Glastonbury 2014

stinkle

I agree with you somewhat, think it might have to do with camper demographics. I've not put much thought into this theory so feel free to shoot me down though! For 4 out of 6 years we bussed it which meant camping reasonably near the gate to the bus station - we've generally been close to John Peel most of those years. I imagine most "younger" attendees might have done the same, and this is smack bang in the middle of the Other/Dance/Mandela Bar side you mentioned. Also, some people really do just go and sit at the Pyramid all festival.

Our 3rd year we drove though and were camped in Park Home Ground area, with more varied groups of people and this time we actually made friends for the duration. This year we were at Worthy View and again, a very mixed group of ages, but it seemed friendlier.

Toast

Yeah my original post was giving out less about the mud but the sense of dickishness it seemed to give people. I'd rather have avoided that area but was overruled as people wanted to see the Pixies.

gazzer

What a fantastic 5 days I had. 3rd time there and I think that was the best one yet. Saturday was amazing. I went from seeing Metallica doing a fantastic set to ending up at a massive Rave in the BullRing (Common Area). It was sooo good. Best Rave ever. We camped at Oxylers so had a great view of the Other Stage when we sat outside our tent.

One downside was the absolute bell end who was camped near to me who (for 2 hours) kept saying "Oh no where is my MDMA, I cant find my Mandy". Have any of you seen my Mandy"....AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

gazzer

mickeyboymel wrote: »

(Yes We were the ones with the Tricolour,Peace & CND Flags)

Ah we were camped very near to you. We used your flag as a guidepoint for getting back to our tent at night so thanks for that

Sandwell

robinph wrote: »

That's your mistake right there. Keep away from the area between Other and Dance at the best of times, but especially when it's wet.

Was it just me or did anyone else notice, despite it being the same people all over the site, there was a lot more disrespect for the site over the Dance/ Other stage areas and far more peeing in the hedges, litter and slight feeling of rowdiness from people when at that end of town? It just seems to be a happier feel amongst the population in the Cider Bus side of Pyramid compared to Mandela Bar side, and once you venture further afield towards West Holts Jazz side of town and towards the Green Fields is just a nicer place to be.

Maybe I've just spent too much time looking down on everyone from my spot in the campervan fields on top of the Hill Of Death (tm) and can no longer handle the unwashed slightly less baby wiped people who reside down in the flat muddy parts of the site.

I'd say that's pretty spot on and it's partly to do with the age profile. The music in that area of the site is, for the most part, fairly middle-of-the-road indie and dance and so tends to attract a younger and less clued in crowd. West Holts, Avalon, the Park and the various micro venues scattered across the rest of the site attract a more mature crowd. Plenty of people barely leave the Greenfields/Avalon/West Holts/Acoustic axis all weekend. People with kids will be drawn to that end of the site too so it tends to have a much more relaxed atmosphere.

We camped up in South Park, right beside the exit to the campervans. It meant a very long walk home every morning but we had acres of space, friendly neighbours and amazing views. Walking through Pennards/Oxylers etc. it looked pretty grim in comparison with tents right up on top of each other. It's convienent to the action of course but has little else to recommend it imo.

On the subject of the dance village/Silver Hayes, I'm not sure what they can do with it but it's just not a pleasant place to spend any time. Apart from Despacio on Friday (which was one of the best clubbing experiences I've ever had but was totally self-contained and therefore untainted by its surroundings) I avoided the place like the plague. I love electronic music and there were plenty of acts and djs playing over the weekend in Silver Hayes that I'd normally enjoy seeing but I never bothered checking out. I think the layout is the main problem. Too many tents in a small area leads to sound bleed. Also there are no trees or grassy areas to chill out. The Other Stage suffers a bit from the same problem I think. Too flat and featureless. Anyway, the site as a whole is massive and there's something for everyone somewhere so it's no real cause for complaint.

gazzer

Was anybody up in Williams Green at all? I went there after Hozier on Friday afternoon and The Riptide Movement on Saturday afternoon. Was a great place to chill out for a bit. They had a bar there with loads of bean bags and cushions.

Sandwell

gazzer wrote: »

Was anybody up in Williams Green at all? I went there after Hozier on Friday afternoon and The Riptide Movement on Saturday afternoon. Was a great place to chill out for a bit. They had a bar there with loads of bean bags and cushions.

No, never made it up that way. Missed the Acoustic stage too and the Greenpeace area amongst other things. It'd be next to impossible to see everything in one weekend.

stinkle

gazzer wrote: »

Was anybody up in Williams Green at all? I went there after Hozier on Friday afternoon and The Riptide Movement on Saturday afternoon. Was a great place to chill out for a bit. They had a bar there with loads of bean bags and cushions.

we ended up there a lot, the food stands were very good and it's defo a good place to relax. They were showing the tennis in that bar on Thurs I think and it was so chilled.

gazzer

stinkle wrote: »

we ended up there a lot, the food stands were very good and it's defo a good place to relax. They were showing the tennis in that bar on Thurs I think and it was so chilled.

Yeah they had the tennis on on Friday as well. Was nice just to chill out for a bit before trudging off in the mud I got to see all of the area except for the Park. Bez's Acid House was great

Fatfrog

Don't know how you gauge mud is there an SI measurement "two wellies deep"
When I said the mud was bad I'm not talking about the volume or getting dirty more hard going particularly when it semi dried it's like gravity is at x2. For the volume of ppl they should have had a few more tracks.
Took a rough route to Arcadia from the other stage Sat night, no decking and in the dark, hundreds making their way through man that was hell. One prick had a guy rope tied across the path and was raising it on randomers as they passed.

I know what you mean Toast about the food, first couple of times it was convenience around the larger stages, but genuinely did try to search for good food stalls but without success! Hundreds to choose from 'never judge a stall by it's ....front?'

Mince Pie

Did anyone check out Royal Blood?
sorry highlight for me and don't have concentration to read I'm sure the very well written stuff. Brain still catching up cos builders wont allow me lie in with their drilling from 7am.

Chelon

Never hear much about the beer available at Glasto - could someone enlighten us?

I'm suspecting tales of superb quality hand pulled cask ales, etc. Just like you'd get at an Irish festival.....

A Neurotic

Lots of cider. Most places selling Tennant's and the like, quite a few selling a couple of English ales as well. Great spot by the acoustic tent had a wide range, forget its name.

mickeyboymel

Bar down by The Acoustic Tent - it's name escapes me was doing Cask Ale

robinph

A Neurotic wrote: »

Lots of cider. Most places selling Tennant's and the like, quite a few selling a couple of English ales as well. Great spot by the acoustic tent had a wide range, forget its name.

Didn't see Tennants, Tuborg was the generic larger on tap in the main bars. You then also had Otter Brewery in most bars with a Pyramid Ale and another one whose name escapes me. The Thatchers cider bar beside Williams Green, although it was just a choice of Gold, Cheddar and Traditional. Then they previously mentioned bar in the Acoustic field which has more ales than you could reasonably get through in a day, has previously been called The Red Flag but not sure if that changed.

Professey Chin

Most bars:
Tuborg lager
Thatchers cider
Otter Ales
Wines/Spirits etc

Then scattered around youd have Somerset Cider, Brothers Cider and all the Avalon ales etc mentioned above.
I was a happy drunk man

tibor

stinkle wrote: »

we ended up there a lot, the food stands were very good and it's defo a good place to relax. They were showing the tennis in that bar on Thurs I think and it was so chilled.

They showed all the football there too. Was in there for USA-Germany with a rotisserie chicken from the stall next door on Thursday.

S.M.B.

Standard options are tuborg, brothers cider, and otter ale. Few bars like the one above and the Avalon have plenty more ales.

Add in the free movement of booze throughout the site means that I only ended up with one horrible tubing all weekend. The rest was made up of craft ipa and cask ale.

Toast

For reference if anyone wants to try get the early flight on the Monday morning here's my tale of doing so. Packed up tent, bag etc Sunday morning and popped them into the lockup closest to Gate A. No real queue to do so and loads of room in the lockup (was a bit afraid it was going to be full). Went off did my Sunday... came back around 2.00am. No queue to pick up stuff... got my gear all together.. walked up to the National Express and was on a coach for 2.30am. Slept to Bristol at 4.30am. Bristol Marlbough St bus station had no open toilets at that time so be careful of that. Got the 4.50am Flyer. Flyer got jammers as it went along so get in early. Got to the airport probably about 5.20am. Check in started at 6am. Just about enough time to check in, get some food and sit down for a short while before it was onto the plane. was a zombie the whole time and I don't know if I'd recommend it but it was possible. Seriously doubt you could leave the festival much later than 3 and realistically make the flight especially as check in was dog slow (their conveyor system crashed?).

Manchegan

Toast wrote: »

Seriously doubt you could leave the festival much later than 3 and realistically make the flight especially as check in was dog slow (their conveyor system crashed?).

We got the [URL="(http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/getting-here/by-air/)"]Airport Shuttle[/URL] from Gate A at 5, arrived at 6.

Toast

What was the queue like to get on? I'd considered that but my understanding was you couldn't book it and I don't think I'd like to take the risk.

Manchegan

Toast wrote: »

What was the queue like to get on? I'd considered that but my understanding was you couldn't book it and I don't think I'd like to take the risk.

There were about 15 of us on a bus with a capacity of, say, 50.

Toast

I'll try that next time so.

gazzer

Toast wrote: »

For reference if anyone wants to try get the early flight on the Monday morning here's my tale of doing so. Packed up tent, bag etc Sunday morning and popped them into the lockup closest to Gate A. No real queue to do so and loads of room in the lockup (was a bit afraid it was going to be full). Went off did my Sunday... came back around 2.00am. No queue to pick up stuff... got my gear all together.. walked up to the National Express and was on a coach for 2.30am. Slept to Bristol at 4.30am. Bristol Marlbough St bus station had no open toilets at that time so be careful of that. Got the 4.50am Flyer. Flyer got jammers as it went along so get in early. Got to the airport probably about 5.20am. Check in started at 6am. Just about enough time to check in, get some food and sit down for a short while before it was onto the plane. was a zombie the whole time and I don't know if I'd recommend it but it was possible. Seriously doubt you could leave the festival much later than 3 and realistically make the flight especially as check in was dog slow (their conveyor system crashed?).

We packed up at 3.30 am. Walked to the the entrance and got a bus to the drop off point at the showgrounds. We had pre booked a mini bus. That arrived at 5.40am and we got to the airport at 6.25. Was checked in and through security by 7am. Had a lovely breakfast and then boarded the flight. I was soooo tired. Then when I arrived in Dublin I had to wait an hour to get a bus to Cavan where I was met by my partner who had to inform me that our car is banjaxed so had to get a taxi home.

Sandwell

If you can get your hands on a car and there's a few potential drivers to share the work I'd strongly recommend driving. It does mean taking an extra day or two off work but it has many advantages. You don't have to worry about luggage allowances so you can bring your own camping gear, alcohol etc. and you have far more freedom about when you come and go. It's handy to be able to leave extra booze in the car rather than having to lug everything in when you arrive. Plus it's actually a lovely drive through Wales and down into Somerset. Cost wise it's probably much the same when you add in fuel costs but I much prefer the flexibility it offers. Also, I hate airports at the best of times but especially when I'm tired and emotional!

We finished up around 7am Sunday morning, slept till one, packed up our stuff and were on the road by 2.30. We drove as far as Cardiff (90 mins), stopped to watch the football and get a bite to eat, and then contined to Pembroke (2 hrs) where we had a room booked in the local Travelodge (£20). We watched the second game of the day there, had a nap for a couple of hours and got the late night ferry at 0245. We slept the whole way and arrived in Rosslare at 0700 on Tuesday morning. Two hours later we were back in Dublin.

circular flexing

I got the train out of Glastonbury. Packed up on Sunday morning and put the gear in the lockup, picked it up again at 3:30am. On the bus to Castle Cary at 4am. Train from Castle Cary at 5:05am. In Holyhead at 1pm. Ferry slightly delayed so was back in Dublin just after 6pm.

It's a long day but this way is incredibly cheap, paid 86 euro return and was able to bring big tent etc...

stinkle

We SailRailed home after a night in Bristol and it was excellent. We flew to London on the way over but I'd definitely be open to SailRailing again. We were able to check our baggage on the Swift so just had small hand luggage to worry about during the crossing (not sure if the other ferries do this). Took a good 5h+ (10.54 train from Bristol, arrived around 16.15 in Holyhead, with a change in Newport) but was v relaxing.

Professey Chin

Bristol airport route for me. I dont think a plane has ever smelt so bad :pac:

Might take the car/ferry route next time. Only worry is getting stuck in the muck


92 days until T Day!

Chelon

S.M.B. wrote: »

Standard options are tuborg, brothers cider, and otter ale. Few bars like the one above and the Avalon have plenty more ales.

Add in the free movement of booze throughout the site means that I only ended up with one horrible tubing all weekend. The rest was made up of craft ipa and cask ale.

Sounds like heaven - if I ever get lucky ticket wise

TakeTheVeil

We did the 8am flight back to Dublin too.

At 3am, we walked out of Gate A and down to the taxi rank because we didn't wanna take the chance of the 5am bus being full (but will definitely next time)

There was a queue of about 20 people waiting for taxis but taxis rolled up pretty often.

Ended up sharing a taxi with 3 others going to the airport.

Taxi cost £25 a head - which was a rip off but we happy enough. If we had booked one it would have cost £50-£65

Delighted to get back into my bed at 10.30am