top tips for festivals

[ukslim]

I'm considering taking a hot water bottle for extra coziness in me sleeping bag at night - toasty!

[ukslim]

On the bag front, I take a little backpack - I can keep a waterproof in it, a bottle of water, toilet paper, maybe some booze, that's basically it.

Agreed, jeans are awful in the rain. I tend to wear shorts. If your upper body is well covered, you won't loose much heat through your legs. The bad side of this is that picking dried mud off hairy legs is very painful. Presumably this isn't a problem for girls.

[emmmmma]

On the bag front, I take a little backpack - I can keep a waterproof in it, a bottle of water, toilet paper, maybe some booze, that's basically it.

Agreed, jeans are awful in the rain. I tend to wear shorts. If your upper body is well covered, you won't loose much heat through your legs. The bad side of this is that picking dried mud off hairy legs is very painful. Presumably this isn't a problem for girls.

[Josie's Cat]

Also, i personally wouldn't recommend "Berocca". I took some last year and i spent the following 2 hours shaking and sweating! (nothing to do with the alcohol obviously!!)

[Josie's Cat]

You should wax!

[Bluearsedfly]

Take a wide necked fabric conditioner bottle to avoid those late night trips to the toilets!!

[kyjenni]

I think that's taking home comfort a bit too far! Still it's up to you how much weight you're prepared to carry.

[r0cky]

There was one night where I couldn't get warm for love nor money, chilled down to the bone and I would have paid ridiculous sums of money for just a little bit of warmth!

[ukslim]

Sorry, soil! I didn't mean to dig a hole as I know they ask you not to, just remove any ground covering that could end up going up in flames? Then again I don't know how well live grass burns, they never let us find out at guides

[kyjenni]

Was that the Wednesday night last year? I was at the Stone Circle, got so cold, even with all my jumpers on.

[bigsmoke]

on the keeping warm at night front, one of my top tips is to have a hot drink before getting in your sleeping bag (or even once you're in it). sleeping bags work by trapping in the heat from your body, and body heat is difficult to create from scratch so give yourself a helping hand by pumping it full of hot goodness.

the real trick is to keep warm rather than getting cold and then trying to warm up again (for e.g. put your jumper on when you start to cool down, don't wait until you're cold), but that's much easier said than done, especially when you've got your beer jacket on!

[Moonlight]

Layers are the way forward. I usually wear 3 think t-shirts, and then have a hoody plus a wrap-round scarf for later on. Has always worked for me. Might get a bit hot during the day, but it makes sense for when it gets chilly.

[nerraw252]

A floor mat is pretty essential if you want to keep warm as you'll lose most of your body heat sleeping just on the floor of your tent. However, this year it won;t be an issue, it'll too hot

Rehydration salts are fantastic. Take up no room. Drink one per day and rehydrates you nicely.

Shorts are the way to go. But the pain picking caked muck off you're hairy legs is unreal.

[Moonlight]

Shorts are the way to go. But the pain picking caked muck off you're hairy legs is unreal.

[norainplease]

I think it was either the Wednesday or the Thursday yes, I only got about 3 hours sleep and had to go buy another sleeping bag to go over the top of my one the next day! I am taking a new mummy bag this year but I will still take the water bottle as well.

[remote]

I'm lucky in that I've never laid in my tent freezing cold, I get cold during the early hours but stick a hoodie on and I'm alright again. Last year my friends insisted on sleeping in tracksuit bottoms with shorts underneath, about 3 teeshirts, 4 hoodies, 2 hats and patridge in a pear tree, but I find sleeping in a pair of shorts and a teeshirt always sorts me out. It's cold to begin with, but I warm up after lying there for a couple of minutes.

Never, ever take jeans either. I have a pair that I leave in the car to drive home in if my clothes are all dirty/wet, but they're a pain in the arse when they get wet. They take ages to get dry again and they weigh so much more to carry home wet.

[jamo]

Surely an unnecessary tip this year?

One of the battles in a hot year is the fact that your tent will be about 35C by about 9:30am.. Apparently the way to combat this is to buy a couple of those foil bivvy bag survival things from Poundland and drape them over the top of your tent. (Untested tip!)

Make sure your primary (dry) shoes are *seriously comfortable*.. cheap flip-flops will not cut it for the vast amount of hiking about the festival that is necessary.

Fluorescent guy ropes! Or tie balloons to them so people are less like to trip. Also maybe jingly things attached to your tent zips so that they can't be opened without making some noise.

LED headtorch.

Switch off phone and camera as much as possible. If you're taking a picture with the camera, and you're planning to take another one in 30 seconds... switch it off. Much better for battery life.

Cheapo plastic ponchos for rain (again, unnecessary tip for this year)

Errr, that's it for now...

[LusciousLucy]

That's just your body retreating into shock at being force fed vitamins when it was expecting alcohol! Berocca are really good, you got to have them with plenty of fluid though, so maybe it's just the liquid that perks you up? Maybe a Berocca and beer cocktail to start the day.

[ukslim]

One of the battles in a hot year is the fact that your tent will be about 35C by about 9:30am..

[jamo]

You should wax!

[LusciousLucy]

One of the battles in a hot year is the fact that your tent will be about 35C by about 9:30am.. Apparently the way to combat this is to buy a couple of those foil bivvy bag survival things from Poundland and drape them over the top of your tent. (Untested tip!)

this does work , its the remembering to do it the night before thats the problem ...

[Jason447]

Take spare batteries for your mobile.

Saves you wasting time at the Orange tent.

I picked up extra 2 last year for my Sony Erricson, cost me a couple of quid each.

Not sure if they are genuine - look genuine enough.

One went tits up after Glasto, but the other one is okay.

Can't remember where I bought them, but here are two other links I found:

http://www.memorybits.co.uk/

http://www.mobilephoneaccessories.com

Use Google for others.

[jamo]

One solution is just to unzip the door before it gets too hot. Obviously this involves waking up.

If you want a lie-in, an eyemask is a good idea, because tents don't keep much light out.

[jamo]

There was one night where I couldn't get warm for love nor money, chilled down to the bone and I would have paid ridiculous sums of money for just a little bit of warmth! It's not that heavy in the scheme of things though and could help you get to sleep instead of lying in your tent shivering for hours.

Sorry, soil! I didn't mean to dig a hole as I know they ask you not to, just remove any ground covering that could end up going up in flames? Then again I don't know how well live grass burns, they never let us find out at guides

[LusciousLucy]

Narf! But tbh...you should see the state of some people's calves after 5 days in wellies!