Traff Tips

[One Tonne Baby]

It’s a boring subject but let’s discuss it. Hints and tips for people arriving at the festival please. Questions welcome.

my question is around traffic times. Usually get to site at 2am but this year I’m valuing a night of sleep instead. Happy to get there a bit later as we are in Wv so have a guaranteed space but also don’t want to turn up and sit in 2 hours of traffic. Any insight into best times to arrive to avoid?

[incident]

It's difficult because WV is an entirely different approach from the rest of the festival, and probably doesn't have as much of an early rush - so any issues or surges on the regular routes almost certainly will be different for you.

My suspicion is that at WV it's probably not worth worrying about for the most part - you could maybe avoid any choke points before you split from the regular routes (such as Podimore Roundabout or Glastonbury Town) before probably about 9am, but aside from that time it based on what makes sense for you.

[Larraht]

What direction are you coming from? We travel up from Devon and in previous years used to arrive 6am to get in the queue... But we don't need to as we camp out in darble next to gate A and it isn't a popular spot. We found going just that little bit later... Arriving around 11am for example meant there was less of a queue to get in and less traffic. 

[Hugh Jass II]

Never had any problems getting into WV, even during the traffic apocalypse that was 2016. Just drove straight in.

[marathonsteve]

We were at Worthy View for two years when it first opened. There was no problem coming or going. There was a chap selling cider by the side of the road on the way up to the entrance.

[One Tonne Baby]

Lovely replies. Thanks. We’re coming from the east. Essex/London way.

general tips on arriving/departing welcome too

[nikkic]

28 minutes ago, One Tonne Baby said:

Lovely replies. Thanks. We’re coming from the east. Essex/London way.

general tips on arriving/departing welcome too

We've only done WV once, back in 2017, it was the easiest in/out we've ever had. 

Arrived Thursday midday, then on the way home we were in the car for 8am. 

[siblin]

18 hours ago, Hugh Jass II said:

Never had any problems getting into WV, even during the traffic apocalypse that was 2016. Just drove straight in.

I felt very smug that year.  We arrived roughly at peak, on or around 10am.  I think we approached from the southwest via glastonbury so met a bit of traffic there, but when we got to Glastonbury town i *think* we veered away from most of the traffic at Butleigh road through Baltonsborough.  I believe the east side was worse that year as thats where the caravans were being torn apart and pulled off their axels by tractors (getting destroyed as Neil Parish would put it).

Of course if you have pre-erected camping you can worry less about getting there early to reserve your spot.

Sadly on the new Sticklinch (where we are this year) it looks like arrival is the same route as most of the traffic on the A361 so limited opportunity to avoid traffic.  

[al_coholic]

5 minutes ago, siblin said:

I felt very smug that year.  We arrived roughly at peak, on or around 10am.  I think we approached from the southwest via glastonbury so met a bit of traffic there, but when we got to Glastonbury town i *think* we veered away from most of the traffic at Butleigh road through Baltonsborough.  I believe the east side was worse that year as thats where the caravans were being torn apart and pulled off their axels by tractors (getting destroyed as Neil Parish would put it).

Of course if you have pre-erected camping you can worry less about getting there early to reserve your spot.

Sadly on the new Sticklinch (where we are this year) it looks like arrival is the same route as most of the traffic on the A361 so limited opportunity to avoid traffic.  

 

I was looking at Sticklinch options earlier and it really depends how heavy it is through Street and Glastonbury. There are some back roads, but they would be long and slow as well, so its the lesser of 2 evils. I won't be in the area till about 1pm anyway so I imagine it will be pretty clear by then if the weather is dry, and of course all Vans will be east side this year so fingers crossed a bit easier west side.

[siblin]

5 minutes ago, al_coholic said:

I was looking at Sticklinch options earlier and it really depends how heavy it is through Street and Glastonbury. There are some back roads, but they would be long and slow as well, so its the lesser of 2 evils. I won't be in the area till about 1pm anyway so I imagine it will be pretty clear by then if the weather is dry, and of course all Vans will be east side this year so fingers crossed a bit easier west side.

You raise a very good point - I wonder if traffic considerations are one of the reasons they've chosen to remove the campers from the west side of the site. 

Hate to be a Clarkson, but pretty sure the folk who only drive a campervan once a year, squeezing it around the corners of glastonbury town and in the bunching up the jams of the A361 they have been a significant factor. 

[phillyfaddle]

21 hours ago, One Tonne Baby said:

It’s a boring subject but let’s discuss it. Hints and tips for people arriving at the festival please. Questions welcome.

my question is around traffic times. Usually get to site at 2am but this year I’m valuing a night of sleep instead. Happy to get there a bit later as we are in Wv so have a guaranteed space but also don’t want to turn up and sit in 2 hours of traffic. Any insight into best times to arrive to avoid?

There’s virtually no traffic getting into WV off the A37. Completely different to main site. Your tent is guaranteed so zero need to stay up all night to be there bang on 8AM. Small queues to get through ticket gates, but go down quickly. Arrivals are staggered as no-one’s competing for their camping spots, so big queues don’t materialise. We normally arrive around 9-ish. 

[cerv]

In recent times have turned up around 3pm ish on the Weds and driven/walked straight in. I reckon any time from 12 and you won't be queuing long if at all.

If arriving on train via Castle Cary then have only done it once but there was a big hold-up there in 2019 in the Weds afternoon. Not sure if there was any real cause or simply a peak of people all arriving at the same time (around 2pm). Took 3hrs before we made it onto the shuttle bus. 

[Twiggy553]

What about CV East - under good weather conditions (i.e. not 2016) is there a particularly bad time to arrive?

[JoeyT]

2 minutes ago, Twiggy553 said:

What about CV East - under good weather conditions (i.e. not 2016) is there a particularly bad time to arrive?

The peak time to arrive is probably when the CV fields open on the Tues I'd guess. I've never actually gone there another time so don't have anything to compare against. Some years it's taken longer than others but apart from 2016 never a frustratingly long amount of time.

All I do know for fact is that in 2019 we turned on to Pylle Lane (CV East entrance) at 10.40am and were parked up in E20 at 11am.

I'd certainly like a repeat of that this year.

[Twiggy553]

 

1 minute ago, JoeyT said:

The peak time to arrive is probably when the CV fields open on the Tues I'd guess. I've never actually gone there another time so don't have anything to compare against. Some years it's taken longer than others but apart from 2016 never a frustratingly long amount of time.

All I do know for fact is that in 2019 we turned on to Pylle Lane (CV East entrance) at 10.40am and were parked up in E20 at 11am.

I'd certainly like a repeat of that this year.

Oh that’s good to hear. I think I’ll arrive on the Wednesday around noon.

I’ll probably end up at the back as a result, but my wife can’t come this year and doesn’t want another day of lone-parenting.

[JoeyT]

20 minutes ago, Twiggy553 said:

 

Oh that’s good to hear. I think I’ll arrive on the Wednesday around noon.

I’ll probably end up at the back as a result, but my wife can’t come this year and doesn’t want another day of lone-parenting.

Obviously it's purely a guess but I'd assume you'd probably fly in at that time although there may be others here that have arrived at a similar time previously who could give you a better idea.

[blutarsky]

1 hour ago, phillyfaddle said:

There’s virtually no traffic getting into WV off the A37. Completely different to main site. Your tent is guaranteed so zero need to stay up all night to be there bang on 8AM. Small queues to get through ticket gates, but go down quickly. Arrivals are staggered as no-one’s competing for their camping spots, so big queues don’t materialise. We normally arrive around 9-ish. 

This has been my experience too. 

25 minutes ago, Twiggy553 said:

 

Oh that’s good to hear. I think I’ll arrive on the Wednesday around noon.

I’ll probably end up at the back as a result, but my wife can’t come this year and doesn’t want another day of lone-parenting.

We're going to be late arrivals to CV East too, so expecting to drive straight in. 

[Stokesy10]

On traffic and travel... in 2019 I put the postcode for Orange Car Park in both my Satnav, and Maps on my phone. It did not take me to Orange Car Park. I was about 3-4 miles away (still on the outskirts of the festival) and got turned around by a traffic/security guy. 

Anyone else had similar issues here? Or does anyone have the correct Orange Car Park post code?

Thank you!

[al_coholic]

29 minutes ago, Stokesy10 said:

On traffic and travel... in 2019 I put the postcode for Orange Car Park in both my Satnav, and Maps on my phone. It did not take me to Orange Car Park. I was about 3-4 miles away (still on the outskirts of the festival) and got turned around by a traffic/security guy. 

Anyone else had similar issues here? Or does anyone have the correct Orange Car Park post code?

Thank you!

BA6 8NB should be about as close as you can get

[Twiggy553]

36 minutes ago, JoeyT said:

Obviously it's purely a guess but I'd assume you'd probably fly in at that time although there may be others here that have arrived at a similar time previously who could give you a better idea.

If we do end up at the back does that likely make it easier to get out on Monday?

[JoeyT]

5 minutes ago, Twiggy553 said:

If we do end up at the back does that likely make it easier to get out on Monday?

Possibly.

Getting out has usually been pretty swift for us in general however 2019 it took longer than it ever has. No idea why!

[Pear_Cider]

On 5/3/2022 at 4:25 PM, JoeyT said:

Possibly.

Getting out has usually been pretty swift for us in general however 2019 it took longer than it ever has. No idea why!

I seem to remember there was something happening on the route out on Monday morning...vehicle breakdown IIRC. The ones who got out before that had no trouble, the rest of us were held up for a couple of hours.

[Ayrshire Chris]

On 5/2/2022 at 4:33 PM, One Tonne Baby said:

It’s a boring subject but let’s discuss it. Hints and tips for people arriving at the festival please. Questions welcome.

my question is around traffic times. Usually get to site at 2am but this year I’m valuing a night of sleep instead. Happy to get there a bit later as we are in Wv so have a guaranteed space but also don’t want to turn up and sit in 2 hours of traffic. Any insight into best times to arrive to avoid?

Just watch you don’t miss the turn off the WV from the main road. Sign had been knocked sideways in 19 but luckily I spotted it. Then a journey down the lanes but stewards and signs to make sure you don’t get lost.  If you arrive early at the WV car park there are toilets. We got there around 1am and there were quite a few cars already there. Had a few drinks and chats then a sleep before getting straight on site as the gates opened .  In the traffic carnage of 2016 we were held up like everyone else on the main road but as soon as we turned off to WV it was plain sailing, that was on the Wednesday morning. 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Ayrshire Chris