Back home early

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

@gibbin82

I'm right behind you on this one. If I saw even the briefest of moments of pain on my wife's face I'd have fucked off early too. You actually showed the true Glastonbury spirit in terms of showing compassion.

[Aragorn]

The other field for blondie was the most packed I have ever seen it - right back upto the food stalls. You could barely move on the walk way and I almost got crushed from pushing a few times. The wife is a quiet one but even she turned round to the bloke behind and told him to stop pushing which is unlike her

[Amii]

@gibbin82

I'm right behind you on this one. If I saw even the briefest of moments of pain on my wife's face I'd have fucked off early too. You actually showed the true Glastonbury spirit in terms of showing compassion.

[phil the shrew]

In last couple of years I've stopped off site near Wells - to those who find the drag of camping too much I'd say give it a try. Break each night for a good sleep and fresh set of clothes and a shower does wonders for you

Clearly you do miss out on the late night stuff but that's not really my scene now and the shuttle buses to Glastonbury and Shepton work really well, and it was nice meeting up with same group of people going in each day

Even with transport cost thrown in it seems my accommodation was way cheaper than a camper van and about the same as stopping at WV

[Yesiamaduck]

You can't force youself to have a good time, I felt knackered by Sunday and went to my friend 'I'm going to bed' at 8pm after St Vincent. They looked stunned when I said that but I was simply not fully enjoying myself anymore, but that was due to fatigue as opposed to not liking the festival but I can totally understand where you're coming from.

[DeanoL]

Yes everyone at Worthy View had to queue for the toilets, but as they had paid a considerable amount of extra money for a bit of convenience at least they could expect something for it and at the very least them to be better than the toilets on the main site which apart from the cleanliness they wasn't.

[eoinca]

I left early on Thursday, had a pregnant wife on crutches due to back issues and it just felt too dangerous with the crowds and the mud we knew was on the way. She was really struggling and I was worried about her constantly. We said we'd give t a go as it's our only holiday this year due to the baby and she only started having back issues the last few weeks, but I knew straight away it wasn't gonna work out. Easiest decision I've ever made, there'll be more Glastonburys! Thankfully my mates gave us their keys to their apartment in London so we had somewhere to stay til our flight today.

[LRMD]

We stayed at Tangerine Fields, was brilliant. Car was 5 min walk away from tent, we had a nice quiet position on an end, there were a variety of toilets, portaloo type and flushing with sinks, the tea and coffee stall were good and there was a place for a fry up brekkie. My hubby liked the little onsite pub. Was gonna book Worthy View but the hill climb put me off, reading this quite glad we booked Tangerine Fields.

[gibbin82]

Personally I loved WV! Had a bell tent which was ideal. I had slightly underestimated the distance between tent and car but it wasn't too bad. I never saw a dirty toilet or portaloo nor had to wait for one. In fact they were constantly being cleaned. Didn't queue more than 10 mins for a shower or to dry my hair (not that bothered but it does make you feel better). The staff were very friendly. I loved the walk through the green fields and saw so much more of the park/south east corner this year. Loved also the walk home at night past the tipis, watching Arcadia and the whole site, lit up from afar. Our routine was a stop each night at the Glasto elemental campfire before a burst up the hill. The steps were steep - no getting away from it - but only 5 mins (I timed it!) and the view at the top your reward. We only went back at the end of the day.

I'm sure I read somewhere that For those who can't manage the hill there is a shuttle option to the main festival? To the coach stop? Which runs all weekend.

Edited June 30, 2014 by gibbin82

[MJMilz14]

Went with some friends who are first timers this year, and they really fancied Worthy View. I wasn't overly keen, but after 10 or so festivals, and having had a particularly bad experience last year with regards to being parked nearly 2 hours walk from where we camped, with far too much gear to carry (totally my own fault, but I guess I had always got lucky with parking before, whereas last year we were literally in the very last field of parking from the site), I decided sod it and gave it a go.

Gotta say, I loved it. Granted the hill is steep, but to me it's 5 minutes of hard walking, that is forgotten about 5 minutes later when you're back at camp having fun.

I thought the toilets were excellent... only excellent in the context of a festival (The odd smell and what not, but always always clean and well stocked with loo roll) and I only remember queuing longer than a minute for them once.

The bell-pad we had was enormous... 6 of us went (but had to have two 4-man ones as 3 or 6 person ones wern't an option) and we could have easily all shared one of them. All 3 of us in our tent had double airbeds and there was still tonnes of room.

It was incredibly clean, never any rubbish on the floors, and the only time I saw the bins even remotely overflowing was this morning when naturally people threw away a lot of stuff before leaving.

The staff were really friendly, and it was a lot closer to the action than I expected. Every day I went back at least once, be it to get dry clothes of friday after the storm, or just pop back for half an hours rest and a beer.

It's not something I'd do every year, because it's a lot of money to splash out, but as a treat it was fantastic, and I'd definitely consider it again a few years down the line.

There were a lot of people camped in WV, but it was never busy at all.

I'm sorry the OP didn't enjoy it, and particularly understand his reason's in regard's to his partner, but feel I should offer an alternative view, as I loved it,

I actually expected it to be pretty soulless (seems to be a description given to it, by a whole bunch of people who have never actually been in the camp), but other than the tents being in rows (can't argue with that, but as you get a bit older, a little space is nice none the less) it was pretty fun up there.

[MJMilz14]

Oh, and last year it took me 7 hours to get home to Plymouth, coming out of the WV carpark and leaving at roughly the same time today, took me 2 and a half hours that included a 40 minute stop at the services for some food.

[glenman]

its sad you couldnt finish the festival, but you gave it a go and im sure you still took away some good memory, and your obviously a great husband!

[gibbin82]

`infact my carefully planned itinerary was rendered pointless. `

theres your issue....so was mine, the difference was I didnt care....festivals are for letting lose and letting random things happen I was actully quite glad I didnt spend the week chasing bands around via a list I had a lot of funtimes I wouldnt have if I was that bothered about that!

overcrowding, lines for loos, venues etc that always happens my god man its a festival! you didnt expect that?

by the way I had a set of mates up at worthy view as they had their kid with them and they had a great time.

some of this doesnt add up to me as well....if youve been going for a while for example how could you not know how much of a trek the park hill can be? or how crowded baggy mondays gets and the se corner? some of what your saying id expect to hear from a newbie whod come expecting something totally different from what glasto actually is but someone whos been going a while as you claim? I find that hard to work out tbh.

[neilloggie]

What was up with Worthy View? Well what was right with it? Far more people than it could cope with, showers you couldn't use unless you were prepared to spend a long time queuing for them during their opening times, toilets with massive queues that were blocked or closed when you reached them (although they were always clean but who cares about that when all you desperately want is a shit!), the massive hike up the hill when you were knackered at the end of the day (yes, I was aware of it beforehand but you at least expect it to be worth it when you get to the top), the campsite no quieter than the main site since the increase in capacity and closer spacing of tents. And to top it off paying a lot of money for the pleasure of gaining nothing for it except a worse festival experience.

As for the festival, yes there was still something's about it that really make Glasto special, but the overcrowding at the more popular event was unbelievable, in fact my carefully planned itinerary was rendered pointless. First on my list was Baggy Mondays at the Stonebridge Bar, I was there with half hour to spare, but couldn't get in and there was dangerous overcrowding and pushing outside at times threatening the safety of the crowd and tent (the poles at the front of the tent were pushed aside during one crush) With the plan for Baggy Mondays aborted it was on to NYC Downlow for the Tribute to Franky Knuckles, but again couldn't get in. Next day I went to see Blondie admittedly I didn't arrive in plenty of time to get a choice spot but at least expected to get to a reasonable place to see and hear it, but it was so packed you couldn't get near it. It seems as though there were a few things on the line up that were head and shoulders above the rest as regards to popularity and as a result a large the percentage of people headed towards them.

[Jules62]

You appear to be backtracking from your original post where you quite clearly put the blame for leaving so early on Worthy View facilities or lack of them, at the end of the day everything I read about the site clearly stated that the hill was steep, and that there may be queues at certain times. Something you should have been fully aware of if you had stayed there last year - increased numbers or not. I never queued any longer than a couple of minutes for the toilets and to be perfectly honest I would never dream of queuing for a shower- it's a festival ! Although I did use it at 7.00am on the Saturday only because I could walk straight in and was awake at that time.

Unfortunately it was hard going this year with the mud and I'm sure your partner would have suffered even camping in the main site, but your original post does suggest that you are looking for some sort of compensation from WV, like it was some sort of Thomas Cook holiday.