92 Clubs – Day 13 – Exeter City, Fulham
It wasn’t a particularly early start, but I was on the 11:06 to Exeter from Paddington.
The main station is at the bottom of a steep hill leading into the city, with the club on the other side of the centre. so as I had plenty of time, I walked it and didn’t get lost at all, as it was very well-signposted. The only problem was that Marks and Spencer didn’t have any gluten-free sandwiches, so I had to make do, with crisps and a Coke on the way home.
Exeter‘s ground is best described as compact and the staff were certainly friendly.
Inside St. James Park
This picture was taken by the receptionist and she certainly did her job well.
Let’s hope Ipswich get an away tie in a cup there at some point. I shall certainly go!
It is an almost unique stadium in that it has it’s own station, so I took the train down the hill to St. Davids to get back to London. It’s probably better to take the train on the way to the ground and walk down the hill on the way home. Although, this may play havoc with some people’s drinking habits.
After I got to London, I took the Underground to Fulham. The ground was deserted, as this picture shows.
Craven Cottage and Johnny Haynes
The statue in the picture is of the great Johnny Haynes. Luckily, I couldn’t find any other statues.
Getting back from Fulham wasn’t the easiest, as I ended up on a bus that got stuck in a jam at Hammersmith, caused mainly by roadwiorks. Eventually, I managed to cross the road to the Underground station and eventually got to Monument, where I got a bus home.
92 Clubs – Day 12 – Crystal Palace, Dagenham and Redbridge, Derby, Doncaster, Everton
If I had been predicting what would happen on this day as I started out, I’d have been very wrong. But it does show what is possible.
I started by taking the Overground to Norwood junction for Crystal Palace. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but some idiot had hit a bridge at Homerton with a truck. And then as I walked to the ground another pair of idiots had a head-on on a cross-roads. Luckily no-one was physically hurt, although the words were flying. Both drivers then started arguing with me, so that I could be their witness and I was delayed about ten minutes. Then a policeman turned up and he extricated me from the argument and told me to get on with my business. If I have one regrest, it was I didn’t take the car numbers, so that I could report them to an accident claims specialist.
A few minutes later, I was at Selhurst Park.
Selhurst Park
I didn’t stay long and it was a long drag on the Overground and the District line to Dagenham East for Dagenham and Redbridge.
The ground is a short distance away and rather tucked down a side-street, but at least it’s signposted well.
Dagenhajm and Redbridge
I was now running late for my 10:55 train out of St. Pancras and I didn’t get there until 12:30 or so. But I had booked an Off-Peak rather than an Advanjce ticket deliberately, so the only inconvenience was that I lost my free reserved seat.
Pride Park, is easy to reach at Derby, and I just walked out of the back of the now rather grand station through the business park to the ground.
Derby's Pride Park Stadium
I wasn’t there long and I was soon off to Doncaster on a direct train.
Doncaster is one of these inaccessible drive-to stadia, so it was a taxi from the station again.
Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium
A few minutes after returning to the station, I was on a crowded Trans Pennine Express for Manchester, where I changed for Liverpool.
It got a bit of a fraught journey later on, as I point out in this post, however, once I got to Liverpool, it was redeemed by a proper Scouse taxi driver and Liverpool supporter, who took me quickly to Everton‘s Goodison Park.
Outside Goodison Park in the Dark
It was all very quick and he only charged me for the diesel and I was back in time to get the 19:48 for London. The train conductor even held the train for perhaps a minute or so, so that several of us late comers got on-board.
We were just a few minutes late into Euston, but as I was two trains in front of where I thought I’d be, I’m not complsining.
The Anonymous Widower 