First Through The Gates

[Likelylad1]

Not fussed about getting in first but after a long drive it would be lovely to be applauded walking through the gates like that.

[Rumblestripe]

Last year, got there about lunchtime Wednesday and walked straight in. I did get greeted by a young lady welcoming me to the second largest city in the South West of England. Which was nice.

Plenty of room to camp in on Bushy and never got that crowded at all, just hoping that with Arcadia moving there will be no pressure on other areas? Don't see the point in camping in a queue just to get first into an area which will be absolutely rammed, I'd rather have a little more space. But then I'm an old miserable barsteward.

[math125]

Last year, got there about lunchtime Wednesday and walked straight in

[Rumblestripe]

Did you drive?

[math125]

Yep from the frozen wastelands of the North East of England!

Six hours (including a couple of stops) so not exactly over strenuous and much better than the nightmare trip of 2009

[TheParkAfterDark]

Don't see the point in camping in a queue just to get first into an area which will be absolutely rammed, I'd rather have a little more space. But then I'm an old miserable barsteward.

[Rumblestripe]

Allreet!

Not as far north as your goodself, I'm from Darlo (though Teesside - Stockton - by birth) it's been a lovely day here just clouding over now as I'm thinking about perhaps cutting the lawn before it's too dark...

That's just how rock 'n' roll I am!

I'm told that after the initial morning rush it doesn't pick up again till the late afternoon and evening when people who have worked on Wednesday start arriving?

[Rumblestripe]

The Victor Meldrew Experience? Not so much "Are you Experienced?" as "Can you Believe It?"

[bamber]

It's very hard to put into words quite how much the festival has changed and grown since my first visit in '81, but more than anything, the fact you could just drive on to the farm, park up and pitch your tent next to car in front of the Pyramid says it all really.

[guypjfreak]

as long as my kids get the camp site that ive had for the last 11 odd years i dont care lol..

ive got it all sorted tho .........................i hope lol

[math125]

I'm told that after the initial morning rush it doesn't pick up again till the late afternoon and evening when people who have worked on Wednesday start arriving?

[LondonTom]

Meh sod standing in the cold all night

I got to the car parks about 2am -ish last year, spent a couple of hours in the car trying sleep/mucking around and when it started to warm up with the sun coming up, we headed down to the queue...Was in about half 8/9 and we was at the bottom of the queue for gate D in the car parks. As long the stewards have the queues under control to stop people pushing in, they do really go quite fast.

[glasto-worker]

It's very hard to put into words quite how much the festival has changed and grown since my first visit in '81, but more than anything, the fact you could just drive on to the farm, park up and pitch your tent next to car in front of the Pyramid says it all really.

[Bisque]

3pm on the Wednesday and pretty much camping where we wanted on Kidney Mead, which didn't even fill up till sometime on the Thursday.

[brightyoungthing]

I just REALLY hope the crew don't put tents up on the Tuesday night this year. It's been getting increasingly worse each year and last year was RIDICULOUS; fields filled to capacity by 10am! Should definitely be taken down before the gates open!

[stardustjunkie]

I can't imagine queuing all night to get in first. Seems a silly way to start the festival off (stupidly tired). But each to their own and despite what I just said, I can imagine the atmosphere in the queue is great.

[Bradders]

In 2009 we set off from Yorkshire in the dark of Wednesday morning, after everyone but the driver had got drunk, fallen asleep, woken up, got drunk again, fallen asleep again, woken up again and got drunk again, we finally arrived after 16 hours and pitched our tent in the dark of Wednesday night..,

Scarred from that year, we now leave some time Tuesday afternoon, have a bit of a pre-party with music and beers at the car, few hours kip and then head down to queue at 7ish. We're all early 20s so we can fight through the tiredness without an issue really. We're also always so excited that we just want to get there as soon as possible.

[TomfromStroud]

They look absolutely knackered already.

[Craig_G]

Myself and an ex were interviewed as the first ones at the gate about 5 years ago. It was for some west country news channel I think but never got to see it.

[brightyoungthing]

In 2009 we set off from Yorkshire in the dark of Wednesday morning, after everyone but the driver had got drunk, fallen asleep, woken up, got drunk again, fallen asleep again, woken up again and got drunk again, we finally arrived after 16 hours and pitched our tent in the dark of Wednesday night..,

Scarred from that year, we now leave some time Tuesday afternoon, have a bit of a pre-party with music and beers at the car, few hours kip and then head down to queue at 7ish. We're all early 20s so we can fight through the tiredness without an issue really. We're also always so excited that we just want to get there as soon as possible.

[Bradders]

The driver seemed to insist on following his sat-nav which took us through the centre of Birmingham and Bristol, but that bit still only took about 7 hours. There were about 9 hours worth of queues. We were at a standstill, out of the car and wandering around the hard shoulder/pavements from about a mile before the exit from the M5. At one point I got properly left behind after nipping out for a piss, but the queue was so slow I just had a casual walk after them and caught up after about 20 minutes.

Like you, only coming from London this year. Gonna be a breeze!

Edited May 27, 2014 by Bradders