cycling to Glastonbury 2023

[ThomasMack]

Hey,

Is anyone planning on cycling to the festival here that can give a quick insight as to any perks? I've seen here:

https://biketoglasto.co.uk/

But I'm looking for a little insight - any quick entrance? I heard there are cycling campsite showers? Best routes from Bristol?

Cheers.

 

[gfa]

11 minutes ago, ThomasMack said:

Hey,

Is anyone planning on cycling to the festival here that can give a quick insight as to any perks? I've seen here:

https://biketoglasto.co.uk/

But I'm looking for a little insight - any quick entrance? I heard there are cycling campsite showers? Best routes from Bristol?

Cheers.

 

Not done it but a few pointers

special campsite is near Gate A just under bus and coach station. i'd personally just camp elsewhere

it has fast entry i think and also has free showers

[ThomasMack]

41 minutes ago, gfa said:

Not done it but a few pointers

special campsite is near Gate A just under bus and coach station. i'd personally just camp elsewhere

it has fast entry i think and also has free showers

Fast entry fingers crossed, great, hopefully the same for 2023. I'd like to camp at Dairy Grounds.

[gfa]

11 minutes ago, ThomasMack said:

Fast entry fingers crossed, great, hopefully the same for 2023. I'd like to camp at Dairy Grounds.

Thats where I was this year, we got in around midday and there was tons of space (wednesday)

[Marvin S]

Did it from Bristol last year - the Facebook group (BIKETOGLASTO) was really good with lots of people posting route ideas (we got the train to Yatton, then took the strawberry line to the festival) and a service for a van to take a large bag for you so you can cycle with just a day pack. No fast entry to the site but was inside within an hour of getting there and the bike lock up system (next to Bronze gate) seemed very secure as there is someone at the lock up 24/7 for the festival. Cyclists campsite had the cleanest toilets on site and showers that never had a queue for more than 20/30 minutes even at peak times. 

[Crazyfool01]

14 minutes ago, ThomasMack said:

Fast entry fingers crossed, great, hopefully the same for 2023. I'd like to camp at Dairy Grounds.

Nah no fast entry I’m afraid …but if you cycle in via gate a … you miss out a fair bit of the zig zag queue system after you have put bikes in the secure lockup

[Ommadawn]

When the scheme was first set up, didn't they offer money off food stalls? I guess that's been dropped since.

[incident]

16 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

When the scheme was first set up, didn't they offer money off food stalls? I guess that's been dropped since.

That was the "Green Traveller" thing - Public Transport arrivals got it as well.

Unfortunately it didn't help that, aside from maybe the first year, most of the food stalls refused outright to accept the vouchers.

[gfa]

3 minutes ago, incident said:

That was the "Green Traveller" thing - Public Transport arrivals got it as well.

Unfortunately it didn't help that, aside from maybe the first year, most of the food stalls refused outright to accept the vouchers.

Cyclists should 100% get this, most people on the coach (myself included) just want a better chance at tickets. Its also like 1/5th of punters so too many people to be faffing about with vouchers imo

Cyclists have to put in proper effort!

[incident]

5 minutes ago, gfa said:

Cyclists should 100% get this, most people on the coach (myself included) just want a better chance at tickets. Its also like 1/5th of punters so too many people to be faffing about with vouchers imo

Cyclists have to put in proper effort!

It'd only work if the festival were willing to insist on and then enforce serious penalties for stallholders not accepting the vouchers. A bit of mystery shopping would help. Otherwise the scheme would go the same way it did last time - functionally useless after the first year, and later quietly abandoned.

Just can't see them making the effort on that for what's ultimately a few hundred people. More likely they just re-instate the guaranteed first crack at tickets as that involves far less coordination (and would probably be even more appreciated by most affected).

Edited March 2, 2023 by incident

[gfa]

23 minutes ago, incident said:

It'd only work if the festival were willing to insist on and then enforce serious penalties for stallholders not accepting the vouchers. A bit of mystery shopping would help. Otherwise the scheme would go the same way it did last time - functionally useless after the first year, and later quietly abandoned.

Just can't see them making the effort on that for what's ultimately a few hundred people. More likely they just re-instate the guaranteed first crack at tickets as that involves far less coordination (and would probably be even more appreciated by most affected).

out of upvotes but yeah agree

wonder if it was just a discount and the festival weren't reimbursing them? if so i can completely understand why they weren't accepting them ... pay £5000 to setup for the weekend and have some people not even pay full price

[Crazyfool01]

30 minutes ago, gfa said:

Cyclists have to put in proper effort!

yeah its hard work cycling in from the car park .... wish they put a bike lane in 🙂 

[ukmountie]

It's a pity they dropped first crack at tickets. The number is tiny so it couldn't have had much effect. In fact the time I did it there were fewer tickets than previous cyclists so you still had to be on the ball. It was a real encouragement to ride, even though it's enough fun to do it without the perks.

I've done the Bristol/Yatton/Strawberry Line/Glastonbury ride a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It makes the journey almost as much of an event as the festival. The Bike-to-Glasto crew are very friendly and helpful. The campsite is indeed the cleanest and nicest on site, as are the loo's.

The only bad bit is getting out after. It's a tough ride after days of party, but you sweat it out pretty quick. It would also help a lot if the train service didn't regard bikes as trouble to be avoided.

[Guest]

How? I take way too much stuff to cycle to a fest.

[Skip997]

I cycled there once, sometime in the 90's (maybe 2000's), can't remember where from.

No ticket, arrived a few days before the event, the fence wasn't complete so just cycled through a gap, chained my bike under a mates truck in Undleground.

[Superscally]

6 hours ago, ukmountie said:

It's a pity they dropped first crack at tickets. The number is tiny so it couldn't have had much effect. In fact the time I did it there were fewer tickets than previous cyclists so you still had to be on the ball. It was a real encouragement to ride, even though it's enough fun to do it without the perks.

I've done the Bristol/Yatton/Strawberry Line/Glastonbury ride a couple of times and really enjoyed it. It makes the journey almost as much of an event as the festival. The Bike-to-Glasto crew are very friendly and helpful. The campsite is indeed the cleanest and nicest on site, as are the loo's.

The only bad bit is getting out after. It's a tough ride after days of party, but you sweat it out pretty quick. It would also help a lot if the train service didn't regard bikes as trouble to be avoided.

Not a pity. People would take the piss. Drive to five miles away and ride from there. If you had to show your Strava of a 50km ride there, then maybe.

 

 

[ukmountie]

1 hour ago, Superscally said:

Not a pity. People would take the piss. Drive to five miles away and ride from there. If you had to show your Strava of a 50km ride there, then maybe.

 

 

I can’t say no-one did this, but I’d be very surprised if any of the people I met did. People took the spirit of things seriously. Cutting it off because one or two people took the piss would be a harsh punishment on the vast majority who didn’t.

Also you had to have done it before you got the chance, and the chance was not promised. My friend I went with did it twice with me and twice on his own. Of those four times he got the benefit once. It also would not surprise me if anyone who tried that would have been picked up by the organisers and not gotten the chance.

Anyway, no use debating it. They’ve not done it for a few years and I doubt it’s coming back.

[Superscally]

11 hours ago, ukmountie said:

I can’t say no-one did this, but I’d be very surprised if any of the people I met did. People took the spirit of things seriously. Cutting it off because one or two people took the piss would be a harsh punishment on the vast majority who didn’t.

Also you had to have done it before you got the chance, and the chance was not promised. My friend I went with did it twice with me and twice on his own. Of those four times he got the benefit once. It also would not surprise me if anyone who tried that would have been picked up by the organisers and not gotten the chance.

Anyway, no use debating it. They’ve not done it for a few years and I doubt it’s coming back.

Once it's a known thing...it would be exploited. 

[maelzoid]

Do they have charging stations in the field for electrical bicycles?

[incident]

35 minutes ago, Superscally said:

Once it's a known thing...it would be exploited. 

It was a known thing that ran for a 3-4 years, and I don't think there's much evidence of it being exploited - to be honest even to exploit it the way you describe would still mean more extra effort than 99% of people would go.

[Superscally]

1 minute ago, incident said:

It was a known thing that ran for a 3-4 years, and I don't think there's much evidence of it being exploited - to be honest even to exploit it the way you describe would still mean more extra effort than 99% of people would go.

Known ticket priority?? I don't think so. I certainly didn't and I go every year and have ridden my bike there...

[incident]

3 minutes ago, Superscally said:

Known ticket priority?? I don't think so. I certainly didn't and I go every year and have ridden my bike there...

The fact you personally didn't know is immaterial - it did happen, and it was discussed on here and so presumably on other places so definitely known about. It was for "official" cyclists - ie those using the dedicated facilities in Darble which limited the numbers a fair bit.

[Superscally]

8 minutes ago, incident said:

The fact you personally didn't know is immaterial - it did happen, and it was discussed on here and so presumably on other places so definitely known about. It was for "official" cyclists - ie those using the dedicated facilities in Darble which limited the numbers a fair bit.

Correct, but it was only one year wasn't it? 

[incident]

1 hour ago, Superscally said:

Correct, but it was only one year wasn't it? 

I think 3, but I could be a year out either way. Definitely more than 1.

[mikehawk]

Yeah, was definitely priority tickets for a few year, I got them twice as I remember , think I missed out the 3rd time as there were fewer tickets and more demand. If the weather is kind, it’s a really nice way to travel, particularly gliding passed queues of cars as you get close.