"A great away day"

Carlisle is one of the nicest away days in the calendar, it's also for many clubs one of the furthest.

Carlisle, situated in the Lake district, is a picturesque city, with very friendly people.

The ground is on the outskirts of the city, and is pretty easy to get to. Brunton Park is a mixture of the old and the new with the Story Homes stand, running along one touchline, the newest stand. This is where away fans are housed.

The stand has a good concourse, and stewarding is pretty slack, meaning it's great for banter with the Carlisle fans that are seated only a few feet away. Notice though how the stand is too long for the pitch, and if you're sat at the far bottom-right you can't see half the pitch as your view is obscured by the terrace behind the goal.

The other stands are very traditional, especially the home terrace behind the goal, which is a real classic. In an age when old stadia are being demolished in favour of soul-less, bland arenas, Brunton Park is a gem. Surrounded by trees, the stadium looks very classy.

Carlisle is a great away day.

Location

The only inconvenience is that it's a 12 hour round trip from Swansea.

The ground is easy to get to from the motorway, and is within walking distance of the train station. There aren't too many car parks around the ground, but if you look long enough you'll get street parking.

The ground is very easy to get to, just off the motorway, yet still pretty close to the centre.

View

I can't fault it (the away end anyway).

Fair play to Carlisle for housing away fans in their best stand. Plenty of leg-room and a great view of the pitch from everywhere apart from the far bottom-right, where your view of the playing action is obscured by the terrace behind the goal. But don't worry, they don't sell tickets in that part of the stand.

Facilities

Spacious concourse, with clean toilets. Very good.

Food & Drink

Delicious burgers.

The usual food and drink outlets on the concourse.

Police & Stewards

Unbelievable!

The stewarding is so slack that it really encourages a good atmosphere. Away fans are no more than 3 metres away from home fans, and stewards are very laid-back when it comes to banter.

Even when our fans over-celebrated a bit after scoring a season-saving 94th minute winner, stewards just encouraged us to stay in our end of the stand.

Police were very friendly, and took our verbal abuse of one of their ginger colleagues with a pinch of salt.

Atmosphere

Local fans are very friendly, and very proud of their club. If you can, have a chat with some Carlisle fans, they're a great bunch.

The atmosphere in the ground is not bad. The proximity of the two sets of fans makes for a healthy and boisterous atmosphere. Home fans aren't the least bit intimidating.

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