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Lessons learned


Gabi_says
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7 minutes ago, Northtim said:

Good:

Self inflating mattress thingys are comfy as

Drink as much water as alcohol when its hot and you'll be fine

Greenpeace stage is great

Steel cups are perfect for mixing rum & coke

Bad:

Shouldn't listen to the guys telling me to join q at gate A as D was busy.  5 hrs queuing at gate A only to find gate D queues had vanished and people had been walking through for 3 hours

We arrived really early at Gate D, got on the hill before the zigzags around 5am - even at that time they tried to guide us all to Gate A claiming was 3 hours quicker to get in after they opened - we flew straight in in next to no time at D - think they are just trying to stop too much congestion

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Positive 

Being a bit fitter more than made up for being three years older since my last festival

Giving up on trying to do everything meant I saw more of my choices and felt good about them.

Worthy View was a great choice

Negative

Knew I wouldn't enjoy the killers but went along anyway 

Still didn't drink enough water on the Friday

 

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Got right:

Water bottle. Lenor bottle. Not smoking weed during the day (sometimes). Fan for the tent powered off a power bank. Trailer. Y'all gona fuckin hate me but we brought a gazebo and didn't take the piss with it. It saved our lives. Left no trace. Not one tent. All recycling kept on top of. Didn't forget to bring a towel.

Got wrong:

Too many beers, not enough spirits. Smoked weed during the day (sometimes). Not seeing Idles at the Park. Wearing a vest on the Wednesday. Not applying aftersun at night. Bringing my own food (COOP is amazing). 

 

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Gate D has been a bit of an omnishambles in the past, I think they were just trying to avoid that.  There was a massive variation in experience for people I know who went through Gate A on the Wednesday morning, with some queuing for up to 4 1/2 hours and some through in less than an hour.  We did the overnight thing, kipped in the queue and were halfway down the second lane of fenced queue when the gates open.  Definitely better to avoid queuing in the heat for me, but we lucked out with the weather, I've done the same thing and sat in pissing rain all night before.

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Did Right:

No day bag was the best decision. Forced into it at download due to security and it's a total revelation. Just carry a fleece (to sit on if dry) or a coat tied around your waste. All crap in pockets - absolutely brilliant.

My lovely, lovely walking boots - I got sketchers (famed for comfort) and they were utterly blissful.

Parking at 07:30 - camped up at 09:50 - brilliant. Leaving - got up at 07:30, in car and driving at 10:00 after leaving no trace and doing my worthy warrior bin bag rounds. Home by 1pm.

Welshcakes (aka bakestones) for breakfast along with hobnobs and the milk truck for my white russian - fab.

Platypus water carrier - filled with infusions in the morning and replaced with water in the afternoon/evening

Room for improvement:

Getting utterly wasted on Wednesday as usual

Buying way too many beers in the effing Avalon (£6/pt) Inn 

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10 minutes ago, Northtim said:

Shouldn't listen to the guys telling me to join q at gate A as D was busy.  5 hrs queuing at gate A only to find gate D queues had vanished and people had been walking through for 3 hours

We fell victim to this as well, 5 hours in that sun with our stuff was a killer.  Just was glad that I decided to pack relatively light on my first trip.

Otherwise, I can only think of one major error in the strength of the rum and coke I made on the Friday.  It was basically petrol and spent most of the night trying to get rid of it (because for some reason, adding more coke to it seemed out of the question).  If anyone was at mybaby at the truth stage and was given ridiculously strong rum, I am sorry.  If it makes you feel any better, I was in a horrendous state on saturday.  Having a hangover on the hottest day of the year was not the most pleasant of experiences.

 

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5 minutes ago, hfuhruhurr said:

Did Right:

No day bag was the best decision. Forced into it at download due to security and it's a total revelation. Just carry a fleece (to sit on if dry) or a coat tied around your waste. All crap in pockets - absolutely brilliant.

My lovely, lovely walking boots - I got sketchers (famed for comfort) and they were utterly blissful.

Parking at 07:30 - camped up at 09:50 - brilliant. Leaving - got up at 07:30, in car and driving at 10:00 after leaving no trace and doing my worthy warrior bin bag rounds. Home by 1pm.

Welshcakes (aka bakestones) for breakfast along with hobnobs and the milk truck for my white russian - fab.

Platypus water carrier - filled with infusions in the morning and replaced with water in the afternoon/evening

Room for improvement:

Getting utterly wasted on Wednesday as usual

Buying way too many beers in the effing Avalon (£6/pt) Inn 

I made that mistake at avalon wednesday. Was paying on contactless. When I got home and checked balance I could of put a deposit down on a house ffs

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Folding tarp 'sink', an inch of water and soap beats all the babywipes in the world. Turns out I can wash and rinse my hair perfectly well in about 700ml of water too. There were times I was the sweatiest I've ever been but I was also the cleanest I'd ever been at a festival in between.

(After more hours than I choose to count stuck in the zigzags at Gate A, I overheard a steward on the phone to a mate. Apparently people had been told gate D was shut (can't confirm if it actually was) for a period of time and all landed at A, leaving D an absolute stroll and A over-subscribed. This still doesn't explain why the queue at A moved fairly steadily for a good long time before grinding to almost a total halt though.)

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I can only assume that they fed in the Gate A car park queue in between clearing congestion from the coach station queue, I'd expect that a lot of coach arrivals at once would mean they'd prioritise reducing those numbers in expectation of what they knew would be arriving to add to it.

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26 minutes ago, scaryclaireyfairy said:

Folding tarp 'sink', an inch of water and soap beats all the babywipes in the world. Turns out I can wash and rinse my hair perfectly well in about 700ml of water too. There were times I was the sweatiest I've ever been but I was also the cleanest I'd ever been at a festival in between.

Ooh that's given me a decent idea for next year.  Got a 70l dryliner for my bergen, will just take that out, fold the edges down and create a relatively sturdy sink. Perfect!

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1 hour ago, hfuhruhurr said:

Did Right:

No day bag was the best decision. Forced into it at download due to security and it's a total revelation. Just carry a fleece (to sit on if dry) or a coat tied around your waste. All crap in pockets - absolutely brilliant.

Always done this.

I swear the ‘carry a rucksack all day’ thing is a within the last 10 years thing.

I carry wallet, phone & loose change in my pocket. I also have a steel water bottle in my hand plus my jumper round my waist during the day and on me at night! 

Each to their own, but I’m constantly amazed at some of the crap my friends are willing to carry around with them all day! 

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1 hour ago, frostypaw said:

Arriving later on Wednesday is an eyeopeningly peaceful experience by comparison.

Any further detail on this? Gate/time/where you camped? 

I’m thinking of this for next year as I’m done with all the horrendous queuing now! 

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2 hours ago, paulshane said:

Things I learned (learnt?)

when it's that hot, I really do need to bring water bottles and get them refilled rather than buying cans at £2 a pop

I -can- stay up till 7am, but i'm not going to get a lot done the next day

cycling up the Hill Of Death on a 45 year old pushbike is possible, once. Thought I was going to pass out at the top :D

The bakers near the workers tower sold cans for £1.50 and the coop had them for £1.10- I'm glad I discovered that the first day as I went through a lot of them!

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Things I got right:

Bringing a trolley made the trek to the gate so much more comfortable.

Cutting down on the crap I bring.

Getting a PAYG EE sim for my phone meant my messages didn't take about three hours to get through as they normally do on my 3 phone.

Doing stuff on my own. Had some great times watching who I wanted to see all on my lonesome.

Wednesday bar crawl was great fun.

Lizzo.

Things I got wrong:

Not respecting the heat enough. Ended up in the medical centre after waking up at 4am on Saturday morning and constantly vomiting into a bag for life for several hours because my body was so dehydrated. Had to have a beer-free day on Saturday for the first time in my Glastonbury career.

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7 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

Any further detail on this? Gate/time/where you camped? 

I’m thinking of this for next year as I’m done with all the horrendous queuing now! 

Can't speak for anyone else, but we arrived in the car parks about 9pm Tues, met with camp mates and had a few drinks and a chat then got in the Gate A queue around midnight.  Once in the snaking queue we were able to get a bit of kip until 4am when they shuffled the queue down, then straight through in about 10 mins once the gates opened.  Was set up by 7:30 and did second trip to the car about 10.

 

It can get cold in the queue later on, so take something warm as an extra layer to throw on, shorts are not recommended.  Don't take all your stuff into the queue, a chair and your tent is enough.  Get in, pitch tent, go back for rest of your gear at leisure.

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Think I'll stick with this years tent setup; decent pillow, self-inflating mat, sleeping bag

I'll be planning around the weather better next time though. Should have utilised the first two nights for as much sleep as possible on reflection. Ended up feeling so grim/fatigued the last two days due to the heat/lack of sleep

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21 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

Any further detail on this? Gate/time/where you camped? 

I’m thinking of this for next year as I’m done with all the horrendous queuing now! 

My coach was running late so got to site I think at about 2:30 ish.  Was though the queue just after 3:00 and tramped across site to the top of Big Ground. I found a pitch for my 3-man tent at about 3:30.  I'd say there were still pitches on the walk through for more than one tent, but if you were aiming for the top of BG you'd probably struggle to get more than solo.

EDIT - should add that was a drop off at Gate A on Wed

Edited by Quark
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2 hours ago, giantkatestacks said:

Basically, you can never have too much water.

Just in case anyone takes this literally, please be aware you can have too much water!  Don't give yourself water intoxication as that is also v. bad!

2 hours ago, Ducky89 said:

Sunday morning re-entry queue back into site - need to either be in early, I would imagine 9-10ish would be fine, or anytime after 2-3ish. I was stood in the queue for what felt like an eternity. So either better timing to avoid or planning wisely, knowing you will be sat around for a bit.
 

PGC queue took about 2 minutes at 12.30. Which gate did you have to queue at?

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Amazingly managed to power on through for 4 days, drinking all day without feeilng too bad at the end of it all. Stayed out until 4am most nights and was usually up again pretty early, must be because I remembered to eat during the day which i often forget when I'm drinking. Also LOTS of water and factor 50 seemed to help me through. Will definitely remember to bring my own hand sanitiser next time though!

Edited by jamesk27
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1 hour ago, Spindles said:

I can only assume that they fed in the Gate A car park queue in between clearing congestion from the coach station queue, I'd expect that a lot of coach arrivals at once would mean they'd prioritise reducing those numbers in expectation of what they knew would be arriving to add to it.

Think this is right.

We arrived about 7.30am and were told we had to go to Gate A as Gate D was rammed.  Gate A queue moved Ok for about 45 mins then slowed right down which must have been because loads of Coaches arrived.  Coach people reported queues but only of up to an hour.  We gone through the gates about 12.30, but then heard others had been walking through Gate D since about 9.30.   Not a happy time!

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2 hours ago, Bixer said:

Also, this may be unpopular, but I honestly think I'd just abandon trying too much of the nightlife in favour of getting a better nights sleep to enjoy the daytime more. I found myself missing a few of the earlier afternoon acts I wanted to see as I was too tired from the night before and felt I needed to nap, whereas in hindsight it didn't feel like a good trade-off. 

I genuinely think that you can't burn the candles at both ends. I prefer the stuff during the day and am pretty much programmed to be awake early anyway. Think my latest night was about 2am. I wish I could do both but it's just not possible. 

Things I got right - I drank enough to ensure I didn't end up dehydrated. I also had some electrolytes which helped. Got a small travel sun block which was very handy. 

Things I got wrong - packed way too much but often left things I wanted during the day back in the van. Blame it on the heat. 

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Things I got right:

Queuing overnight at Gate D. Met our friends around midnight, few drinks and then some kip. We were in and tent up by 08:30 and had done a second trip to the car and back by 10

Binned off said friends (and OH) and all went our separate ways to see what we wanted to. Nothing worse than trying to accommodate all 10 of you and wind up seeing stuff you have really no interest in

Proper pillows which I used a vacuum bag to shrink down. Made SUCH a massive difference to the quality of sleep I had. End of the festival I vacuumed them again using the deflate option on the pump for my air bed

Collapsible wash bowl and shower gel. Around a billion times better than wipes

As always, our igloo cool box. Still going strong after 9 years and still cold beers on Sunday 

 

Things I got wrong

Took too many spirits..  again! Brought home a litre of JD and a litre of gin

USB hair straighteners. What an utter pile of shite they were! 

Wore pumps on Friday. No idea why as I've worn them loads of times but wound up with a blister on the ball of my foot that very nearly needed it's own shoe. Should have just stuck with my trusty Birkenstocks that didn't cause an ounce of trouble

Drank more water and less booze! I think I drank more alcohol during the festival than in the previous 7 put together. Friday saw me pissed, hungover and then pissed again! 

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I learnt that I don't NEED to drink to have a good time. 

So often at festivals I get myself absolutely rat-arsed early and by the end of the night I'm just bored of being intoxicated.

On Saturday and Sunday I didn't drink any alcohol and I had an even better time than if I was bollocks'd.

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