Greetings one and all and welcome to the first TLFG of December - wow, another year is almost over.
Sorry last week's piece was so brief - I got back later than planned from Bilbao and the rest of the week was really busy.
I'm afraid to say it's going to be a similar story this week as I've got loads going on starting off tomorrow with our annual Non-League Day meeting with the Premier League at their HQ.
Anyway, the main event of last week was the aforementioned trip to the Basque Country.
I had a great time but from a transport point of view, it was all a bit cursed.
Two of my friends were supposed to fly out on Friday but got caught up in the security alert at Gatwick airport.
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| Santurtzi (purple) defend against Pasaia |
One of them, TLFG reader Liam, managed to rebook for Saturday whilst the other gave up and took a refund.
My flight out on Saturday with Lufthansa was fine, albeit a bit tight on the connection front in Frankfurt, until our final approach to Bilbao when the place started getting buffeted heavily from the side.
Captain Steinhauser held his nerve though and landed the plane pretty smoothly.
On arrival, I expected to meet Liam who was just ahead of me but received a message saying his Vueling captain tried twice but didn't fancy it and took him to Barcelona instead.
He spent the rest of the day on a replacement bus making the 600km journey back!
As a result, I was on my own for the rest of the day.
After checking in, I had went for a potter around town.
I ran into the Madrid CFF team who were taking a walk in a local park prior to their game against Athletic Bilbao's women later that day.
Following that brief encounter, I strolled round to San Mames and bought some provisions from Lidl before going for a freshen up.
Around 6pm I got on the incredibly cheap metro and made my way to Sestao to watch them play very local rivals Barakaldo in a third-tier match.
Las Llanas is a pretty decent ground, roughly the same size as Plough Lane, with one grandstand and three terraces.
I picked the home terrace behind the goal which gave me memories of the old Putney End at Fulham before it became all-seater.
The crowd was pretty mixed but wherever you seem to go in Bilbao there are a lot of young people, including a lot of women and girls - way more than you'd see in England.
The away team were the favourites and they must have filled about a third of the ground in their yellow and black stripes.
There wasn't much between the sides in the first half, with the strong winds having an impact.
Barakaldo took control in the second half, probably making better use of the meteorological conditions, and duly took the lead.
Sestao struggled to create anything thereafter and only a brilliant save in the dying minutes from their own keeper kept the score at 0-1 and that's how it finished.
The next morning I met Liam at 1030 and we headed back up the same metro line to watch game two - the fifth-tier match between Santurtzi and Pasaia.
I visited this ground on my last visit in 2023 and really liked it.
At Sestao several thousand were in attendance whilst Santurtzi was much more like an English non-league club with maybe 300.
Aside from a grandstand, the other main feature of the ground is a sizeable terrace behind one of the goals which is where Liam and I initially took up residence.
After a few minutes we popped round to the cafe under the stand where we were given a friendly welcome.
Although Liam speaks excellent Spanish, one of the staff members spoke reasonable English and was keen to use it.
Naturally, while spending time in here, we missed the first goal.
Back behind the goal with our refreshments, we looked up to see the flight our other friends were on coming into land - it too getting battered by the wind.
With one of the floodlights waving slightly worryingly in the wind, the first half ended 0-1.
One of Liam's things at non-league grounds back home is to take pictures of him with dogs.
We found three on this visit and Wally, Blanco, Gin and their owners were all happy to pose and have a chat.
Back on the field, the hosts turned things round and took a 2-1 lead which they looked like holding until a goal deep in injury time rescued a 2-2 draw for Pasaia.
After meeting up with the newly arrived Andy and Mike, we had a bit of lunch and another potter about in town ahead of the big game of the weekend - Athletic Bilbao v Real Sociedad.
A lot is made of how friendly the rivalry is between the two sets of fans and from early morning, I saw couples and groups out and about wearing the colours of both teams.
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| Yours truly hob-nobbing in Bilbao |
Cafes and bars were full of both sets of supporters and the vibe was really convivial.
A few weeks before the match, I was incredibly lucky to receive an invite to the President's Box to watch the game after doing work on Basque Non-League Day over the last couple of years.
With my friends having made sure I got through the security cordon, they all headed to their seats dotted around the ground.
I met the directors who've I've been working with and caught up - they recently announced a relief package which Athletic will be providing to non-league clubs devastated by the floods in Valencia so it was really good to hear more about that.
Following that, I briefly met and had my photo taken with the president and ended up sitting directly behind him and his counterpart from Sociedad.
The game itself was typically tight but the atmosphere was great and ultimately Athletic edged to a 1-0 win courtesy of a first-half goal.
After the game, I met up with the rest of my group and we hit the town with lots of other fans.
Despite the match finishing a 11pm on a Sunday, a good few still stayed out and made the most of the mild conditions.
Bilbao is a truly great city to watch football - there are lots of teams at all levels, the public transport is great and cheap, the food and drink is top notch and there are some wonderful museums and other cultural sites.
For Londoners, it's less than 90 minutes from Gatwick too - I can't recommend it enough.
Oh yes, I mentioned above that I got back later than planned.
On the way back, my flight to Munich was delayed and I missed the connection.
It was the last flight of the day to London so Lufthansa put me up at the Hilton in the airport in one of the swankiest rooms I've ever inhabited.
They paid for dinner too so, although I was only there a few hours, I made the most of my bonus night in Bavaria.
Have a great week.
THE WEEK AHEAD
This week's highlights include games in the Premier League, EFL, FA Trophy, FA Vase, Women's Super League and Women's FA Cup plus lots of other games featuring our local non-league and women's clubs.
As always, please make sure you check with clubs before you travel just in case a game has been called off or the venue or kick-off time has changed - this is highly possible for some of the lower non-league clubs. Also, please let me know if anything is wrong or missing.
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