CHRISTMAS Day in a travel inn might not seem like seem like everyone’s ideal festive destination.

But for Clarets super-fan Dave Burnley it was the only way he’ll get to see Sean Dyche’s boys today.

His epic four-day expedition to the the Riverside Stadium and back, with fellow supporter Pete Read, actually began on Christmas Eve.

Because rail companies appear to believe that no one travels long-distance over the festive season, there were no trains after 9pm on December 24.

So the first leg of the 323-mile round trip - Dave lives and works in Stoke - took the pair as far as a travel inn at Durham.

Dave and Pete, who don’t drive, then hitch-hiked the 17 miles to Darlington, where they spent Christmas Day.

And then it was a comparatively straightforward final 10 miles, thumbing more lifts, to get to the home of Middlesbrough FC.

Dave said: “Thanks to the randomness of the Football League computer, and after exhaustive enquiries, the only way I can be sure of getting up to the Middlesbrough game is to take four days to get there and back.”

Even when the final whistle sounds later today, he is still relying on a lift from a Burnley fan to help him homewards.

He will be spending a final night in the Leeds area before the train resume and he can return to the Potteries.

Dave has not missed a Clarets game for nearly 40 years and penned the book Got To Be There, chronicling his superfan exploits.

He once spent 36 hours on a Greyhound bus to ensure he saw the Clarets beat Minnesota Thunder during a 2008 US tour.