"There's nae a bed to be had in the city," was all Leicester Tigers supporters kept hearing as they tried to scramble aboard the unexpected journey to have a crack at the European summit.

Sadly, after Saturday's shattering 19-16 loss to Leinster, it is pretty reasonable to speculate that the ones who did get a bed in Edinburgh were back in them a lot earlier than they planned.

Meanwhile, the Tigers fans who had travelled up on the day had plenty to contemplate as they negotiated the final stages of a 650-mile round trip which started at 6am on Saturday and ended back in Leicester at around 4am yesterday morning.

But, as the pain of defeat starts to fade, it is the memories of another excursion as part of the green, white and red brigade which will linger on.

Kath Jenkins, of Nuneaton, said she will look back on a great day, despite the disappointing loss. She said: "It was such a thrill to be here. We were staying at Motherwell and came into Edinburgh on Saturday lunchtime. It was a great sight to see all the fans from dozens of different clubs all sharing the experience."

Around 24 hours before kick-off, the first myth about Edinburgh had been shattered. I suppose it is a curious fact that I have been to Japan and Albania but I had never stepped foot in Scotland before the weekend and was warned – by a Glaswegian – that "no-one ever has a good time in Edinburgh."

That did not look to be the case in the harbour-side pubs of Leith as blue-shirted Leinster fans swapped rugby stories with Tigers fans who had somewhere to stay and had flown in on Friday night. Outside the King's Wark pub, it was a gloriously fine evening with the setting bringing to mind the Proclaimers' song, Sunshine on Leith.

Some 24 hours later, the buzz was all around Murrayfield. The old ground has changed a bit too. When the old stands were pulled down, there were worries that the atmosphere would be lost and I guess that might be how some Tigers' fans are feeling now about the re-developed Welford Road. Well, the Murrayfield sound was terrific with an attendance of just under 67,000.

It was also a day of long queues for everything – airport taxis, buses, beer and the loos – and some strange affiliations. Some of the many Munster fans confessed to opting to cheer for Tigers.

But it was the Dubliner boys in blue who were the dominant presence with Tigers' fans, around 7,000 of them, scattered around the ground, trying and succeeding in making themselves heard above the Leinster din.

The ground-out win over London Irish in last weekend's Guinness Premiership final was very much in the mould of previous Tigers' victories down the years.

But the neutrals chewing the cud in Biddy Mulligan's Bar earlier got the game they hoped for as Tigers played a more expansive style of rugby with Leinster also committed to moving the ball around.

The Dubliners looked the sharper and less battle-weary.

They led 9-3 and then Jordan Crane had to go off with an injury.

"It doesn't get any better for us," said one Tigers fan.

A yellow card for prop Stan Wright after he took out fly-half Sam Vesty off the ball gave Tigers a great chance to get their noses in front and, by the time Wright returned, they had taken enough advantage to hold a seven-point lead at 16-9.

However, Tigers lost the talismanic Geordan Murphy and Leinster rallied to level the match at 16-16.

Eight months of competition and the European title was still in the balance with 20 minutes to play.

Then Tigers' second-half-of-the-season assault on the silverware started to take its toll as scrum-half Julien Dupuy cramped up and another Sexton penalty seemed to drain the life out of the players.

The final error-ridden minutes were hardly Tigers' finest.

The referee's whistle blew and the outstanding Dan Hipkiss looked the most disconsolate figure among the many.

Craig Newby, the Kiwi in his first Heineken final, lay on the ground for an age as the defeat started to sink in.

A few fans got on the pitch, which delayed the presentation – particularly hard on the losers.

It all made for a very dispiriting end to a campaign which started unpromisingly, revived spectacularly in the final 10 weeks but ultimately kept Tigers' hands off the greatest prize in club rugby.