Download Campsite

[goodoldfashionedmosher]

I'm new to download but not to festivals.

Just wondered what the difference is between download & reading campsite.

is it just as noisy?

are you allowed fires?

is it just as cramped?

if you arrive late on thursday afternoon, would you have to camp miles from the arena?

is it friendly? (i'm asking this as reading campsite can sometimes have a weird atmosphere)

Thanks to all download experts!

[deadrobot]

Well I ain't never been to reading but I have been to download 6 times so...

I usually camp quite near the main enterance and it is very noisy, not too cramped , just cozy. Lots of music and usually on the last night fires... [coz they is banned innit]

However last year we arrived late and got stuck riiiiiiiiiiiiiight up the back and it was so quiet! But it was rather dull, I think we were in the boring festival goers section or something. There was no music, no fires, nada! But it was quite the trek to the arena, but it was next to [yet not too close] to toilets and water so that was good

But everytime I've went it's been super friendly, and no one has ever had any hassle

[Spiral_Low]

Been to every Download and seven Readings. I started prefering Download from 2006 onwards. You can't have fires but the campsite is alot friendlier. Reading has far too much of a 'kids away from home acting like twats' thing, whereas Download's crowd is older and more mature. Sure there's gonan be some idiots, but in general there's less trouble and less hostility.

So..

is it just as noisy? - Yes but not in a riot way (well apart from sunday '06 but that's a different story....)

are you allowed fires? - No

is it just as cramped? - No

if you arrive late on thursday afternoon, would you have to camp miles from the arena? - Yes

is it friendly? (i'm asking this as reading campsite can sometimes have a weird atmosphere) - Yes

[goodoldfashionedmosher]

Thanks for your replies, they were the answers i was hoping for.

[bekimo]

is it friendly? (i'm asking this as reading campsite can sometimes have a weird atmosphere)

[oscar]

Would have to be someone special for me to return to Reading as well.

[WildChildRockChick]

Been to every Download and seven Readings. I started prefering Download from 2006 onwards. You can't have fires but the campsite is alot friendlier. Reading has far too much of a 'kids away from home acting like twats' thing, whereas Download's crowd is older and more mature. Sure there's gonan be some idiots, but in general there's less trouble and less hostility.

So..

is it just as noisy? - Yes but not in a riot way (well apart from sunday '06 but that's a different story....)

are you allowed fires? - No

is it just as cramped? - No

if you arrive late on thursday afternoon, would you have to camp miles from the arena? - Yes

is it friendly? (i'm asking this as reading campsite can sometimes have a weird atmosphere) - Yes

[Spengs Muck]

ive been to normal download and the nutty 06 year and ive also been to reading a few times

download is pretty friendly, there are some twats but you get them everywhere. Even in 06 i didnt get any trouble happen to mem personally so it didnt bother me. It was a pretty scary night though.

Download generally has some pretty cool people up for a laugh and you don't miss the camp fires as much as you think you might.

[dan666]

I much prefer the camping at Download to Reading. Minus the whole fire thing which sucks abit i think its alot better. Yes its pretty cramped but the people are cool. Apart from the Sunday night in 06. Which i happily slept through most of it

[Bad Girl]

I much prefer the camping at Download to Reading. Minus the whole fire thing which sucks abit i think its alot better. Yes its pretty cramped but the people are cool. Apart from the Sunday night in 06. Which i happily slept through most of it

[thegremlin_1999]

although you won't sleep much, what with the intermittent aeroplanes, motors from the fast food vans and music blaring from the fair

Edited March 12, 2009 by thegremlin_1999

[greekbird]

ah yes, the aeroplanes. like the f**k off DHL one that made the ground shake at about 5am every morning... (2007 it did anyway...)

camping is much nicer at DL than either reading or leeds, its just a great atmosphere if you can cope with the night flights!

Edited March 20, 2009 by greekbird

[thegremlin_1999]

at the risk of sounding a total bore...

which is the 'quiet' campsite?

went to Reading last year and we ended up in white as we got there late in the day on friday and though we wanted to be closer to the arena and the walk was a bit of a kill, we actually loved the chilled out atmosphere in the white, got some decent kip which made the whole festival much more fun (i'm a right miserable cow without enough sleep on several days in a row - and we were at another festie the wkend before reading so the sleep was soo welcome!). Also i actually gave the showers a go on sunday and was pleasantly surprised both by the warm-ish water and how good i felt afterwards, so i may be attempting that again Of course the major bonus was that there were no riots of stupid boys trashing everything in their wake... I saw some of it on the way back after Metallica and frankly it was disgraceful

so... which campsite is the equivalent of white in Reading?

[greekbird]

they've changed the layout again this yr so its a bit difficult to say!

tho i'd recommend buying family camping tix, u dont have to be a family to have em, but there's noise restrictions and its a lot quieter. plus even if u have family ones u can camp in the main bits, but non family camping wristband holders cant camp in family

i actually cant remember where we were last yr but it was a lot nicer and quieter than the yr before

Shinny/BG/Spwan? where were we last yr??

[Bad Girl]

they've changed the layout again this yr so its a bit difficult to say!

tho i'd recommend buying family camping tix, u dont have to be a family to have em, but there's noise restrictions and its a lot quieter. plus even if u have family ones u can camp in the main bits, but non family camping wristband holders cant camp in family

i actually cant remember where we were last yr but it was a lot nicer and quieter than the yr before

Shinny/BG/Spwan? where were we last yr??

Edited March 21, 2009 by Bad Girl

[Shinny]

they've changed the layout again this yr so its a bit difficult to say!

tho i'd recommend buying family camping tix, u dont have to be a family to have em, but there's noise restrictions and its a lot quieter. plus even if u have family ones u can camp in the main bits, but non family camping wristband holders cant camp in family

i actually cant remember where we were last yr but it was a lot nicer and quieter than the yr before

Shinny/BG/Spwan? where were we last yr??

[Bad Girl]

nah the normal camping is pretty much in the same order as last year, look:

2008:

2009:

Edited March 21, 2009 by Bad Girl

[Shinny]

Hmmm, we might aim for White again then!!!

[greekbird]

Hmmm, we might aim for White again then!!!

[Shinny]

greek, when are you aiming to get there... if it's your first time you're welcome to camp round us?

[rodhull]

We're gonna be in family camping but won't get there until Friday morning. Is this gonna be a problem? Will it take ages to get in? Will it be difficult to find somewhere to place the tents?

[6t6o6m]

I have no idea where I want to camp.

I want to be in an area with a good amount atmosphere where I can meet people. But I also want it to be quite chilled out. Is there such a place?

[Bad Girl]

We're gonna be in family camping but won't get there until Friday morning. Is this gonna be a problem? Will it take ages to get in? Will it be difficult to find somewhere to place the tents?

Edited March 22, 2009 by Bad Girl

[thegremlin_1999]

to both of you, white would be a good place to camp if you can. i got there late on thursday and camped with shinny and gremlin_1999 in blue.. annoyingly were moved to white later on (we were outside the lines, apparently.. ) but it ended up being a godsend coz there was loads of room and no smell of toilets!!

also, each night we had a proper good laugh with the guys that were camping round us, so we had the benefit of a good atmosphere without the arseholes

[Bad Girl]

plus us being old gits we dint have to put up with all the ikle (read first time away from home types) kids disturbing my beauty sleep