Tuesday Night Arrival VS Wednesday Morning Arrival

[gratefulbread]

38 minutes ago, Yokel Again said:

We live 45 mins away and it took us 10 hours. Put me in a bad mood from the start. Then woke up Friday to referendum result. 

How is this even possible ???

[jow95]

8 minutes ago, gratefulbread said:

How is this even possible ???

Assuming you're talking about the traffic and not the referendum result ?. It took us 3 hours ish to drive the 150+ miles and then the last mile or 2 took us about 5 hours on the Tuesday night. They'd had real problems with the ground and the weather leading up to the festival so when Tuesday rolled around cars were getting stuck on site i believe. Worthy FM just kept repeating that it was 'normal festival traffic' but did say it was running smoother around the west side (we were on the A37 approaching the East side of the site). We didn't want to use this advice especially as they'd just been telling us how 'normal' being stationary for 5 hours was for a festival. Eventually bit the bullet and went through Shepton to the other side and flew straight in without a single problem. If only we had listened 3 hours earlier. 

Edited June 12, 2019 by jow95

[Yokel Again]

13 minutes ago, gratefulbread said:

How is this even possible ???

Can't even think the route we went, but it was a case of 'let's sit it out and we'll get there' rather than daring to shoot off and try elsewhere. Basically A37 and A361 traffic merging nightmare I think. Twas a nightmare. Worse than getting OFF site in 2007!! And that takes some doing. 

[gratefulbread]

7 minutes ago, jow95 said:

Assuming you're talking about the traffic and not the referendum result ?. It took us 3 hours ish to drive the 150+ miles and then the last mile or 2 took us about 5 hours on the Tuesday night. They'd had real problems with the ground and the weather leading up to the festival so when Tuesday rolled around cars were getting stuck on site i believe. Worthy FM just kept repeating that it was 'normal festival traffic' but did say it was running smoother around the west side (we were on the A37 approaching the East side of the site). We didn't want to use this advice especially as they'd just been telling us how 'normal' being stationary for 5 hours was for a festival. Eventually bit the bullet and went through Shepton to the other side and flew straight in without a single problem. If only we had listened 3 hours earlier. 

Jesus wept 

[gratefulbread]

2 minutes ago, Yokel Again said:

Can't even think the route we went, but it was a case of 'let's sit it out and we'll get there' rather than daring to shoot off and try elsewhere. Basically A37 and A361 traffic merging nightmare I think. Twas a nightmare. Worse than getting OFF site in 2007!! And that takes some doing. 

Oh dear. This gives me the fear. Mostly attributed to the poor weather conditions we think then? 

[Yokel Again]

8 minutes ago, gratefulbread said:

Oh dear. This gives me the fear. Mostly attributed to the poor weather conditions we think then? 

Absoutely. Freak. Caravans etc breaking down / stuck in mud, eventually all set aside at B&W Showground so cars could get through if I remember. They were just getting stuck so the whole system built up behind it. (I'm sure someone will correct me if wrong). This is the only time in 10 Glasto's I've not just rolled easily into a car park to be fair. 

[gratefulbread]

6 minutes ago, Yokel Again said:

Absoutely. Freak. Caravans etc breaking down / stuck in mud, eventually all set aside at B&W Showground so cars could get through if I remember. They were just getting stuck so the whole system built up behind it. (I'm sure someone will correct me if wrong). This is the only time in 10 Glasto's I've not just rolled easily into a car park to be fair. 

Phew! Thanks for the info Yokey mate ✌️

[DareToDibble]

We always leave Cardiff about 3am and get to the Drop & Collect point about 4:30-5am (let’s pretend 2016 never happened).

Straight onto the transfer bus and tend to get to the queue at Gate A for about 6am. As has been said elsewhere i’m Sure they opened the gates earlier than 8am sometimes.

In 2017 we were in and set up by 8:15. Still don’t fully understand how.

[Charm]

42 minutes ago, tumbles said:

So with the queue discussion in mind - Gate D or A from that side. I've always gone for D thinking the coaches just get priority at A.

The coach side does get priority, they hold back the car park people so the coachers can get through quickly. 

Charm x

Edited June 12, 2019 by Charm

[duke88]

1 hour ago, Euphoricape said:

It's my first Glastonbury, and going by train which gets into castle cary at 3.45pm. Will Hitchin Hill still have space left then? I cant survive without sleep lol.

Yeah, you'll be fine.

[PaintedInSand]

23 minutes ago, DareToDibble said:

We always leave Cardiff about 3am and get to the Drop & Collect point about 4:30-5am (let’s pretend 2016 never happened).

Straight onto the transfer bus and tend to get to the queue at Gate A for about 6am. As has been said elsewhere i’m Sure they opened the gates earlier than 8am sometimes.

In 2017 we were in and set up by 8:15. Still don’t fully understand how.

They definitely opened the gates at about 7am in 2016, but I imagine they felt sorry for us sat in the pissing rain all night.

[MJP]

Three reasons to do the overnight queue:

1. I'd rather be there bloody early and lightly imbibing than being in a car for 13 hours á la 2016
2. We have many tents to assist with for our group, we like to go for some shade where possible which is prime estate
3. My mate goes for a shower and shit in the posh loos off-site a few times during the festival. She goes via my car, drops off dirty clothes on the way to the posh shitters, then picks up new, cold booze on the way back.

Leaving is a bit of a bitch on the Monday though.

[Euphoricape]

1 hour ago, duke88 said:

Yeah, you'll be fine.

Cheers ?

[ledwards]

2 hours ago, The Martini Police said:

Some advice please guys. If sleeping in the car park, what time do you think you need to get in the queue for to be able to get a spot for a group (let's say 5 tents next to each other) on Pennard Hill? Never managed it but a few of the group are keen to this year. Thanks.

Edit - Oh, and which gate would you come in from please?

You need to enter via Orange car park and then into Gate D. I would say you need to be in the queue by 4am so leave your car at 3:30am. I had my bags checked in 2017 on the way into the queue which is why I'm suggesting additional 30 mins to get in. See you there

[Huckleberry Finn]

Have driven up on the Tuesday night for each of the last three years we’ve been. Terrible nights sleep but found it totally worth it as our entire group was able to camp together. Not for everyone, certainly, but I’d recommend it for anyone part of a large party.

[whitehorses]

2 hours ago, Yokel Again said:

Absoutely. Freak. Caravans etc breaking down / stuck in mud, eventually all set aside at B&W Showground so cars could get through if I remember. They were just getting stuck so the whole system built up behind it. (I'm sure someone will correct me if wrong). This is the only time in 10 Glasto's I've not just rolled easily into a car park to be fair. 

Cos why. Chaos 

Edited June 12, 2019 by caballosblancos

[Gacheezbo]

Done it every year since '13. Every time has been grand, great atmosphere, people boozing and having a great gnatter, easy to walk across the empty site too!

Apart from 2016. 2016 can f*ck off.  Live less than an hour away, set off approx 7pm Tuesday. Wasn't parked til 4-4:30am. Mates had a great time finishing off a crate and other whatnots in the traffic, not such fun for me however!

[Ayrshire Chris]

3 hours ago, gratefulbread said:

How is this even possible ???

It took us longer to get from Glastonbury town to the site than it took us to get from the west of Scotland to Glastonbury that year! 

[Aragorn]

5 hours ago, gfest2009 said:

In 2016 we paid to stay in a lovely little B&B a few miles away from the festival site. Despite this, we ended up stuck in traffic for about 8 hours on the Wednesday and ended up parked in a carpark so far away it wasn't on the map. Although I don't envisage a repeat of that, i dont think I'd be able to relax/sleep properly on the Tuesday anyway, so well be in the carpark/queue ?.

bet that was pink car park place 50 odd onwards - an enormous walk to gate D. been there 3 times in previous years a real weston super

this year I got a tip off about a non glasto carpark just down the rd from Gate A for less than the price of a glasto car park ticket.  Suspect others on here know it.

[Yokel Again]

Well, I'm glad it wasn't just us in 2016. Didn't they end up telling people to delay their arrival?

[hfuhruhurr]

7 minutes ago, Yokel Again said:

Well, I'm glad it wasn't just us in 2016. Didn't they end up telling people to delay their arrival?

They did - we were in a caravan and arrived on the A37 at about 7pm, we left the A37 at Pylle at 7am.

The single most annoying thing for me was the knob heads behind us in the queue. We crept along and as we approached the big hill, I got out of the car and said the the guys behind that I'm going to leave a gap because I don't want to hill start (wet, steep caravan), so please bear with while we hang back for 10 mins. 5 mins in, they over-take dragging all the cars behind them. Ugh, the clutch wasn't happy.

[p.pete]

9 minutes ago, hfuhruhurr said:

They did - we were in a caravan and arrived on the A37 at about 7pm, we left the A37 at Pylle at 7am.

The single most annoying thing for me was the knob heads behind us in the queue. We crept along and as we approached the big hill, I got out of the car and said the the guys behind that I'm going to leave a gap because I don't want to hill start (wet, steep caravan), so please bear with while we hang back for 10 mins. 5 mins in, they over-take dragging all the cars behind them. Ugh, the clutch wasn't happy.

That's a pretty awful hill to have to creep up.

[The other Bellboy]

On 6/13/2019 at 2:17 AM, jow95 said:

Assuming you're talking about the traffic and not the referendum result ?. It took us 3 hours ish to drive the 150+ miles and then the last mile or 2 took us about 5 hours on the Tuesday night. They'd had real problems with the ground and the weather leading up to the festival so when Tuesday rolled around cars were getting stuck on site i believe. Worthy FM just kept repeating that it was 'normal festival traffic' but did say it was running smoother around the west side (we were on the A37 approaching the East side of the site). We didn't want to use this advice especially as they'd just been telling us how 'normal' being stationary for 5 hours was for a festival. Eventually bit the bullet and went through Shepton to the other side and flew straight in without a single problem. If only we had listened 3 hours earlier. 

The West side was very different to the east, that year i had my one and only stay in CV West and it was so lucky that i did. Took about an hour from joining the queue to getting to the roundabout and then after turning off towards the West side there was no traffic, didn't stop once but passed mile after mile of traffic heading towards the east side.  

[The other Bellboy]

What experience of Gate C queuing is there out there? The last 2 events have had different issues so its hard to get a consistent idea of what the issues and timing could be. I know that the Wednesday queue for Gate C was huge until after 1.30pm in 2017 bit i don't know at what time it starts to build up. There were only a few people there at 10pm on the Tuesday night. Don't want to hang back for the queue to die down on the Wednesday and miss half of my favourite day but i also don't fancy the idea of queuing all night either. 

I think they told us pre festival in 2017 that there would be beefed up security checks but i don't think i've seen anything like that yet?

Off to check the state of the ground thread to see if a repeat of 2016 is on the cards, what a nightmare that would be! even though GFL say that have improved access to stop it happening again?

[jow95]

3 hours ago, The other Bellboy said:

The West side was very different to the east, that year i had my one and only stay in CV West and it was so lucky that i did. Took about an hour from joining the queue to getting to the roundabout and then after turning off towards the West side there was no traffic, didn't stop once but passed mile after mile of traffic heading towards the east side.  

Yeah I’m sure there’s good reasons for it but it does still baffle me a little how we could be stationary for so long, like surely 5 hours in someone must be moving? But nonetheless making that call was the best we made all night literally buzzed straight in as soon as we turned off. Big call to make though to lose your place in the queue after so long. So is the traffic on Tuesday night usually fairly minimal then? 2016 was the only tome we’ve done it and the lad with us who does it most years said there’s normally no problems you drive straight onto site