A361 - from which direction?

[tilt]

Coming from Southampton, our usual route is A36/A361, but Shepton Mallet always seems to be a bit of a pinch point.

So we're considering leaving the A36 after Salisbury, taking the A303 then getting on the A361 from the other end (ie. coming from Street).

Longer route, but I thought maybe less congested from that side?

[amigo]

We're coming in from kind of a similar (ish) direction but we start off from West of Southampton in Ferndown. We're from Northern Ireland so haven't a clue whats the best route but having jiggled about with google maps and attempting to stick to the A roads as we're in a campervan, I think we settled on this.

A31: A350: A357: A371: A37: Done.

Is this any use to you from where you're leaving from? Or do you have any advice for some potentially lost blokes from Belfast?

Edited June 3, 2011 by amigo

[LusciousLucy]

Tilt - this is the route we usually come on but when we start to get closer to the fest we rely on the trusty invention called Mapnav. Get that badboy out, figure out some backroad routes to get the west side of the festival et voila, you end up on the A361 without getting stuck or snarled up.

Leaving your part of the world to arrive at about 6-8am also helps. In the past our crew would start in East Sussex (leaving around 4-5am), pick up the rest of the gang at Romsey, head off via Salisbury and then cruise through to arrive nicely for gates open (pre car park opening on Tuesday night). 3 hours tops, no A303 and dual into single road silliness. Tis a marvellous route for southerners.

[phillyfaddle]

Coming from Southampton, our usual route is A36/A361, but Shepton Mallet always seems to be a bit of a pinch point.

So we're considering leaving the A36 after Salisbury, taking the A303 then getting on the A361 from the other end (ie. coming from Street).

Longer route, but I thought maybe less congested from that side?

[tilt]

Thanks for the replies

Plans have changed and we will probably be coming from nearer Westbury now, so I reckon we'll use the A361, then head off north around Shepton Mallet to (hopefully) avoid some of the traffic and ensure we hit the West car parks.

The route I've planned only adds 12 minutes on (according to Google) but I think we could potentially save a lot more than that by avoiding jams near the site. Only time will tell...

Anyone have any experience of traffic/closures on the roads through villages like Waterlip, Masbury, Croscombe, Worminster etc?

We'll be leaving about 6:30am I expect.

Edited June 6, 2011 by tilt

[KryziF]

The last two years there's been a stop start queue from the M5 all the way along the A39 and A361 on the west side of the site. Took us 12 hours in 2009 and 9 last year.

I'd aim to get onto the A361 as close to the west side of site as possible.

Somerset County Council publish the traffic regulation orders saying which roads are closed on their website.