CV Fields - when & where did you camp?

[BlueDaze]

Pulled into Pylle Lane about 12:30 on Tuesday and parked up in E19 for 13:00.

A great spot next to the fence (halfway between E20 and the road crossing into E18) with lovely neighbours and a very secluded camp..

We left at 08:45 on Monday and got out to the A37 in quick time, the delays up at the Stonehenge roundabout were brutal and after a pit stop at the refugee camp that is Fleet Services and negotiating the M25/M1, back home in Cambs for 16:30...

Edited June 27, 2023 by BlueDaze
Adding photo

[clarkete]

E25, which is where they usually put rented caravans, but we were in a great spot near the track and very near to E24. 

[BlueDaze]

39 minutes ago, clarkete said:

E25, which is where they usually put rented caravans, but we were in a great spot near the track and very near to E24. 

I noted that there were a LOT of caravans/campers there this year.. A popular option and really hassle free i imagine.?.

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, BlueDaze said:

I noted that there were a LOT of caravans/campers there this year.. A popular option and really hassle free i imagine.?.

Different challenges isn't it, as unless you enjoy hill walking in the heat you take some things to see you through to night and it was hot weather to carry a pack. 

The fields themselves and the facilities were good and no major delays at gates for me. 

[irnkrtn]

Pulled in Pylle Lane about 1pm Tuesday. Camped in E17 two thirds of the way to the back. Probably as far as we could be! But no big bother on the walk. 

 

Left site at 4pm. Took two hours to get onto Pylle Lane but it was fast flowing from then on. Was definitely poor traffic management on site. Got to Birmingham for 10pm after an obligatory Gloucester Services tea. 

[Psilocybe]

We couldn’t get into CV East so had to take Bath & West ticket instead. Arrived about 12:30 on Tuesday and got parked straight up. Got a decent spot close to the shuttle bus stop, although the site didn’t seem that big anyway. 
 

Taking the shuttle every day was actually pretty painless. Really didn’t bother us too much, didn’t take any longer than walking to the furthest CV East fields did.  Only gripe was the last day the bus was absolutely rammed with people going home using drop and collect, it was total chaos and took nearly 2 hrs. 
 

Van next to us pitched the worlds largest awning, was well over the allocated pitch size, so close to our van I could barely open my drivers door! They managed to leave a scratch down the side, presumably when squeezing down the narrow gap, so a bit annoyed about that. 
 

Leaving was really painless. Left about 11am. Drove straight out heading south on A371, the direction we needed to be heading in anyway. No traffic at all. Definitely prefer CV East but we’d take B&W again without moaning if we didn’t have a choice. 

[irnkrtn]

3 minutes ago, Psilocybe said:

Definitely prefer CV East but we’d take B&W again without moaning if we didn’t have a choice. 

That's really good to know! 

I hope you have a photo of MegaAwning for us!

[Psilocybe]

10 minutes ago, irnkrtn said:

I hope you have a photo of MegaAwning for us!

No pics of MegaAwning I’m afraid! I wasn’t bothered about it at all until I noticed the scratch and by that point they were gone! 
 

still not that bothered. Sh*t happens, but I was surprised they were allowed to pitch it leaving a gap of about 30cm!

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, Psilocybe said:

No pics of MegaAwning I’m afraid! I wasn’t bothered about it at all until I noticed the scratch and by that point they were gone! 
 

still not that bothered. Sh*t happens, but I was surprised they were allowed to pitch it leaving a gap of about 30cm!

Good news about the shuttle, well except for them not putting extra on for last day. 

You should have snitched to a steward about the awning, just casually in passing obviously. 

[BlueDaze]

8 hours ago, Psilocybe said:

We couldn’t get into CV East so had to take Bath & West ticket instead. Arrived about 12:30 on Tuesday and got parked straight up. Got a decent spot close to the shuttle bus stop, although the site didn’t seem that big anyway. 
 

Taking the shuttle every day was actually pretty painless. Really didn’t bother us too much, didn’t take any longer than walking to the furthest CV East fields did.  Only gripe was the last day the bus was absolutely rammed with people going home using drop and collect, it was total chaos and took nearly 2 hrs. 
 

Van next to us pitched the worlds largest awning, was well over the allocated pitch size, so close to our van I could barely open my drivers door! They managed to leave a scratch down the side, presumably when squeezing down the narrow gap, so a bit annoyed about that. 
 

Leaving was really painless. Left about 11am. Drove straight out heading south on A371, the direction we needed to be heading in anyway. No traffic at all. Definitely prefer CV East but we’d take B&W again without moaning if we didn’t have a choice. 

Good insight.. I have only camped in CV East before. So is the field there more like an organised campsite (marked out pitches) or still with stewards guiding you in.??

it is fairly random in CVE and they gave me so much space I asked my neighbour if they wanted me to move over before I detached the caravan but they also had a ton of space…

[Psilocybe]

8 hours ago, clarkete said:

Good news about the shuttle, well except for them not putting extra on for last day. 

100% or they should’ve run a separate shuttle for anyone camping at B&W. No way to police it though I suppose. Felt bad for all the parents trying to get kids to bed after Elton, expecting a 10m wait. 

1 hour ago, BlueDaze said:

Good insight.. I have only camped in CV East before. So is the field there more like an organised campsite (marked out pitches) or still with stewards guiding you in.??

it is fairly random in CVE and they gave me so much space I asked my neighbour if they wanted me to move over before I detached the caravan but they also had a ton of space…

Stewards still guiding you in. They were very accommodating though and did ask how much space we needed. The site is really flat and you're driving on tracks 95% of the way. Parking was definitely less random but that’s a lot easier to do when the grassed areas are so small. 

[mungo57]

we were in E17, arrived around 11 I think it was.

We specifically told the stewards that we had a tent to pitch next to the van and he directed us to a small space in between 2 vans with awnings. We managed to wait and move when he had his back turned after telling us NOT to move - only AFTER a group next to us had sat and watched us pitch did they tell us that we had to move it as it blocked their awning. Nice of them.

They had a massive awning that clearly went over the pitch size, a toilet tent, and then fenced off the entire area with a wind break and proceeded to blank us for the whole weekend!

We got set up in the end and we were less than 10 mins walk from PGC which was nice. Last time we did CV East fields we were at least twice as far away.

[StoneCircle]

We were in E21 Accessible Forward Campervan area again this year. 🙂

[BlueDaze]

3 hours ago, StoneCircle said:

We were in E21 Accessible Forward Campervan area again this year. 🙂

I missed you at the Weds meet @StoneCircle I wanted to thank you for your constant sage advice on here (what this forum is best at in my view)

[StoneCircle]

4 minutes ago, BlueDaze said:

I missed you at the Weds meet @StoneCircle I wanted to thank you for your constant sage advice on here (what this forum is best at in my view)

I was definitely there! Sorry to have missed you too!

[BlueDaze]

4 hours ago, mungo57 said:

we were in E17, arrived around 11 I think it was.

We specifically told the stewards that we had a tent to pitch next to the van and he directed us to a small space in between 2 vans with awnings. We managed to wait and move when he had his back turned after telling us NOT to move - only AFTER a group next to us had sat and watched us pitch did they tell us that we had to move it as it blocked their awning. Nice of them.

They had a massive awning that clearly went over the pitch size, a toilet tent, and then fenced off the entire area with a wind break and proceeded to blank us for the whole weekend!

We got set up in the end and we were less than 10 mins walk from PGC which was nice. Last time we did CV East fields we were at least twice as far away.

you could do without all the get pitched up malarkey.. sounds a bit stressful. 

[mungo57]

2 hours ago, BlueDaze said:

you could do without all the get pitched up malarkey.. sounds a bit stressful. 

We only do CV anyway as my other half’s dad refuses to go if he can’t stay in a bed! We haven’t had an issue the previous 2 times but this time we just happened to get the wrong steward telling us to park in the wrong place followed by the neighbours from hell

 

if anything I prefer camping in CV (without the stress) as we get to keep more stuff on us and we get cooked breakfast and booze which we wouldn’t otherwise have as we wouldn’t be able to carry that much having to get public transport to and from the festival

 

but yeah, f**k the stress

 

 

[Woody-Club UK]

We left Milton Keynes at 10 am Wednesday morning and pulled into Pylle lane at 1.30 pm.  No real queues, pitched up in E15 near to the spinney so not too bad. We really had a late one on Sunday night partying in Block 9 until 4.30 before heading up to the stone circle for sunrise.  Finally went to bed at 7pm Monday 🤪. Left around 11am on Tuesday. 
In previous years,Liz, who runs or used to run the camper van fields would come round Monday evenings and check up on any stragglers (normally only us!)   It takes the hassle out of trying to dismantle an awning while still spangled. 
we’ve been coming to Glastonbury festival on and off for 30 years and we really felt our age this time, probably due to the glorious weather although I swear that the hill of doom gets steeper every year.  
I hope you all had a blast and fingers crossed for tickets for 2024

Glastonbury festival resets your soul for the year😀

Big love ❤️. 
Woody x

[Mr_Grump]

We arrived at B&W 1:15pm on Tuesday lunchtime, only 1 caravan in front of us so no queue.

Our pitch was 2 min walk from the main 'drop & collect' bus boarding point & 5 mins from the campervan bus boarding point.

We were fully set up by 3pm and in Wetherspoons in Wells by 4:30pm!

We left B&W at 5:30am Monday morning, it was an absolute breeze! We arrived home in West Yorks at 10:15am (would have been sooner but hit rush hour on the M42 south of Brum) - a 220 mile trip, towing a caravan...4hrs 45mins was much better than we could have hoped.

We'd do B&W again, the bus transfers weren't that painful (with the exception of Wednesday lunchtime).

Edited June 29, 2023 by Mr_Grump

[BlueDaze]

13 hours ago, Mr_Grump said:

We arrived at B&W 1:15pm on Tuesday lunchtime, only 1 caravan in front of us so no queue.

Our pitch was 2 min walk from the main 'drop & collect' bus boarding point & 5 mins from the campervan bus boarding point.

We were fully set up by 3pm and in Wetherspoons in Wells by 4:30pm!

We left B&W at 5:30am Monday morning, it was an absolute breeze! We arrived home in West Yorks at 10:15am (would have been sooner but hit rush hour on the M42 south of Brum) - a 220 mile trip, towing a caravan...4hrs 45mins was much better than we could have hoped.

We'd do B&W again, the bus transfers weren't that painful (with the exception of Wednesday lunchtime).

that is a remarkable pace home... i had 7.5 Hrs of driving (with half an hour breakfast break) for 195 miles back to Cambs.. but i had to navigate Stonehenge, the M25 and M1 and didnt get my arse in gear until 08:45

I imagine the bus transfer straight after headliners is not great?  Good to hear a positive review of B&W though..So I assume on Tuesday you just unhitched and went out for lunch then.?? so can you do that at any time? 

[Mr_Grump]

11 hours ago, BlueDaze said:

that is a remarkable pace home... i had 7.5 Hrs of driving (with half an hour breakfast break) for 195 miles back to Cambs.. but i had to navigate Stonehenge, the M25 and M1 and didnt get my arse in gear until 08:45

I imagine the bus transfer straight after headliners is not great?  Good to hear a positive review of B&W though..So I assume on Tuesday you just unhitched and went out for lunch then.?? so can you do that at any time? 

In B&W you could come & go as you please, you just had to show your tickets when driving back in (and have your parking pass displayed). Made it so much easier for the trip back home as I was able to fill up with fuel in advance.

The only 'negative' with B&W were the shower facilities...only 5 showers (in 2 blocks) for blokes (not sure how many there were for women) and they weren't cleaned the whole time we were there...so by the Sunday they were a bit grim.

The buses after Elton were a bit of a pain due to the traffic controls travelling east on the A361...we were only queuing 20 mins to get on a bus.

As for the pace home, I think the key was leaving at that time...the roads up to Bristol were so quiet, although we turned off the A37 and went along the A39 for a while before heading 'cross country' to avoid the city centre (we went through Keynsham). Once we joined the M32 it was motorway all the way home.

[clarkete]

On 6/29/2023 at 10:22 AM, Woody-Club UK said:

Finally went to bed at 7pm Monday 🤪. Left around 11am on Tuesday. 
In previous years,Liz, who runs or used to run the camper van fields would come round Monday evenings and check up on any stragglers (normally only us!)   

7pm!?  So presumably there were loads of vans gone around you way before you went to bed?  There seemed a fair few gone from E25 by say 1130.

I didn't even realise they'd let you string it out until Tuesday

*orders static caravan*

 

[Woody-Club UK]

By rights, everyone should have left site including the CV fields by 10pm Monday.

They used to come round around 8pm and check we were alright and after realising that we were in no fit state to drive, let us stay until Tuesday morning. 
This year no one checked up on us and we were just left to it.

Absolutely no one in the CV fields apart from us and the coffee van and lazy bastards rubbish😩

[deepkittycaz]

On 6/27/2023 at 11:56 PM, Psilocybe said:

We couldn’t get into CV East so had to take Bath & West ticket instead. Arrived about 12:30 on Tuesday and got parked straight up. Got a decent spot close to the shuttle bus stop, although the site didn’t seem that big anyway. 
 

Taking the shuttle every day was actually pretty painless. Really didn’t bother us too much, didn’t take any longer than walking to the furthest CV East fields did.  Only gripe was the last day the bus was absolutely rammed with people going home using drop and collect, it was total chaos and took nearly 2 hrs. 
 

Van next to us pitched the worlds largest awning, was well over the allocated pitch size, so close to our van I could barely open my drivers door! They managed to leave a scratch down the side, presumably when squeezing down the narrow gap, so a bit annoyed about that. 
 

Leaving was really painless. Left about 11am. Drove straight out heading south on A371, the direction we needed to be heading in anyway. No traffic at all. Definitely prefer CV East but we’d take B&W again without moaning if we didn’t have a choice. 

Was the drop and collect taking people to B&W as well? I couldn't work out where the pick up point actually was.

[clarkete]

8 hours ago, Woody-Club UK said:

By rights, everyone should have left site including the CV fields by 10pm Monday.

They used to come round around 8pm and check we were alright and after realising that we were in no fit state to drive, let us stay until Tuesday morning. 
This year no one checked up on us and we were just left to it.

Absolutely no one in the CV fields apart from us and the coffee van and lazy bastards rubbish😩

Great picture, thanks for sharing.