Let’s all go to Bury, AGAIN! Read our Away Day Guide - for the second time in a month!

How do I get there?

Who’s ready for a little cut and pasting from last month’s article? Here we go.

Take the A1 (M) out of Sunderland and follow it down to Yorkshire where you’ll join the M1 following signs for Leeds. At junction 42 join the M62 and continue until junction 18 and take the M66 and follow the signs for Bury.

Exit the motorway, taking the first exit on the roundabout onto Rochdale Road. Take a left onto Heywood Street and follow it passing a college playing fields on the right hand side, turn left at Market Street and then again for Gigg Lane. Street parking is available around the ground.

For the Massive Lads Fans travelling by train, there is no dedicated train station in Bury so you will have to catch a Metrolink from Manchester. Trams run from Piccadilly and Victoria direct to Bury Interchange every 12 minutes with journey times taking around 25 minutes.

Of course, you can catch an ALS supporter’s bus from the Stadium of Light at 2pm, and places are still available - priced at £25.

Click here for more information.

Photo by Clint Hughes/Getty Images

Where can I get the sesh started?

If you want to read a section where I namedrop and give detailed analysis on every pub in Bury then I direct you to our guide from July here.

There is, of course, a Social Club which allows visiting supporters in for a quid. Chris Waters, of Sunderland Supporter Liaison Officer fame, has assured us that the bar will be providing “warm food” and snacks, so don’t all rush at once.

I’m staying owa, is there owt to do?

If you’re like me, you exhausted the cultural delights of Bury in July. Unfortunately, Bury’s Thursday night nowhere near carries the same gravitas as its Friday night. HOWEVER, if you are staying over then on Friday morning you can treat yourself to a visit to Bury Market.

Yes, you too can live like a busload of Birkenhead pensioners, and spend a morning wandering through the cornucopia of stalls and counters. Drink in the delights of a space that claimed the title of ‘Market of the Year’ in 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015 and gorge on a traditional black pudding direct from source.

While I could use up all of my extensive lexicon on this veritable treasure trove of produce and high-end fashion, I shall leave it to esteemed writer and journalist Stuart Maconie.

In his 2007 book Pies and Prejudice, Maconie described Bury Market as:

...a shoppers' mecca, a retail nirvana rich with exotic bargains, a fabled bazaar, a veritable souk of the north.

Now THAT is worth visiting.

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

What is the ground like?

I can confirm that Gigg Lane has not changed much since our last visit in July.

Bury are honouring the 100th anniversary of the death of former player Teddy Bullen, who played for the club in a wartime fixture against Liverpool in 1917. He was killed in action at Vaulx-Vracount six months later. His anniversary will be marked with an airing of The Last Post followed by a minute’s silence.

So there’s that.