Penrith Town’s Southend Road ground is the furthest journey in the Northern League, not only for me but for most of the clubs playing within the league; they are the only club in Cumbria, situated in the Eden Valley, touching distance from the bootiful, bootiful Lake District.
I took advantage of Bank Holiday Monday to make a major tick off my Northern League list, the Smid family set off and headed west along the A69, then south down the M6 to combine the groundhop with a trip to one of the nearby lakes. After arriving at 12.50, we parked up at the ground and had a look around the town centre, went for a drink and headed back to the ground at 2.35, on arriving we were unable to gain entry, then a group of tracksuited Thornaby players appeared boarding a mini-bus, they informed ourselves as well as another two groundhoppers (who arrived just after us) that the game had kicked off at 12.00. …..aarrrghhhhh!
I checked the fixtures on the Northern League website on Friday and I noticed a couple of games with an early kick off, but Penrith wasn’t one of them, I meant to check before I set off (but didn’t) so there goes my “major tick”, with any luck I’ll have another attempt to get to Southend Road sometime this season, but I’ll ring the club first to confirm the kick off time.
It wasn’t a wasted journey after all, we took a detour to Keswick and had an enjoyable day out, I’ve never been there before, but it truly is a stunning part of the country, me and the breadknife wouldn’t mind going back for a weekend away, maybe it could coincide with Penrith Town being at home, now that’s a canny good idea!
I took advantage of Bank Holiday Monday to make a major tick off my Northern League list, the Smid family set off and headed west along the A69, then south down the M6 to combine the groundhop with a trip to one of the nearby lakes. After arriving at 12.50, we parked up at the ground and had a look around the town centre, went for a drink and headed back to the ground at 2.35, on arriving we were unable to gain entry, then a group of tracksuited Thornaby players appeared boarding a mini-bus, they informed ourselves as well as another two groundhoppers (who arrived just after us) that the game had kicked off at 12.00. …..aarrrghhhhh!
I checked the fixtures on the Northern League website on Friday and I noticed a couple of games with an early kick off, but Penrith wasn’t one of them, I meant to check before I set off (but didn’t) so there goes my “major tick”, with any luck I’ll have another attempt to get to Southend Road sometime this season, but I’ll ring the club first to confirm the kick off time.
It wasn’t a wasted journey after all, we took a detour to Keswick and had an enjoyable day out, I’ve never been there before, but it truly is a stunning part of the country, me and the breadknife wouldn’t mind going back for a weekend away, maybe it could coincide with Penrith Town being at home, now that’s a canny good idea!
For the record the score was; Penrith Town 1v0 Thornaby.
2 comments:
Shaun,
That's gutting! I really feel for you. There's nothing quite worse than gearing yourself up for a match and it not happen. The agony of it is disproportional to its actual place in the scheme of life(if you know what I mean!). I went to Field Mill once for my first ever trip, by train, and all excited with a few pints in me, found out it was called off due to ground safety. My Dad, who supports Wimbledon, had to travel 3 times to Meadow Lane once from Brighton. The first time it was abandoned due to floodlight failure, the second was hit by a pea souper fog minutes before the start and he eventually saw football at his third attempt! Let me know when you do Penrith again. I fancy a trip up there myself.
Going to Barcelona and getting outside the Nou Camp to be told the match is postponed, now that's REAL gut wrenching. I'll be in touch about Penrith...the revisit!
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