The Road to Glasto...

[Funkfarley]

Hey All!

do you have a "getting to glasto" disaster story? (or getting back will do...)

I'll go first...my sis and her blokey broke down on the Avon Bridge on the M5. Literally on the bridge...no hard shoulder, just at the side of the bridge.

She phoned me who was still at home and I felt physically sick...they had all my camping gear. They were recovered and taken to the Avonmouth travelodge.

Anyways, what happened was sis's boyf's dad had a mate who had a flatbed truck...what are the chances...? and dad and his mate drove down from manchester with dads car on the back, drove to the travelodge, swapped the cars over and left them with a nice, much bigger car whilst dad took the knackered one home.

Lucky, lucky, lucky.

That was a near premature end to glasto before it had even started.

Anyone else had anything they wish to share?

[WS_Jack_III]

yeah we were in the fast lane and back left tyre bust. My dad had to get us safely to the hard shoulder. Was scary.

[Kyelo]

Not so much a horror story, just a 12 hour drive which in itself is quite a horror lol

[popcornmaster]

I've mentioned this before somewhere

07 was on my way back

leaving the sunday afternoon which was bad enough

broke down half way between glastonbury and bristol

had to wait for a tow truck then got taken to bristol

waited there while they 'repaired' the car

which happened to be wrong fuel

didn't leave there till about 11, cut me deep that we were spitting distance from the festival but stuck in a garage instead

[deegs]

On the way to Glasto 2007, on the train to Castle Cary, I was holding on to the bar above me on the train, and my shoulder dislocated. Worst pain I've ever had in my entire life, it was out for a good few minutes, I somehow plucked up the courage to ram it back in! All's I could think was that I was going to miss Glasto!

Then on the Sunday morning, the day of the Who, I rolled over in my tent and it came out again, utter agony! Had to get someone in the first aid/hospital place at Glasto to put it back in. Nightmare!!

[Funkfarley]

On the way to Glasto 2007, on the train to Castle Cary, I was holding on to the bar above me on the train, and my shoulder dislocated. Worst pain I've ever had in my entire life, it was out for a good few minutes, I somehow plucked up the courage to ram it back in! All's I could think was that I was going to miss Glasto!

Then on the Sunday morning, the day of the Who, I rolled over in my tent and it came out again, utter agony! Had to get someone in the first aid/hospital place at Glasto to put it back in. Nightmare!!

[mrs_b_with_an_e]

4 of our group headed over from London in one car on the Wed in 2001, which broke down just outside shepton mallet. unfortunately some ludicrous clause in the drivers recovery policy meant they would only take them back home (damn sight further to head back to London than to Glasto but thats red tape for you!)

anyhooooo, they got the car fixed early Thurs morning so off they trudged again - only for the bloody thing to give up the ghost after an hour! Out came the recovery vehicle again to cut a long story short, after 2 attempts in the car and unaffordable on the day train tickets, they spent the weekend watching it on the tele with their tickets in their mits and a horrid feeling of disappointment

selfishly glad it wasn't me that missed out completely, but we did miss out on the weekend we'd planned on being 4 people down

moral of the story - do your car checks before you leave & check the smallprint of any policy you have to make sure they will complete your journey & not just dump you back where you started!

[hazey_jane]

OUCH!!!!!!!!! Glad to know that the first aiders helped you out though, I dislocated my kneecap a few weeks ago, you have my total sympathies.

I only have a lovely story to tell you if you'll forgive me (the others are all fairly bog standard) last year, me and my boyfriend went with one of my best mates who's from Germany to Glastonbury. Only her second time ever in the UK, we took her to Stonehenge on the way as a surprise and she was totally delighted.

Edited March 6, 2009 by hazey_jane

[Sam Crawley]

The only horror I've experienced is the crap food at the service station that the NExp coach stopped at on the way down from London last year. Now I know what amazing culinary delights Glasto offers I'll wait a few hours!

[staggerlee]

My first time in 2004. We were driving down the M6 at 70-90mph on the inside lane, all of sudden the boot on my family's Picasso flies unexpectedly open and my best friends rucksack folllows out on to the motorway. It rolled and rolled and rolled, before eventually going across the hard shoulder and landing in a stream!

2008 last year . There are supposed to be 5 of us travelling in my mate's Corsa when I arrive at my friends at 6am to fit in the third person, we realise that there is no way, not even if somebody sat on the roof could we fit five people in. I have to call my friend at 6am ten minutes before he is supposed to be leaving and tell him the bad news. He managed to get the train and we bought him two crates of beer to apologise, but he could still barely look at me all week he was so pissed off.

Good thread by the way.

Edited March 6, 2009 by staggerlee

[Funkfarley]

My first time in 2004. We were driving down the M6 at 70-90mph on the inside lane, all of sudden the boot on my family's Picasso flies unexpectedly open and my best friends rucksack folllows out on to the motorway. It rolled and rolled and rolled, before eventually going across the hard shoulder and landing in a stream!

[Funkfarley]

Hubby just reminded me...

Following on from the car breaking down in the opening post, my bro, sis and respective boyf/girlf decided to leave on the monday morning at 8.00am and didn't actuallly get out of the car park til 8.00pm.

For those who don't remember, the night before was the rain that flooded all across the midlands, especially Gloucestershire and caused chaos for about 2 weeks.

Needless to say, we made our escape after the Who finished and was out of the car park in an hour was was back in liverpool by 6.00am!

[Mark E. Spliff]

Mine was without a doubt Glasto 2007.

The mud was like some sort of biblical plague. On the last night, I was working in the Park Bar. On Sunday night, our Bar was empty throughout our shift and we were hoping to get away early and go to watch Bill Bailey in The Glade. However, just as we were about to close the bar at midnight, a few punters walked in, then a few more, and within 2 minutes the place was heaving. We ended up working our tits off til 2.30am. (Also during that shift, because text messages were taking so long to get through, I'd missed several meetings with my then girlfriend, who dumped me shortly afterwards...)

During the shift, I got a text from my mate (who was giving me a lift home) saying that he'd meet me at 1 in front of the Pyramid Stage.

After our shift finished, we all took as much alcohol and anything else we had to try and kick the arse out of a good night. The mud was so bad that we only got as far as the Rabbit Hole, and spent the night sharing our laughing gas with the strangers around us. We kept it going til about 7am and then trudged through the mud back to our tents.

When I woke up around 10am, I was feeling seriously cold, wet, lonely and a bit paranoid - all the other people in the Workers Beer campsite had left on the WBC buses at 9am. It was pissing down badly, and I could hear loads of crowds of really unhappy people waiting in the rain at the bus-stop, which was just next to our (empty) campsite. Then suddenly, I had a seriously disturbing thought: when my mate had said he'd meet me at 1, had he meant 1am? In other words - had he already cleared off without me? His phone was dead, but thinking about it, I became convinced that he must have already gone.

So I just lay there shivering in my tent with the rain hammering down and no dry clothes left. It was the most depressing thing ever - I had no way of getting home, and I was listening to thousands of other punters, with coach tickets, who were also stranded there. The situation looked hopeless.

Our campsite is private - we have our own security who make sure only workers get in. I knew I was the only person in the field and none of my mates were going to suddenly appear. I didn't have any plan of action, and I felt too ill and paranoid to get up and try and sort things out. So I just lay there in my sleeping bag, feeling incredibly miserable and just trying to keep warm.

Then all of a sudden, at midday, I hear a familar voice saying "hello mate". My mate HAD meant 1pm, and he'd managed to blag his way into our campsite and found me. I've NEVER been so glad to see someone. After that, the world suddenly brightened up - it stopped raining, the sun came out, we stowed our stuff in the car (where I had a set of dry clothes) and then we just went wandering around to take photos of the satanic mess which was Glastonbury 2007.

Moral of the story: always have a set of dry clothes in a sealed plastic bag in your tent for the monday. And treasure your friends; give them gifts - spare phone batteries, for example.

[whisty]

Talking about mud reminded me of My first Gbury 2007 & the least horrific of any of the other stories but think it fun.

I hadn't been to a festival since my memory gave up & as for camping well, maybe a tent in my living room made from cushion covers when I was age 7 at least 4 decades ago. You get the picture.

Early on in the festival I was walking round in the mud, all wellied up trying not to stamp to hard for fear of splashes and avoiding oncoming heavy feet when to my horror noticed a long streak of smudged mud down the arm of my white sweatshirt, the only jumper I'd taken. Tried to forget about it, got back to my tent, carefully removed my wellies and smudged mud all over my nicely made sleeping pit, tried wet wipes and just made things worse, at that moment thought, well @u@k it and started enjoying one of the the best experiences I can remember having, despite more mud than I've ever seen.

That little story is for anybody worrying about mud

Great advice from the previous post tho, keep some spare clothes wrapped in a plastic bag.

[Funkfarley]

And on the subject of mud...my 11 year old sister in 2007 had wandered up to the long drops in the pissin rain with my stepdad.

She is sliding round, playing about in the mud, like kids do (and some adults - like you also do on ice!)

Cue conversation...

"livvie, dont do that, you'll fall over"

"no i wont im fine"

"you will fall over, stop it."

....SPLAT

"livvie, i told you, you would fall over"

a whole pack of baby wipes later she was clean again.

Oh how we laughed and how she cried. I think she was more ashamed that it was in front of millions of peeps.

Its the stuff Glasto is made of! mud. obviously.

[ellekyte]

back to transport stories, last year, before we had even left the coach station, another coach crashed into ours... we were all loaded up and ready to go, and the other one slammed into us. needless to say, we all had to get off, unload luggage etc... and then sit outside - in the rain - until another coach could be found. except they couldn't find one. and then when they did, it had to come from another city.

but we got off in the end, and were only 4 hours or so late, which isn't that bad! just gutted we got up early for the early coach!

Coming home, despite being there ages before coach was due, coach was late by about 2 hours, and thenwe sat in traffic for ages. took about 4 hours to reach bristol. the driver stayed for as long as he could, but due to sitting in the traffic, he used up all his working hours, and had to abandon the bus! so we were left sitting in a service station, waiting for another driver to turn up to take us the rest of the way! he turned up after a while, and after 10 hours on the coach we made it home. at 10 at night! it was my birthday too..... when we got home , i washed my hair 5 times before heading for the bath!

can't wait for this year!

[mudmonkey]

First time we went, 1997. I live about 40 mins from Glasto on a normal day. Our coach left our town at 6pm on the Thursday. Every access to the site bar one was closed due to the torrential rain and mud. Queued all the way from Glasto town. Got to 9pm and the driver had enough, stopped in a layby and made us walk the last mile.

Carried all our stuff up the hill, got to the entrance at the top of Wicket Ground by 10pm, in the dark (when it was there, before Hitchin Hill created). Ended up camping about 50 metres from the gate, setting up tents in the dark and pouring rain. Fortunately that was back in the days when there were only about 80,000 people there so plenty of camping room, I'd hate to think where you get stuck if you arrive late Thursday night nowadays.

[thegremlin_1999]

5 in a corsa...C'mon! (See what I did there!??) that was optimistic. I took at Peugeot 206 to 2005 and could only fit 3 with all our stuff!

[Funkfarley]

we fitted 5 in a peugot 106 on the way home in 2000...

thats a damn site smaller than both!!

kinda fell out the car when we got back up to leics...

[hazey_jane]

Mark E Spliff's story has reminded me of our nightmare journey home back in 2007.

I went with my boyfriend Tim and one of my 'mates' Fi. Additionally my best mate Di was workign there and Mini & Di had met each other when we went in a 3some in 2004. It was Tim's first Glastonbury. We all made our own separate plans for getting there and back. Mini was booked on the last Nat Express coach out on Sunday night, Tim and I on the Monday morning and Di had driven down so was totally flexible and could do what she fancied. On the Sunday, Di offers us a ride back to London in the middle of the night for me and Tim. Would have been a bit of a squash with the three of us but it was a lovely offer from her and we would have been back in London by 7am or so.

On the Saturday, Fi told me that she was going to keep her phone turned off cos she was running out of battery. Fi and I said goodbye on the Sunday evening and she headed off to Ped Gate A. About an hour later she called me to say she'd missed her coach and what the f**k was she going to do? Mindful of the battery and that we'd obviously have to be able to find each other, I told her to stash her stuff in our tent, which was pretty close to Ped A and I said I'd wait for her at the Leftfield Tent. It really shouldn't have take her more than 45 mins, taking the paths that take you from Ped A, above the Pyramid and down to Kidney Mead. This also meant I had to stay where I was and couldn't wander off. The three of us decided to squash her and her massive rucksack into Di's car and bring her back to London with us, cos you know, she was a friend.

She showed up over 2 hours later and very, very drunk. The four of us got together and decided to stick to the original plan, watch The Who, then Bill Bailey (who Tim was dying to see) on the stage that's now in Bella's Field, which would also give Mini time to sober up. so she could sober up and we could also stick with our original plan. Mini kept wandering off and despit our best efforts to keep an eye on her, she wandered off and we later found her drinking more at the Cider Bus, even more drunk (which I didn't think was possible given the state that she was in) than she was before.

It was absolutely pissing it down and freezing cold at about midnight on the Sunday night in so we staggered over in the mud to the Outdoor Circus field to pass the time in the 50s diner, which was located there that year. Mini kept getting stuck in the mud and the only one who could get her out was Tim. She was incoherent and turning blue, wearing only a short skirt and wellies and basically going hypothermic. We moved up to Bella's Field for Bill Bailey, and Di and I found a wine bar tent on the side with some chairs out of the rain, and some nice guy gave up his seat for Mini. After 10-15 minutes we realised we were going to have to do something with Mini as she was seriously blue and could not stop shivering so we dragged Tim away from Bill Bailey.

We did the only thing we thought was possible, given how far away our tent was, which was to take her up to the Welfare Tent by the farm, which although uphill, is on a path for ambulances so in good condition for someone who is so paralytic they can barely walk. It was also on the way to Di's car in the morning. We eventually got her up there and she fell asleep in the warm and dry with people looking after her who know what they're doing.

The plan then changed, to try and leave at about 6.30 in the morning to. Di heads back to her car for a snooze and Tim and I head get back to our tent at about 2 in the morning, intending to take it down after it's stopped raining. Everything in our rucksacks was packed and we didn't really want to open them up again. So we shivered in the tent till about 5.15 am or so with about 10 mins of sleep between us waiting for a break in the rain. At dawn we packed the tent and then walked back from Ped Gate A over to the farm, this time with three huge heavy rucksacks between Tim and I, with Mini's being the bulkiest and heaviest. It felt like it took us forever.

I even said to Tim under severe stress from being knackered, cold and miserable 'if the first words out of her mouth aren't I'm sorry I'm going to go ballistic'. I went to the tent to wake her up and one of the ladies running it had to ask me to go outside and wait for her. She came out and the first thing she said to us was 'Oh, why did you have to wake me up? I was nice and warm in there'. We showed her her rucksack, told her Di had offered her a ride and left her to follow us.

We were all extremely squashed in the car, it wouldn't have been fun with 3 so you can imagine what 4 would have been like. That was the day that the floods started in SW/W of England and Di was having a very tough time driving and had to pull over for a snooze at one point. On the drive back if Mini tried to ask me something she got monosyllabic answers but if Tim or Di talked to me, I behaved as normal to them so I have no idea why she didn't pick up on something in the car.

Di dropped Tim and I off first about 6 hours later than planned and Mini was all 'okay bye, see you later' which is when I completely lost it and told her that she needed to say thank you to Tim for looking after her which she did, and also apologised for the night before. He said 'oh, it's okay' but of course he wasn't, he was extremely pissed off that all of our plans had to change completely because of her thoughtlessness and selfishness and that he'd had to miss the one thing he's said since the line up was announced. Di dropped Mini off at her house and I later heard that on their drive back, Mini hadn't said anything to Di about what happened nor shown any particular gratitude for all that Di had done for Mini.

Mini knew that Tim and Iwere in the UK until the following day but at no point did she try to get in contact with us. She had my email address but the only contact I had from her was a couple of months later when she popped up on my MSN Messenger list one day and said something along the lines of 'Hi, I hope everything's okay, I'm really sorry for what happened.' Too little, too f**king late as far as I'm concerned and she got blocked. She's since made a couple of other half-hearted attempts to get in touch, including around ticket day last year. I've since heard from some mutual acquaintenances that she's so self-absorbed that she actually has no concept of her behaviour being so wrong and she probably got in touch with us last year to see where her invite was to come with us again.

Funnily enough, there was no invite...

[lme]

And on the subject of mud...my 11 year old sister in 2007 had wandered up to the long drops in the pissin rain with my stepdad.

She is sliding round, playing about in the mud, like kids do (and some adults - like you also do on ice!)

Cue conversation...

"livvie, dont do that, you'll fall over"

"no i wont im fine"

"you will fall over, stop it."

....SPLAT

"livvie, i told you, you would fall over"

a whole pack of baby wipes later she was clean again.

Oh how we laughed and how she cried. I think she was more ashamed that it was in front of millions of peeps.

Its the stuff Glasto is made of! mud. obviously.

[thegremlin_1999]

OMG! Thats just short of a miracle! lol.

Although you do say HOME, how did you get there? just wondering cos crates of beer take up soooo much room in the boot of a 106!

[Funkfarley]

i got a lift down so there was only 4 in it on the way there...

i just took the space of the beer on the way back

[Katster]

2005 I think.....three of us in the car, me and my pal enjoying a little drinky as we weren't driving (we weren't getting drunk but just enjoying a nice cold can while we could!) all three of us laughing and joking about the fun we were going to have, the sun was shining, we were all in high spirits but getting slightly annoyed at the fact that the traffic was slowing and a queue was building. Grrrrrr.

20 minutes later we see there has been an accident, and as we drive past we see a body covered over on the floor besides the road

Nobody spoke for about half an hour after that

Be careful on the road to and from Glasto guys x

[Ed209]

Mark E Spliff's story has reminded me of our nightmare journey home back in 2007.

I went with my boyfriend Tim and one of my 'mates' Fi. Additionally my best mate Di was workign there and Mini & Di had met each other when we went in a 3some in 2004. It was Tim's first Glastonbury. We all made our own separate plans for getting there and back. Mini was booked on the last Nat Express coach out on Sunday night, Tim and I on the Monday morning and Di had driven down so was totally flexible and could do what she fancied. On the Sunday, Di offers us a ride back to London in the middle of the night for me and Tim. Would have been a bit of a squash with the three of us but it was a lovely offer from her and we would have been back in London by 7am or so.

On the Saturday, Fi told me that she was going to keep her phone turned off cos she was running out of battery. Fi and I said goodbye on the Sunday evening and she headed off to Ped Gate A. About an hour later she called me to say she'd missed her coach and what the f**k was she going to do? Mindful of the battery and that we'd obviously have to be able to find each other, I told her to stash her stuff in our tent, which was pretty close to Ped A and I said I'd wait for her at the Leftfield Tent. It really shouldn't have take her more than 45 mins, taking the paths that take you from Ped A, above the Pyramid and down to Kidney Mead. This also meant I had to stay where I was and couldn't wander off. The three of us decided to squash her and her massive rucksack into Di's car and bring her back to London with us, cos you know, she was a friend.

She showed up over 2 hours later and very, very drunk. The four of us got together and decided to stick to the original plan, watch The Who, then Bill Bailey (who Tim was dying to see) on the stage that's now in Bella's Field, which would also give Mini time to sober up. so she could sober up and we could also stick with our original plan. Mini kept wandering off and despit our best efforts to keep an eye on her, she wandered off and we later found her drinking more at the Cider Bus, even more drunk (which I didn't think was possible given the state that she was in) than she was before.

It was absolutely pissing it down and freezing cold at about midnight on the Sunday night in so we staggered over in the mud to the Outdoor Circus field to pass the time in the 50s diner, which was located there that year. Mini kept getting stuck in the mud and the only one who could get her out was Tim. She was incoherent and turning blue, wearing only a short skirt and wellies and basically going hypothermic. We moved up to Bella's Field for Bill Bailey, and Di and I found a wine bar tent on the side with some chairs out of the rain, and some nice guy gave up his seat for Mini. After 10-15 minutes we realised we were going to have to do something with Mini as she was seriously blue and could not stop shivering so we dragged Tim away from Bill Bailey.

We did the only thing we thought was possible, given how far away our tent was, which was to take her up to the Welfare Tent by the farm, which although uphill, is on a path for ambulances so in good condition for someone who is so paralytic they can barely walk. It was also on the way to Di's car in the morning. We eventually got her up there and she fell asleep in the warm and dry with people looking after her who know what they're doing.

The plan then changed, to try and leave at about 6.30 in the morning to. Di heads back to her car for a snooze and Tim and I head get back to our tent at about 2 in the morning, intending to take it down after it's stopped raining. Everything in our rucksacks was packed and we didn't really want to open them up again. So we shivered in the tent till about 5.15 am or so with about 10 mins of sleep between us waiting for a break in the rain. At dawn we packed the tent and then walked back from Ped Gate A over to the farm, this time with three huge heavy rucksacks between Tim and I, with Mini's being the bulkiest and heaviest. It felt like it took us forever.

I even said to Tim under severe stress from being knackered, cold and miserable 'if the first words out of her mouth aren't I'm sorry I'm going to go ballistic'. I went to the tent to wake her up and one of the ladies running it had to ask me to go outside and wait for her. She came out and the first thing she said to us was 'Oh, why did you have to wake me up? I was nice and warm in there'. We showed her her rucksack, told her Di had offered her a ride and left her to follow us.

We were all extremely squashed in the car, it wouldn't have been fun with 3 so you can imagine what 4 would have been like. That was the day that the floods started in SW/W of England and Di was having a very tough time driving and had to pull over for a snooze at one point. On the drive back if Mini tried to ask me something she got monosyllabic answers but if Tim or Di talked to me, I behaved as normal to them so I have no idea why she didn't pick up on something in the car.

Di dropped Tim and I off first about 6 hours later than planned and Mini was all 'okay bye, see you later' which is when I completely lost it and told her that she needed to say thank you to Tim for looking after her which she did, and also apologised for the night before. He said 'oh, it's okay' but of course he wasn't, he was extremely pissed off that all of our plans had to change completely because of her thoughtlessness and selfishness and that he'd had to miss the one thing he's said since the line up was announced. Di dropped Mini off at her house and I later heard that on their drive back, Mini hadn't said anything to Di about what happened nor shown any particular gratitude for all that Di had done for Mini.

Mini knew that Tim and Iwere in the UK until the following day but at no point did she try to get in contact with us. She had my email address but the only contact I had from her was a couple of months later when she popped up on my MSN Messenger list one day and said something along the lines of 'Hi, I hope everything's okay, I'm really sorry for what happened.' Too little, too f**king late as far as I'm concerned and she got blocked. She's since made a couple of other half-hearted attempts to get in touch, including around ticket day last year. I've since heard from some mutual acquaintenances that she's so self-absorbed that she actually has no concept of her behaviour being so wrong and she probably got in touch with us last year to see where her invite was to come with us again.

Funnily enough, there was no invite...