The coach park and a few other Q's

[pmdirectuk]

Hello all,

I have been having a think over the last couple of months of how I am going to get from Sheffield to the festival. First I had planned to do the trip on my Vespa but I concluded that this may be a bit of a mission due to the distance and the kit that I would have to strap to it.

I considered a lift off my friend but he has his family/friends travelling with him and there wouldn't be room.

I then spoke to someone who said that the coach was a great way in! This seemed to tick all the boxes as I could relax on the way there as it travels through the early hours (03:30am departure) and on the way back I could just crumble in a heap and be delivered home. Great! So I booked it! National Express, early hours Wednesday morning which is scheduled to arrive at 9am in the coach park.

This has got me thinking after a recent trip to Worthy Farm (on business) that all the roads are narrow and I guess will be mega busy on arrival and think that the 9am arrival is very ambitious! So my question on this is;

How long in reality do you think this coach journey will take from departure until I walk through the gates? (Considering traffic and congestion).

Also, on my recent visit to Worthy Farm, I was offered a personal tour of the site (in it's raw state) which I was dying to accept however I was on company business so had to refuse, I did manage to get a feel of the sheer scale of the place. The coach is set to drop us on the north side of the site at the coach station and leads into gate A. My friend and his friends are all looking to pitch up in Pennards which is so they are close to the action at night and the attractions, markets, bars and so on through the day...

I am going to be travelling as light as possible but with the normal supplies such as tent, blow up bed, sleeping bag, few changes of clothes, wet wipes, toiletries, lantern, torch and you get the picture. I expect that even though I will be going as light as I can, my pack up will still be a lump to haul around. My next question is;

How long do you estimate it will take to walk from the coach and gate A, to the Pennards field? (Considering my back pack - I have also read that some get in, lock up their gear and just take the tent and head for their destination! Good idea).

I have read all the guides and so on but I don't think there is any better than opening up things like this for discussion so I would like to thank you all in advance for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

Glasto-Virgin,

Paul.

[Gnomicide]

Not sure on how long it takes from Sheffield but what will happen as part of the journey is the driver will stop for a break, maybe 2. Also, coaches tend to travel a little slower than cars so.... take the time it took for your business trip and add at least an hour.

The good news is that you will be dropped off at Gate A, meaning no huge treck to get to the site. The queues here have greatly improved over the last few years (at least in my experience). In 2011 I queued for almost 2 hours, in 2014 I walked straight in.

But this was after midday. Not sure on the earlier time you will be arriving.

Once in, if you get a move on, you could make it to Pennards in under half an hour.

If you think your mates will get in before you, get them to take your tent. Space in Pennards is at a premium, if they are saving your space, at best they will have to keep telling people not to put their tent there. At worst they will be told to piss off and tge space will be gone.

Do a trade with your mates, they take your tent, you take something of theirs of equal size and weight.

[guypjfreak]

i dont have any idea of times from sheffield but MrG is about right on time for getting to camp ....unless you get lost lol my advice would be to make sure you have phone battery enough to phone your mates and get them to meet you and help you in

[justperfect]

I think I'm right in thinking that coaches can use roads around the site that are blocked off from regular traffic making the last mile or so into the site much quicker than joe public in their cars

[craigyb31]

From Leeds last year it took us between 6 and 7 hours on the seecoaches which included an half hour stop at the services. We are going by national express this year leaving at 1.15 am so will get there pretty much first thing.

The coach park is bang in front of gate a so straight in and then in our case a short walk to pylon fields. If you take a trolley then that will help the walk to Pennards

[phil the shrew]

I think I'm right in thinking that coaches can use roads around the site that are blocked off from regular traffic making the last mile or so into the site much quicker than joe public in their cars

Yes that was my thinking too - got the local Glastonbury town coach onto the site and it shot through the traffic on what seemed to be a designated route. Guess the only delay would be if traffic got congested on the roads before the road blocks kick in, or even on the motorway

Aside from the issue about the amount of kit and booze you can take on the coach think its a great option for getting on site and even at peak time the wait at the coach station to get through the gate isn't too bad

[glasto-worker]

Yes that was my thinking too - got the local Glastonbury town coach onto the site and it shot through the traffic on what seemed to be a designated route. Guess the only delay would be if traffic got congested on the roads before the road blocks kick in, or even on the motorway

I take it you were not on a Coach in 2009 going though Glastonbury town towards Pilton when there was a problem - what problem none of us who were stuck in traffic have a clue - by sods law the crew coach from London I was on the driver made the wrong turning and then was not able to reverse the coach so we joined the road going though Glastonbury town and depending where a vehicle was they had between six and nine hours delay - people were getting off the coach going into a pub and having a meal and a drink and then coming back out and the coach had moved six feet !! - if we did not have our gear it would have been quicker to walk - The A39/A361 does not have any Special coach lanes - on local radio they did mention that queue had backed up onto the M5 - now how long that took to sort out I don't have a clue - from where we joined we were 10 miles from Red Gate so it was just over 1 mile per hour - once we got close traffic flow was normal so it was all a complete mystery - every since then our Crew Coaches arrive on the Tuesday so we dont get caught out again.

[incident]

2009 was a famously terrible year for traffic though, roads all round the site were jammed for pretty much the whole of Wednesday.

From what I remember (and bear in mind it's 6 years ago now), there was industrial fire not too far away from the site, and also a couple of separate crashes a little further away including a fairly serious one on the motorway - all of which wasn't helped by more people arriving (or attempting to) first thing Wednesday than ever before. I was only delayed by about an hour on top of what I intended, but there was stories of people being stuck in cars for 4+ hours.

The events of that year directly led to an overhaul of the traffic management plan, most visible was opening the Car Parks 12 hours before the Gates but there was plenty of other changes in terms of roads/routes surrounding the site. At least some of the back roads are closed to public cars entirely so that coaches have an option if the main routes are closed.

[justperfect]

Someone on facebook is claiming the coach times are up on seetickets website.

I can't find anything

Has anybody else found out their departure time before I call bullshit on her

[glasto-worker]

2009 was a famously terrible year for traffic though, roads all round the site were jammed for pretty much the whole of Wednesday.

From what I remember (and bear in mind it's 6 years ago now), there was industrial fire not too far away from the site, and also a couple of separate crashes a little further away including a fairly serious one on the motorway - all of which wasn't helped by more people arriving (or attempting to) first thing Wednesday than ever before. I was only delayed by about an hour on top of what I intended, but there was stories of people being stuck in cars for 4+ hours.

The events of that year directly led to an overhaul of the traffic management plan, most visible was opening the Car Parks 12 hours before the Gates but there was plenty of other changes in terms of roads/routes surrounding the site. At least some of the back roads are closed to public cars entirely so that coaches have an option if the main routes are closed.

I know about the problems on the M5 but we were not on the M5 - we came up from the A303 and the A37 and the idiot driver turned left instead of going straight on so ended up West of Glastonbury Town so anything west of that would not affect anything East of Glastonbury Town - at first we were not clocking the time but we know the coach that left ' one hour after us ' but taking the correct route arrived at 6pm - we did not roll in until close to 2am so all the holds up that we saw was the last 10 miles to Red Gate - cars were coming up the way so whatever it was it was only affecting cars driving east towards Pilton - by the way the claimed ' some of the back roads are closed to public cars ' are not wide enough for a Coach as I have driven down them before in a crew car. Its still a mystery as you would expect the traffic would be blocked in both directions but we know traffic was moving normally from Pilton.

[glasto-worker]

Someone on facebook is claiming the coach times are up on seetickets website.

I can't find anything

Has anybody else found out their departure time before I call bullshit on her

try this

https://www.seetickets.com/customerservice

then enter your email in the

Forgotten your details?

you Get a reminder of previous orders.

then use the link though the email

[phil the shrew]

Yeh 2009 was a terrible year for traffic - got stuck just off the motorway near Bristol and took over 6 hours to do the 14 or so miles to the site.

Did hear it was due to a series of related issues, but have to say the management of traffic is a lot better since and the car park opening on Tuesdays has helped a lot. Last two years the coach in from Glasto town on Wednesday morning has been fine

[incident]

by the way the claimed ' some of the back roads are closed to public cars ' are not wide enough for a Coach as I have driven down them before in a crew car. Its still a mystery as you would expect the traffic would be blocked in both directions but we know traffic was moving normally from Pilton.

Sorry, but yes, there are definitely roads closed to cars that coaches can travel on (not sure if it's all coaches or not) - I was on a one that did exactly that in 2013. Stewards (or whoever it was, too long ago to remember now) stood aside, a couple of miles of empty road, ended up turning onto a more familiar (and busier) route near Pilton Village. It's not every road, obviously, but I never claimed it was (and you seem to be claiming it can't be any).

[glasto-worker]

Sorry, but yes, there are definitely roads closed to cars that coaches can travel on (not sure if it's all coaches or not) - I was on a one that did exactly that in 2013. Stewards (or whoever it was, too long ago to remember now) stood aside, a couple of miles of empty road, ended up turning onto a more familiar (and busier) route near Pilton Village. It's not every road, obviously, but I never claimed it was (and you seem to be claiming it can't be any).

so what direction was this coach coming from ? and which road ?

there is only a limited amount of roads but they are not exclusive just for Coaches as with the right pass locals can use that road as well + all the site traffic.

if you reread my words I did not say there was no roads but that some are not of any use as a standard 50 seater coach cant make their way down due to how narrow they are - I had one driver who's folded in right mirror was taken out one thatched roof while the other side was touching another thatched roof - had the locals having a heart attack.

there is a few unlisted and B roads that are wide enough if you are traveling South but none of them have stewards blocking access but private cars at the end will be turned away from Pilton so no advantage for using them - it may have been one of them.

[incident]

The coach was coming from from the north (Bristol), and to be honest I can't say for sure which road other than it was between Shepton Mallet and Pilton Village - we turned back on to the A361 someone short of Pilton, and then went through the Village to the Coach Station.

[sheffieldlady]

Didn't get the coach last year but did the year before. We got the coach at 12pm, coach driver stopped off twice and arrived on site with tent pitched for 6pm, which isn't bad going. We drove last year and left at around 11am and got on site for 3pm after a couple of a service station breaks (passengers needed the toilet lots!) Over the last couple of years traffic management seems to be fine. I highly doubt what happened in 2009 will occur again.

I would just ask your friends to pitch your tent for you and you opt to carry something else instead for them, your tent will be pitched alongside them and you can just meet them when you get there without the stress of getting a space in Pennards, which usually fills up pretty quickly. Coach park is pretty much near the entrance so it isn't a massive walk.