What's your exit strategy?

[squirrelarmy]

28 minutes ago, Quark said:

Exit strategy? Friday midday, Other Stage longdrops.

First transport is away, amirite @SwedgeAntilles? 

Just make sure you don’t switch off your targeting computer

[Quark]

2 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

Just make sure you don’t switch off your targeting computer

By Friday morning I'm flying blind on a rocket cycle

[Pinhead]

2 hours ago, squirrelarmy said:

Just make sure you don’t switch off your targeting computer

Stay on target....

[Hugh Jass]

3 hours ago, squirrelarmy said:

Just make sure you don’t switch off your targeting computer

Quark goes on Force alone.

[squirrelarmy]

17 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

Stay on target....

It didn’t go in. Just impacted on the surface 

[Pinhead]

Just now, squirrelarmy said:

It didn’t go in. Just impacted on the surface 

Story of my life 😉

[Ayrshire Chris]

10 hours ago, rivalschools.price said:

I did this after Reading festival once (though this was the Monday afternoon haha)

Stopped in the services and had a kip in the car park. Didn’t think I was driving like you but woke up with a start convinced that the cars parked in front of me were stopped traffic on the motorway. Heart was pounding haha 

That’s exactly how I felt, waking up for that split second I thought I was still doing 70 on the M5 and two feet behind another car!  Went for a walk and strong tea. A full sunday at the festival and afterwards the 450 mile is just crazy and dangerous.  So next summer will be more leisurely, already booked accommodation in Glastonbury for Monday night! 

[kalifire]

Who here stays on site on the Monday morning, and leaves later in the day?

I'm starting to think that might be best, rather than trying to catch the first train out of Castle Cary on minimal/no sleep. I escape the crowds doing that, but I could also escape them after most of them have left. Would just be a bit insecure about the safety of my tent leaving it standing until Monday afternoon.

[evilduck]

I’ve stayed til about 3ish in the afternoon then slowly packed down, it was quite nice. We did however have a bunch of our camp sleeping outside around our tents so it was clear they were not for the taking. 

[Franky]

I sleep until I can, then slowly plod back to the car knowing the carnage to come. Been to enough now to just accept my fate. Sometimes home in 4 hours from packing the tent up other times 12 hours. 

[Crazyfool01]

1 hour ago, kalifire said:

Who here stays on site on the Monday morning, and leaves later in the day?

I'm starting to think that might be best, rather than trying to catch the first train out of Castle Cary on minimal/no sleep. I escape the crowds doing that, but I could also escape them after most of them have left. Would just be a bit insecure about the safety of my tent leaving it standing until Monday afternoon.

Always leave site around 10.30 but always leave someone with the tents . Not been much delay exiting the car parks then although it is supposed to be peak time 

[Skip997]

I leave sometime late Tuesday afternoon.

Not safe to drive on Monday, and it's nice to have an extra day chilling with crew mates.

[Ommadawn]

I guessing the lockups aren't available on the Monday. It might be a good thing to introduce tent lockups for people who want to stay longer for whatever reason.

[incident]

19 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

I guessing the lockups aren't available on the Monday. It might be a good thing to introduce tent lockups for people who want to stay longer for whatever reason.

They're available until about noon Monday, give or take local variances.

The Festival is officially forbidden from having public on site past ~5pm, so there's no provision for people who want to stay longer.

[doogie]

For the past few years, I've packed up late morning Sunday and left my stuff in a nearby lockup.  Then collected my stuff around midnight and hiked to Gate A for a 2am bus back to London, and been at work for 9am on the Monday.

For me, it's worth travelling through the night to save a day of annual leave.

[Simsy]

2 hours ago, kalifire said:

Who here stays on site on the Monday morning, and leaves later in the day?

I'm starting to think that might be best, rather than trying to catch the first train out of Castle Cary on minimal/no sleep. I escape the crowds doing that, but I could also escape them after most of them have left. Would just be a bit insecure about the safety of my tent leaving it standing until Monday afternoon.

IMHO the worst thing about leaving later is seeing the state other people have left the place in. Going back to the real world is depressing enough anyway, but that puts an extra downer on it.

I think if your tent doesn't look too abandoned you should be alright. Could always try leaving a sign on it to say you're coming back (and don't leave any valuables in there once you've got them out the lockups). We'll sometimes leave someone packing up while the other goes off to find lunch, but that obviously only works if there's more than 1 of you leaving late.

[THEBOILERMAN]

Because we come down from Glasgow in our minibus/es we don`t leave the site until about 4pm, 20 min drive to Glastonbury town to our pre-booked B&B`s, Travelodge or Premier Inn. chance for a shower/bath, food and a couple of pints. leave Glastonbury Town about 9-9:30 on the Tuesday morning.

We have left early Mon morning but it means those of us driving the minibus/es can`t have a proper Sunday night and the effort of trying to get the other 20 to 40 people up and packed for 9am is nearly impossible 🙂 🙂 🙂  never again.

[stuie]

53 minutes ago, doogie said:

For the past few years, I've packed up late morning Sunday and left my stuff in a nearby lockup.  Then collected my stuff around midnight and hiked to Gate A for a 2am bus back to London, and been at work for 9am on the Monday.

For me, it's worth travelling through the night to save a day of annual leave.

That sounds painful but well done to you for being able to do it! 

I like to finish in Block 9 and watch the Monday sunrise but even without that, I couldn't work on Monday! 

[Helsbels]

We book into a nearby b&b and leave the site late afternoon on the Monday. This way we can enjoy Sunday to the max, get a kip before a few minutes drive to where we are staying. Get some pub food, have an early night then drive back to Manchester on the Tuesday

[Avalon_Fields]

2 hours ago, doogie said:

For the past few years, I've packed up late morning Sunday and left my stuff in a nearby lockup.  Then collected my stuff around midnight and hiked to Gate A for a 2am bus back to London, and been at work for 9am on the Monday.

For me, it's worth travelling through the night to save a day of annual leave.

I once did similar, left around 5am, arrived in Norwich for a customer meeting around 10:30, quick shower and put on a suit in the services. Then I had to drive to our hq in Dudley. Never again!

[doogie]

1 minute ago, Avalon_Fields said:

I once did similar, left around 5am, arrived in Norwich for a customer meeting around 10:30, quick shower and put on a suit in the services. Then I had to drive to our hq in Dudley. Never again!

I make a point of blocking out the whole of Monday as busy in my Outlook calendar to put people off arranging any meetings that day.  And these days I work mostly from home which helps.

[4AssedMonkey]

1 hour ago, doogie said:

I make a point of blocking out the whole of Monday as busy in my Outlook calendar to put people off arranging any meetings that day.  And these days I work mostly from home which helps.

Still fucking hardcore though.  I always book off Monday AND Suicide Tuesday (TM).  Had to attend a survey one year at 10:00am on Tuesday and it was horrific.  Never again.

We tend to get up when we wake up.  Rarely does it go that late on Sunday as we're all fucking trashed anyway so it's a 3am finish at worst, usually earlier.  Get breakfast somewhere and then pack up and clear out.  The traffic jams are entirely unpredictable.  I've had years leaving at 11 and driving straight off site and one year needed to leave early as a mate needed to get home for something.  We walked off site at about 7:00am after almost no sleep and then took over 2 hours just to get out of the car park.  Was fine last year leaving around 10:00am, but then choked up heading north towards Brizzle.  Never can call it.

[coma girl]

8 hours ago, THEBOILERMAN said:

Because we come down from Glasgow in our minibus/es we don`t leave the site until about 4pm, 20 min drive to Glastonbury town to our pre-booked B&B`s, Travelodge or Premier Inn. chance for a shower/bath, food and a couple of pints. leave Glastonbury Town about 9-9:30 on the Tuesday morning.

We have left early Mon morning but it means those of us driving the minibus/es can`t have a proper Sunday night and the effort of trying to get the other 20 to 40 people up and packed for 9am is nearly impossible 🙂 🙂 🙂  never again.

Works perfectly and leaves us time for some Wombeling on Monday, much better use of our time than being sat in a queue for 3 hours trying to get out of the car parks

[Leyrulion]

8 hours ago, THEBOILERMAN said:

Because we come down from Glasgow in our minibus/es we don`t leave the site until about 4pm, 20 min drive to Glastonbury town to our pre-booked B&B`s, Travelodge or Premier Inn. chance for a shower/bath, food and a couple of pints. leave Glastonbury Town about 9-9:30 on the Tuesday morning.

We have left early Mon morning but it means those of us driving the minibus/es can`t have a proper Sunday night and the effort of trying to get the other 20 to 40 people up and packed for 9am is nearly impossible 🙂 🙂 🙂  never again.

That sounds dreamy tbh. 

Past two fests I've been the 4am wake-up call for our driver. Leave them after the headliner, hack it to SE corner until 3:30 whilst they sleep. Wake em up, off site by 5:30. Back up north before midday. 

Theres always a fair few leaving but it's never that bad. Think we'd be fine if we did the same and we're off site by 8.

[Pipine]

My first festival 97 (mudfest) we got the train, it was pretty amusing  getting on the train home to Sheffield at Bristol caked in mud with all the commuters glaring at us 😂

Most of the festivals between then and 2019 we went by car, usually leaving early morning (5am ish)  and often avoiding any massive queues.  One year we left after the headliners but that felt weird.  

2019 got the train.. managed to get travel sick en route because I was facing backwards (and cumulative effects of the weekend no doubt also contributed) and vomited in my hat just as the train arrived into Sheffield, classy 😆

2022 drove, leaving after morning litter picking shift. 

This year getting the bus for the first time.. so we’ll see what that’s like!  Planning to half pack, stay out late on Sunday, get a cursory amount of sleep, then get the bus and sleep some more.
 

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by Pipine