The Groupsave train for Colchester is the 10.48 from Liverpool Street arriving at 12.17 in Colchester (with a bus ride in the middle) and back on the 17.33 (again with a replacement bus between Witham and Billericay) which gets back to the smoke at 19.03.

Cost should be in the region of £12 each return depending on numbers. Meet in the Hamilton Hall at Liverpool Street Station 10am onwards for breakfast and drinks.

Meeting Place for Tickets and Pre-Match Banter is the Bricklayers - see below.

Bricklayers, 27 Bergholt Road, Colchester, Essex, CO4 5AA, 01206 852008 01206 852008

The Bricklayers is a cracking real ale pub and one of our favourite away venues of last season.  A friendly, family run, Adnams pub serving a wide selection of guest ales from all over the UK along with a standard selection of keg lagers and a traditional cider. In the public bar there is a pool table and dart board with Sky sports on the telly while out the back is a good little beer garden. The pub is close to the railway station and convenient for the shuttle busses to the ground. Children are allowed in if accompanied by a well behaved adult. The only slight downside is that food is not served on a Saturday. CAMRA listed.

As you might expect with a modern out of town development there is very little on offer in the vicinity of the ground. The nearest pub is the Dog and Pheasant on Nayland Road which is three quarters of a mile away and billed as home fans only. For a pre match drink the best options are found closer to the town centre.

The Norfolk Arms, 132 North Station Road, Colchester, CO1 1UZ, 01206 545257

A decent boozer with a pool table, beer garden, reasonable scran and Sky Sports close to Colchester train station. Unfortunately it’s a Green King boozer and as a result the ales are nowt to write home about.

Fat Cat, 65, Butt Road, Colchester, Essex, CO3 3BZ, 01206 577990

The sister pub to the excellent Fat Cat in Norwich. Unsurprisingly sells Fat Cat brewed ales and a number of guests. Rumoured to serve up to 20 ales but gets mixed reviews, worth a visit if passing through the town centre.

The Victoria Inn, 10, North Station Rd, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1RB

Real ale pub located further down North Station Road from the Norfolk Arms. There are 3 real ales on draught which usually consist of Crouch Vale’s Brewers Gold, Woodfords Wherry and an ever changing guest.

If you're after a spot of pre match scran then head down North Station road past the Norfolk Arms pub and go straight on at the roundabout. About 150 meters further down the road there are a number of take aways and restaurants including Chinese, Italian and Indian cuisines.  If you're after fish and chips then the Dolphin Fish Bar (36 North Station Road, Colchester, CO1 1RB) is recommended by branch member Neil Nixon.

Opened in 2008 the Colchester Community Stadium is located just off the A12 a couple of miles north of Colchester, close to junction 28. All sides of the ground are roughly the same height though the main stand is a little taller with a row of executive boxes along the top of it. The facilities are pretty good, the view is pretty good and the roof provides pretty good protection from any inclement weather. Unfortunately the whole ground is a soulless, concrete block that looks like it was made out of lego, built in the middle of now where. As and when Carlisle do eventually up sticks and move to Kingmoor let’s hope we get a ground with a bit more character than this.

Trains run from Liverpool Street Station to Colchester and usually take about an hour. Groupsave fares are available and London Branch will be organising group travel to the game. If you would like to travel with the group by train please email travel@carlislelondonbranch.org return adult fares should be in the region of £10 each depending on numbers.

For information on driving to and parking at the Community Stadium please click here.

There is space for 700 cars in the official car park which must be booked in advance at a cost of £6 per car by calling 0845 437 9089. The majority of roads around the stadium have parking restrictions on match days so be careful where you leave your car. There is a fairly large car park at Colchester train station so if you do want to drive if might be an idea to park up there, join us in the Bricklayers and catch the shuttle bus to the game.

It’s just under 2 miles from the station to the Community Stadium but shuttle buses run from nearby Bruff Close to the ground and cost £1.50 return. To get to the busses head down station approach turn left and take the second exit at the roundabout, the buses park behind the Big Yellow storage place that you can see from the station. For 3pm kick offs the busses run from 1pm, with the last bus returning from the stadium at 6pm.

Overall our record away at Colchester is fairly dire with just 2 wins, 6 draws and 12 defeats in our 20 visits there. Last season we salvaged a 1-1 draw on thanks to an excellent James Berrett equaliser. Such was the hysteria amongst the travelling support that Diesel Dickie Davidson uttered out one of his most famous phrases ‘equalisers are better than winners’!

An historic place dating to Roman times Colchester claims to be Britain’s oldest market town. It was for a time the capital of Britain until Boudicca’s rebellion destroyed most of it in AD 61. After that the Romans decided to shift the capital from Camulodunum to Londinium where it remains today.