (illegally) on the coaches up, vandalised their own coaches which then left without them ( ).

The match was segreated ue to large crowds and warnings from lancashire police that some idiots were expected to turn up. With this in mind we know the next acts were also by their fans. The lad in the snack bar was subject to such abuse that he closed down before half time as he'd had enough. £800 worth of damage was sustained by the away end and one idiot ran onto the pitch towards home supporters trying to get a fihgt, when one chap stepped forward he quickly ran. Stewards tried to escourt him out so he then started throwing punches, all this they blame on us scoring a late equaliser and them not having enough programmes. Personally I blame the alcohol. As their coaches left them they were escourted home by police on the train to ensure they behaved.

They've done this on their travels many times but it is apparently never their fault, at Ashton the police were at fault. At telford we apparently had armed gangsters around every corner who shot and kileld every woman & child who lived in Fleetwood if they are to be believed. When Gateshead went there they fought amongst themselves but it still wasn't there fault ofcourse. Their fans have since sworn revenge so I'm glad we don't play them next season, would seriously not feel safe going to Fleetwood. A minority ruin their reputation. Check non-leaguezone if you want an 8-page thread on incidents people have witnessed with them this season. They would be a great club if they sorted out these trouble makers but often refuse their fans did anything. They need to sort out these people

2. Radcliffe Borough - Usually a nice place where the real fans really are great and a credit to their club. but twice we've been there and both times a large army of local chavs drop in. Stand with Telford fans for the whole game threatening and swearing at us, including intimidating very young children. They get in for free by climbing over the fence, cheap bottles of cider in tow. On one occasion there was a racial attack on our player by one youth, he was then moved to the other side of the ground by a steward out of the way though he crept back over later. At the end of both games our fans and coaches were pelted with rocks and eggs. The same happened the second time around and was if anything worse. They seem to see a big crowd at the stadium and decide it's an easy place to get a fight. Our fans knowing if they respond they'll be in trouble with the police because the age of the troublemakers. RBFC have since made great strides after the second incident to get rid of these yobs and have banned 9 of the main ones. I applaud this but with us going up and them down won't be able to see the difference. The only time I've been to a match and had to worry for my safety. Once again a small minority (who by turnstile records aren't actually there) ruin the game when RBFC themselves are a great club with brilliant fans.

3. Matlock Town - This one may surprise some people but I have to include them. The ground isn't bad, the surroundings are great. The team play good football and most their fns are alright. However they have some of the most bitter, twisted people I've ever met. They don't seem happy where we're concerned unless their moaning. It's either our stadium, our fans, our amount of fans, the rumour that we're rich, the fact we've been promoted. You name it, if it includes us they will moan about it. Someone (possibly Coops?) mentioned they wouldn't have minded them in the conference north but they'd have minded you'd think as they'd only moan about it. They compained as to exit the New Bucks Head they had to walk past the 'Hutch' which was noisy as we'd won but overall inoffensive. God help them if they do gt promoted to the conference one day as even in the conference you get some that make our noisy fans look absolutely harmless. Then again you get teams in this league who make us look like angels.....yet they'd rather moan about Telford.