Football supporters have traditionally seen Bank Holiday fixtures as  opportunities for their travelling time to be reduced through scheduled local derbies. To what degree has this proved to be the case, and more generally, has Non League football been kind to the travelling supporter throughout the season? Where journey lengths are given, these are approximate round trips in miles
There can have been few quibbles in August 1997 when Town made the short journey to the Firs to visit St Leonards Stamcroft (0.2 ). The then Town owner Mark Gardiner made an application to the Guinness Book of Records in relation to a claim for the shortest away trip in Senior football. The team embarked upon the coach, parked just outside the Pilot Filed and disembarked after the shortest of journeys up Elphinstone Road. In stark contrast was a Sunday  April fixture at Leek Town (472) in April 1995. The second leg of the Southern League Cup Final saw  Hastings Town win 2-1, an overall 3-1 win on aggregate and arguably was well worth the trouble.
In the 1950s there was a curious scheduling tradition over Christmas fixtures with consecutive home and away fixtures against the same opposition  on Christmas Day and boxing Day. Reserve fixtures also mirrored the pattern against the same team. It usually meant that both First and Reserve Teams played against Tonbridge (62) in a total of four fixtures in all. For some reason the fixture secretary ( pre computer days) had a sense of mischief in  1957 with Hastings travelling to Bedford (264) on Christmas Day and entertaining Bedford on Boxing Day. The Reserves played the reverse fixtures against Bedford, despite the fact that Tonbridge were in the same division. To compound the problem for the travelling faithful ( in pre Motorway days), the Christmas Day fixture kicked off at 11am. For the record United lost 9-1 in front of 4,700 spectators.
More generally, when United joined the Southern league in 1948 there was only one division and in the opening season their fixture list included trips to Kidderminster (390), Lovells Athletic ( 406), Hereford United (414), Exeter  City Reserves(450), Merthyr Tydfil (470) and Torquay United Reserves (492). In the absence of floodlights mid week matches kicked off at 3pm (and could still draw decent crowds). It was no problem for player availability as the vast majority of the United squad were full time professionals. The election to the football League of Colchester United and Gillingham created the opportunity for Llanelly (450), to join the league. At least the compensation was that the Welsh side regularly drew 10.000 supporters to matches to create a bit of atmosphere.
The Southern League continued as a one division competition until 1958 when briefly two regional zones were introduced. United ‘s South Eastern Zone still retained Exeter City but now included Yeovil Town (362). The 1959/60 season saw the introduction of a Premier and First Division ( and the end of regional groupings) and the situation remained the same until 1971 when the Premier was supported by the First Divisions ( North and South). There were further changes afoot in 1979/80 when the Premier Division had two feeder league named Midland Division and Southern Division giving travelling supporters some relief.
When Hastings Town secured promotion in 1991/92 they lost the advantage of being in a regional division and the Premier Division  the following season included V S Rugby (320), Cheltenham (348)  Atherstone United (356), Solihull (360), Halesowen (390), Worcester (404), Hednesford (416) and Burton Albion (418).
Sometimes the length of the journey has been exacerbated by other factors to compound the problem. In 1979, Hastings paid a midweek trip to Worcester City with the team coach leaving Wednesday midday from the Pilot Field. A 1-4 reverse was bad enough, but worse was to follow. On the return journey at 2.15 am, some 20 miles out of London, the coach engine seized up on the M4. Police intervention followed and arrangements were made for the coach to be towed away at 7.15am, some five hours later. The party waited for a further four hours for a replacement coach before returning to the Pilot Field at 3pm, some 27 hours after they had set off for the match.
When you scan the fixture list to view away matches this season is it going to be “One for the Road” or rather “Show me the way to go home?”