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When is the best time to arrive?


Guest Yvonne81
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I've been 09, arrived on a thurs (peeps had before and put up tents etc) still loads of camping (in wicket ground) and no queues at the gates.

2010 - aimed to arrive on weds got there at 12ish (I think it was a football year) and headed to normal camp site, and it looked fine, acres of space (moved to lime kiln due to wicket being family only)

2011 - went for a weds arrival again got there at about 11ish, and had horrid queues to get both on site in car, and at the pedestrian gate A, had to walk round to D which actually had no queues, but put us miles away from our favoured camp zone.. got there and it was sooooooooooooo busy it was unreal, still managed to get a spot, but it worried us a bit...

Next year I can say that now I have tix!! Still planning on earlyish weds, (i can't be doing with sleeping in the car on Tues) hopefully we'll be lucky again...

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The later you leave it, the less choice you have of camping spots, generally, but apart from that, there is no best time, it can be a complete lottery in terms of traffic, parking, and queues. My mum arrived on Thursday afternoon last year, and sailed in (well, she drove, but you know what I mean...) but she didn't have to worry about camping space as we'd already put the tents up the day before.

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shot of the first people though Gate D when the gates opened on Wednesday morning Glasto 2011 and trust me the fields you see fill up fast.

As I work at Glasto I will always arrive one or two days before the gates open to the public so I know how quickly the place fills up.

Even if you are driving the car parks do fill up fast so there is no perfect time.

2011-wbc-32.jpg

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I shouldn't say this in case everyone goes for this option but by taking a campervan, trailer tent, caravan or motorhome you can legitimately arrive on Tuesday and get set up on Tuesday night and then have a leisurely stroll in on Wednesday already well chilled.

Tuesday night in a car in a car park is a real no-no.

Arriving Wednesday and losing half the day lugging in and setting up is also a drag.

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Always arrive around 4am on Thursday morning, traffic is great (non-existant), you don't get searched and there's no queues....

...however....

The last 2 years have been a nightmare getting a camping spot, we used to camp in Paines which used to be pretty empty at that time, now it's pretty much full

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Last time we left Torbay at 3am on the Thursday morning, we arrived at 5 with no one around, all campers we either walking to their spot or asleep, only trouble we had was parking in E9 as we were diverted and walking right through site to be told by staff ( people in yellow coats) that every field was full, we ended up camping in pylon, long walk of 5 hours :(

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We always arrive in the late wednesday night/early thursday morning and sail through.Yes you miss the wednesday but at a small cost compared to sitting in traffic all day!

It dosn't matter what time you arrive as far as campings concerned,they all get packed so just squeeze in.If you have a preffered field and the stewards say they that it is full,ignore them,tell them your friends have already put your tent up for you or something blah,blah,blah there only local kids working for there ticket so they dont really give a shit anyway,and there is normally space at the back near the fence.

And when you come to leave monday morning,have a lie in instead,you'll only sit in traffic anyway so just chill for the day and drive straight out late afternoon.

I have been going for 20 years now

Enjoy!

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I shouldn't say this in case everyone goes for this option but by taking a campervan, trailer tent, caravan or motorhome you can legitimately arrive on Tuesday and get set up on Tuesday night and then have a leisurely stroll in on Wednesday already well chilled.

Tuesday night in a car in a car park is a real no-no.

Arriving Wednesday and losing half the day lugging in and setting up is also a drag.

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I've only missed one year since 99 and I always used to get there first thing Wednesday morning 9ish. The last few years have been hellish - stuck in traffic and then wasting all Wednesday trying to find a camping space - our favoured space of 15years is a distant memory!!

Not sure what were going to do next year - quite a large group of us so going down later isn't an option if we all want o camp together.

I think it's either win the lottery and buy a camper or tippee, or the more likely option of driving through the night and tempting to sleep in the car park- dear god I'm shuddering at the thought of it....

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I shouldn't say this in case everyone goes for this option but by taking a campervan, trailer tent, caravan or motorhome you can legitimately arrive on Tuesday and get set up on Tuesday night and then have a leisurely stroll in on Wednesday already well chilled.

Tuesday night in a car in a car park is a real no-no.

Arriving Wednesday and losing half the day lugging in and setting up is also a drag.

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  • 2 weeks later...

shot of the first people though Gate D when the gates opened on Wednesday morning Glasto 2011 and trust me the fields you see fill up fast.

As I work at Glasto I will always arrive one or two days before the gates open to the public so I know how quickly the place fills up.

Even if you are driving the car parks do fill up fast so there is no perfect time.

2011-wbc-32.jpg

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Any time on Tuesday. I actually found it surprisingly easy to sleep in the car. Once you're cold and tired enough you'll sleep anywhere!

Don't understand people who don't see Wednesday (or Thursday) at all... that's giving up on about a third of the festival for free... madness.

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shot of the first people though Gate D when the gates opened on Wednesday morning Glasto 2011 and trust me the fields you see fill up fast.

As I work at Glasto I will always arrive one or two days before the gates open to the public so I know how quickly the place fills up.

Even if you are driving the car parks do fill up fast so there is no perfect time.

2011-wbc-32.jpg

Edited by BlackHole2006
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I'd say it's probably the case now that the best time to arrive is anytime after midday on the Wednesday - you're very unlikely to hit any sizeable queues.

It makes me laugh how so many are saying "because I hated queuing last time I'm going to arrive earlier" - all those people will be doing is ensuring that they'll be joining an even bigger queue.

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I'd say it's probably the case now that the best time to arrive is anytime after midday on the Wednesday - you're very unlikely to hit any sizeable queues.

It makes me laugh how so many are saying "because I hated queuing last time I'm going to arrive earlier" - all those people will be doing is ensuring that they'll be joining an even bigger queue.

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While I don't disagree with what you are saying my impression is that most people on here seem to place more importance on getting a spot on their favoured campsite than reducing their queueing time.

Yes you may get in a lot quicker on the Wednesday afternoon but by then it sounds like the more popular areas (e.g. Pennards, Big Ground, Oxylers) have already filled up.

yep, it's true that your chosen campsite might have filled up if you arrive Wednesday arvo, but that's quite likely to be the case even if you arrive before the gates open (unless you're lucky enough to be right at the front of the gate queue) given that so many people do now arrive before the gates open - which is exactly what happened with me one time when I was there 'early'.

And of course if you arrive 'late', you know those areas will be full so you head to a quieter area ... and by doing so avoid lugging yourself and your gear to a particular field only to find it full, causing you to then carry your gear to somewhere else.

Late is the new early. :P

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