Going by train

[WS_Jack_III]

Just got my train tickets to come down on the thursday. i should be arriving at the station about 7ish i think. Does anybody know how busy it usually is at this time? also what is the deal with the shuttle busses. Are they free? can you just jump on one as soon as you get off the train? how does it all work?

[goldfishboy]

the shuttle buses are supposed to be free, but bus drivers have been known to charge a couple of quid on the sly in the past (they shouldn't do that though). you will have to queue for a shuttle, impossible to say how long this will take - it might be fairly quick, or if there are delays on the roads (as there have been in the last couple of years) you may be queueing for hours and hours. looks like you'll be travelling down with the after-work crowd so it could get quite busy at that time...

[WS_Jack_III]

the shuttle buses are supposed to be free, but bus drivers have been known to charge a couple of quid on the sly in the past (they shouldn't do that though). you will have to queue for a shuttle, impossible to say how long this will take - it might be fairly quick, or if there are delays on the roads (as there have been in the last couple of years) you may be queueing for hours and hours. looks like you'll be travelling down with the after-work crowd so it could get quite busy at that time...

[mcbain55]

yeah i originally thought it wouldn't be so busy but my dad reminded me that the work lot will be going then. So basically if a bus driver tries to charge tell him to piss off

[WS_Jack_III]

yes you should tell him to piss off, i've done train and shuttle bus a few times and never ever paid for the shuttle. You can be queing for a while to get on a bus, best to take some food and drink with you for the possible wait just in case. Once on the bus though it's only a short ride usually not much of a que at the gate around that time.

[mikeb]

There's always toilets and usually some catering vans as well so you can normally get food/drink if there are any significant delays. Defo no payments or any kind involved - I've certainly never seen any dodgy deals on that front and I've always travelled by train. It's all pretty well organised but timing/delays are generally a function of local traffic primarily (unless it's simply because 1 or more Glasto special trains has just delivered shedloads of peeps of course) so it's always a bit unpredictable. There are allegedly plans in place for this year to better deal with traffic issues tho by closing the bootleneck road(s) to general traffic as/when necessary. On a good year it can be less than a hour from stepping off the train to being wristbanded and wandering across the site. On a bad year ... well, let's just say it can be a bl**dy dog's age or 3 ! There's no cover or anything if there is a queue so need to have appropriate clothing dependent on weather at the time and all that. Rather sadly, there hasn't been gallon(ish) containers of usually nice but somewhat lethal cider available for a long time now - quite possibly due to peeps enjoying their purchase perhaps a bit too much whilst waiting and consequently having difficulty standing unaided let alone queueing sensibly I wouldn't really expect any significant problems on Thursday mind you, it's Wednesday when it can (and often does) get a bit manic.

PS: I totally recommend the bbq'd bacon butties generally available from the very nice peeps who always run the tea and munchies place on Monday morning

Edited May 7, 2010 by mikeb