A Ground With Its Own Station
Exeter play at St. James Park.
St. James Park Station
It’s even painted in the club colours.
92 Clubs – Every Station Needs More of These
This is only one of the standard railway information boards you get on British stations all over the place.
Information Display at Hartlepool Station
The difference about this one is that it is in the carpark at Hartlepool station and easily visible to anybody rushing to get a train. In this case, it might just give you a chance to get a swift half in at the Rat Race Ale House, if you are early or your train is running late.
The London Overground and some stations have some of these remotely placed displays, but surely a few more in strategic places might well take a bit of the strain out of the train journey. If I take Ipswich station, which I know well, one on the walking route from the town centre and some of the car parks would very much be welcomed by me, as I rush to the train after a home game.
The further I get into my trip around the UK, the more I find that maps and information are variable. In Bournemouth, Bury, Exeter and Hartlepool, they are excellent, but in Blackpool, they are absolutely non-existent.
92 Clubs – Week 2 – 18 Clubs – 36 Trains, 2 Trams
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7
Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14
As with last week I can also add several Underground and Overground trains and lots of buses.
It was an easier week, that Week 1 and I got home to my bed every day. I’m now having the weekend off, as the hay fever is driving me nuts. On Monday, I’ll go to Hereford, Huddersfield and Hull and on Tuesday, I’ll be in my seat at Portman Road for Ipswich against Portsmouth.
Here are the awards.
Heroes of the Week
This week, I’ll award it to all of those who’ve contributed. Some people, who I’ve never met have given a pound for every club. I hope I’m living up to their hopes for me!
There was also the taxi driver in Liverpool, who just wanted the money for his diesel.
Most Surprising Stadium of the Week
There have been several that were not what I expected like, Bury, Exeter and Hartlepool, but I also revisted some where I have been in the past, so these didn’t show me anything I didn’t know.
Best Stadium of the Week
It just has to be Chesterfield. Everything is there and they are working about making it better.
Best Signposted Stadium of the Week
Hartlepool is well-signposted and still has four large floodlight towers to guide you.
Worst Signposted Stadium of the Week
I’ll give this award to Coventry, as there are no details at the station and it’s a long walk to the bus station, where it’s not obvious where to go. At least I found a quicker way back using an express bus.
Welcoming Stadia of the Week
As in the first week, many stadia were visited in the dark or when no-one was about. I was however, very well welcomed at Chesterfield and Exeter.
Best Town of the Week
Hartlepool by a country mile. Politicians and officers from many of the places I’ve visited could learn a lot by just visiting the town.
Here’s a few things I liked.
- The rather decripit railway station has been transformed into one of the best small stations I have seen in the UK, by a fair bit of imagination.
- The art gallery, which doubles as a tourist information centre in a church in a central point in the town.
- I didn’t have much tie to visit the museum, but it was one of the best small museums, I’ve found.
- It would be a difficult town to get lost in, as it is well-signposted and you seem be able to see the main landmarks from everywhere.
I have been to many places, where a lot more money has been spent or is available and they are worse places to visit. Especially, if your time is limited or you have a simple objective, like visiting a football match.
Best City of the Week
Exeter impressed me, with good signposting and an easy-to-find ground marked on all the maps.
Dump of the Week
When I looked at the list at the start of the week, I thought that there would be a lot of candidates.
In the end it was Gillingham, which was just a run-down town, with a rather tired stadium, without a roof for visiting fans. But I’ve also had comments on this blog saying they didn’t like the place either.
Sign of the Week
This has to be the display in the car park at Hartlepool station, telling you how long you have until your train arrives. Every station should have more of these.
I may still be a few stadia behind, but I’m enjoying the trip.
Here’s to next week.
92 Clubs – Day 14 – Gillingham, Hartlepool
It was quite an early start to get a bus to London Bridge for a train to Gillingham. I t was almost still dark, when I arrived and I followed the signs at the station to the Priestfield Stadium. It is only a short walk.
Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium
As you can see it is rather tucked away in the houses and the away supporters have to brave the weather.
I then took one of the Class 395 or Javelin trains back to St. Pancras.
A Javelin Arrives at Gillingham
I then had a couple of hours before I took the 11:23 Grand Central service direct to Hartlepool. I used the time productively to have breakfast in Carluccio’s, buy myself some sandwiches for the journey and investigate a walking route between Euston and Kings Cross/St. Pancras.
I arrived at Hartlepool on time in a station, that was totally unexpected.
Artwork at Hartlepool Station
I know the area well from my time at ICI and visits later and have actually travelled to London from the previous station on the line, Eaglescliffe, in the 1970s. Everybody, should note how with a little artistic creativity, some common sense and not vast amounts of money a dingy station like Hartlpool, can be made totally acceptable to anyone who wants or needs to travel by train. I think too much, we concentrate on the trains, when for many journeys we spent quite a bit of time in or around the stations.
It was just another well-posted short walk to the ground.
Inside Hartlepool United's Ground
I then explored the town, of which I will post more later, before I ended up in this micropub on the station.
Rat Race Ale House, Harlepool Station
The Rat Race Ale House was well worth a visit and say if you are a supporter, who travels to the ground by rail, it is a place to at lest try for a pre-match drink. But don’t go if you drink chemical lager!
Every station should have one!
It had been a day of contrasts, a southern town and ground, that needed to be lifted up and a northern one, that had suffered a lot of unemploymemt in the 1970s and 1980s, that had pulled itself off the floor in style.
Just as I said with Exeter, I hope Ipswich draw Hartlepool, one day in a cup. The town is well worth a visit. I know it’s a long way from the south and if you don’t book early it could be expensive on the train, but give it a try!
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.
92 Clubs – Day 11 – Coventry, Crawley, Crewe
This was three trips out of London and it was quite a long day.
I left Euston in late morning for Coventry and it was then a twenty minute walk to the bus station at the least customer-friendly interchange I’ve found in the UK. The town has form here, as on January the first, they didn’t provide any transport to the match except taxis.
It was then a twenty five minute wait for the bus, which wasn’t good, as I missed one, as they don’t announce the bus at the stop and you can’t see the numbers from the gate. Is this why in Cambridge, the buses always come nose in to the stand, so you can read where they are going?
The ground was deserted as this picture shows.
The Ricoh Arena, Coventry
It was then a walk round a retail park to find the bus home. Guess what, there were no signs to the bus station. Eventually, a bus inspector told me to walk out the back and get a bus from the main road. It was a 48 and it got me reasonably quickly back to the centre. It was still quite a walk to the train station, but not as much as from the bus station.
From Euston, i took the Victoria line to Victoria and tried to get a ticket to Crawley. Everything was rather busy and as I had plenty of time, I decided to use my freedom Pass to get me East Croydon, where I could get a return to Crawley. It should have been easy, but no-one seemed to know, which was the next platform for an East Croydon train. I was sent to platform 4, then 18, then 14 and finally back to 16. Organisation? No! Headless-chickenism of the worst kind.
Eventually, I got to Crawley stadium and the taxi driver took the picture.
Outside Crawley Town Stadium
I had been unsure, as to whether I would do Crewe, when I returned to London, but as Virgin have no rush-hour restrictions, I took the 18:10 to the famous railway junction.
It was raining when I got there and just walked the hundred metres or so to the deserted ground.
A Wet and Dark Alexandra Stadium
Thirty minutes after arriving in Crewe, I was back on the train south.
92 Clubs – The Biggest Problem
This does seem to be the pollen count and my hay fever. Would you believe that the count is High today in Coventry!
But my balance seem to be better. I did complain here about Virgin’s Pendolinos, but now I can walk up and down the moving train with ease.
92 Clubs – Day 10 – Cheltenham, Chesterfield, Colchester
This was a day with three stadia well away from the train stations.
I took the 7:48 out of Paddington and didn’t mess about and got a taxi to the Cheltenham‘s ground.
Outside Cheltenham's Abbey Business Stadium
Getting back was a little more difficult, as I got to drop me near the town centre and got lost. There wasn’t many signs either. When will these towns learn, that not all visitors come by car?
Chesterfield was next after a rather tedious but thankfully short direct train from Cheltenham. Cross-country trains seem to always be crowded and thery definitely need some larger trains.
By the Pitch at Chesterfield
As you can see from the picture, I got a warm welcome at Chesterfield, after a taxi ride from the ground. On match-days, it’s easier as they have a shuttle bus. The stadium was the most impressive this week so far.
But I did get a bus to the station and had plenty of time before my London train.
I then had time for a meal at Carluccio’s in St. Pancras, before going home to dump some rubbish and then take the evening train for Colchester.
Outside a Well-Lit Colchester Stadium
This was the best picture we could get.
But then I was quickly on the train and back to London, where I was reasonably early to bed. At least I was able to pick up the gluten-free sandwiches for at Marks and Spencer in the station.
92 Clubs – A Change of Rules
The last few days have been very tiring. Especially when it rains.
So there are two rule changes.
- I will now use taxis, especially as the driver often makes an excellent cameraman for the picture.
- I’m not sure about this, but achieving all the grounds in a month may just be impossible. So I’ll attempt to set a record, by carrying on into November if required.
Is this a retrograde step?
The alternative would be to use hotels more often, but then that woud be expensive.
The Anonymous Widower 