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Gate A or C


tomisafish
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Hello people,

I'm looking for advice on which Gate to use to get in to the festival most effectively on Wednesday morning.

My friend and I have the option of getting dropped off at the drop off point and taken to Gate A, or stay with my parents in the caravan field on Tuesday evening and walk down to Gate C with our camping stuff in the morning.   We are then hoping to pitch up @ Pennard Hill.

Anyone with experience or knowledge of the difference between the 2 able to help me figure out which way we choose to arrive?

 

Thanks.

 

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2 hours ago, tomisafish said:

Hello people,

I'm looking for advice on which Gate to use to get in to the festival most effectively on Wednesday morning.

My friend and I have the option of getting dropped off at the drop off point and taken to Gate A, or stay with my parents in the caravan field on Tuesday evening and walk down to Gate C with our camping stuff in the morning.   We are then hoping to pitch up @ Pennard Hill.

Anyone with experience or knowledge of the difference between the 2 able to help me figure out which way we choose to arrive?

 

Thanks.

 

Gate C for sure.

I stay in my campervan in East, and I've been watching it with interest over the past few years.

 

In short, the campervan fields sit between the entry (Gate C) and the carpark.  Gate A has only the carpark.

 

So, as the night goes on, people form a queue at each carpark gate.  Opening time sees Gate A open that by now huge queue starts to go through.  I have seen wait time of four plus hours mentioned for people in that line.

 

Gate C people have to walk *through* the campervan fields to get to the gate.  Naturally, the people who started the queue at 9pm in the carpark are at the head of this queue.

 

However, the people inside the campervan fields have the chance to get ahead of them, by waiting by the gate itself.  Over the years, this has meant that loads of people have come into the campervan field on the Tuesday / Wed. to either join this queue at the gate, or to sleep and then join the queue *before* the carpark people are let in.

 

This means that if you want to wait by the gate, you'll be at least an hour and a half ahead of the carpark people who would have been waiting since 9pm, and in on site by 0815, or you join the line at around 7am, be in by 0830/0900.  Or, go to the carpark queue, and get in around 1030, after waiting since 9pm.  It's no wonder so many people do it this way!

 

Here I am at 0700(ish) in 2015 looking toward Gate C, inside the campervan field.

 

DSCN2024_zpsrtjgcn17.jpg

I'd say that there was about twice as many as this behind me by the time the people from the carpark queue started joining the back, so you can see the massive advantage it gives you over the carparks or even Gate A.

 

This all applied to 2015 please note.  Last year was not a usual year by any means!  And of course, I have no idea how this year will go either!

 

 

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To be honest if it's like 2015 and you were in the queue around 6am after a nice sleep you'd easily make Penards well before it filled.  Take your friends tents and you'll be fine. Using tarps or ground sheets to mark spaces is another method (although not one I'm fond of, it's rather commonly used).

Who knows this year though.

I'd keep an eye on the queue through the night though as it seems this method is becoming an open secret now as I'm seeing more comments this year (like yours) than I've ever seen from people planning to do just this.

 

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I'm staying in East Pennard on Tuesday night and planning to walk to gate C in the morning via Cockmill farm which leads right to the gate itself (you don't have to walk through the caravan site) if we come for 6/7am wednesday morning, do you think we would have to walk to the back of the queue in the caravan site or are the caravan site people kept in the closed field until gates open?

 

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I'm still trying to discover if there is any advantage to arriving on site early Wednesday morning by train.  Train arrives at Castle Cary for 07:15 and then I guess (hope) there is a shuttle running that earlier to get me to the bus station.

 

Question is, do I then have to queue up at pedestrian gate A or am I some way now in some magical, queue free nirvana?

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2 hours ago, pimmsoclock said:

I'm still trying to discover if there is any advantage to arriving on site early Wednesday morning by train.  Train arrives at Castle Cary for 07:15 and then I guess (hope) there is a shuttle running that earlier to get me to the bus station.

 

Question is, do I then have to queue up at pedestrian gate A or am I some way now in some magical, queue free nirvana?

The main website says first bus from Castle Cary is 7am (on Wed) - so you should be good on that count.  It'll drop you at gate A but you'll approach the gate from a separate direction than from people arriving via cars.  Generally people say they prioritise the bus Q over the carpark Q at gate A, and I can't imagine that being any different this year.  It might be even more prioritised this year - if the checks going in are going to take longer they won't want people backing up into where they have buses arriving, whereas the carpark fields they have less of an issue if all goes a bit wrong.

Edited by p.pete
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