how long exactly is the walk from the car park to the site?

[guitarbhoy1888]

i hear so many horror stories of how terrible the walk is from the car park to the actual festival site but struggle to believe what i hear. anyone have a rough idea of just how bad it is? how long are we looking at here?

[matt2007]

It all depends on which car park you are in and where you want to camp, so a difficult questions to answer......

[Slugworth]

We have arrived early(4am) twice and parked practically next to gate D. One time we arrived around 9:30am and it was about a mile and a half walk to and from the cars. Nightmare.

[ivan]

For anyone that has been to V Stafford its a doddle.

Difficult question as you have to factor in amount of people and ground conditions and what you are carrying.

I always just carry my rucksack on the first and last trip and even being in the outer car parks you can walk from the gate to your car in around 30 mins - if the ground is dry , not many people about and you get a move on.

But if you struggle to carry what you have and keep having to stop to re adjust etc it maybe 2 hours

[balti-pie]

I normally expect it to be around two miles, so laden with half the world and pulling wheels it'll be about an hour or so

[guitarbhoy1888]

Nowhere near as bad as I've been quoted already 

had people I know claiming it's 2 hours on a good day with perfect conditions 

[glasto-worker]

1 hour ago, guitarbhoy1888 said:

i hear so many horror stories of how terrible the walk is from the car park to the actual festival site but struggle to believe what i hear. anyone have a rough idea of just how bad it is? how long are we looking at here?

much of it is down to luck - its not like parking in a Supermarket car park - you drive in and it all depends where you are directed by the Stewards - and as others have mentioned ' ground conditions ' play a big factor - you will not know where you end up until the actual day - the last time I drove there the lay out was far different and I was displaying a crew parking pass so I was directed forward but the people behind me was sent to the left and as I had stopped to speak to someone I noticed others been sent down - what was a steep hill ' and they were at the end of the row ' - a few cars later and they had started a new row so they ended up at the top of the hill - so its all down to the luck of the draw - it meant that cars in front of me and behind me ended up next to each other. And that was before they opened up further fields so you will not know until the day.

[pie_and_a_pint]

Have a look at the map to see the sorts of locations that the car parks are in. You have no choice about which car park you are put in (and arriving earlier doesn't necessarily guarantee a closer spot) so the advice is expect to have to walk UP TO two miles to the gate, plus the distance from the gate to your chosen camping spot.

Get a (decent) trolley, pack light, and be prepared to do an extra trip to get the booze if you can't lug it all in one go.

[matt2007]

13 hours ago, pie_and_a_pint said:

Have a look at the map to see the sorts of locations that the car parks are in. You have no choice about which car park you are put in (and arriving earlier doesn't necessarily guarantee a closer spot) so the advice is expect to have to walk UP TO two miles to the gate, plus the distance from the gate to your chosen camping spot.

Get a (decent) trolley, pack light, and be prepared to do an extra trip to get the booze if you can't lug it all in one go.

Well said. And as Glastworker said the state of the ground can be a major factor. Do not bring those suitcases on wheels as you will see many corpses of those..........Trolley yes but a toughy one

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

15 hours ago, guitarbhoy1888 said:

 

had people I know claiming it's 2 hours on a good day with perfect conditions 

I guess it also depends on how fit you are. As my fitness levels are beyond poor, and the time of the day that I expect to arrive (although this may change) then I can easily see it taking me two hours to get from the far car parks to my intended camping pitch. 

[Crazyfool01]

also factor in that if you are parked closer to the gate ... it may take you longer to get out the car parks on the monday .. thats my experience anyway

[pie_and_a_pint]

11 hours ago, matt2007 said:

Well said. And as Glastworker said the state of the ground can be a major factor. Do not bring those suitcases on wheels as you will see many corpses of those..........Trolley yes but a toughy one

Oooh yes, good point! Suitcases on wheels don't cut it. I do see people with wheelie bins but I can't imagine they're practical. Those sack trollies from B&Q are a much better budget option.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

17 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

also factor in that if you are parked closer to the gate ... it may take you longer to get out the car parks on the monday .. thats my experience anyway

This is why I actually like to be parked in the far away car parks. The Glastonbury spirit that's been communally shared for 5 days soon goes out of the window on Monday morning in the car parks closer to the site, as everybody jostles for position to try to get out. Every year that I go to the festival and haven't left very early Monday morning, I see the anger and selfishness return as people get frustrated with being 'trapped'. I just carry on walking with my stuff to the far car park, jump in my car, and drive straight off site and homeward bound.

[glasto-worker]

19 hours ago, pie_and_a_pint said:

Oooh yes, good point! Suitcases on wheels don't cut it. I do see people with wheelie bins but I can't imagine they're practical. Those sack trollies from B&Q are a much better budget option.

like this bright spark { from 2013 } - the right hand wheel had already broken off and that was only a few feet from Gate D - you have to wonder what they teach in schools these days - one thing is for sure - I bet he never took that back to his car - I cant get my head round that one because if I was in that situation - I would have just pitched in that field as it was clear they were not going to get far - I hung about and they did make it to the next field but the way that left wheel was wobbling it was only a matter of time before that broke off as well.When ever I have parked - I have my stuff split down and the first lot is the tent - sure it takes longer but I have seen so many abandoned trolleys { and other devices } that may look good in a shop but not very suitable for rough terrain.

[Caveyh]

Well last year we overloaded are trolley and it took us about hour and a half to get from the car and up the hill. This was mainly however because the wheels on are trolley didnt work, so we had to basically drag it all the way from the car to the camp. It only took us 50 mins to get to the car park from bristol.

[chewy76]

How longs a piece of string ?

[marathonsteve]

You won't know till you arrive no matter what anyone tells. A bad trolly with small wheels is just a waste of money and your time, even if its dry when you get there. A Sack trolly or one that Fishermen/women use for moving their gear is a far better investment. I have never seen them by the roadside wasted.

[phillyfaddle]

I'd been to 7 Glastonburys before migrating to WV, where the car park is in the next field to your tent. In my experience, it all depends on the weather, the car park you're routed to, where you want to camp, how much stuff you're carrying and your arrival time. To get to our favoured spot in Spring Ground (before it became reserved for disabled campers) from West car parks through PGA took around 30 minutes on the Thurs AM in the early days 04 & 05. In 07, we had to enter at PGD in all the awful mud, and it took around an hour. In 08 and 09, the festival got even bigger, as the car parks were further away and the queues longer, it took around 90 minutes. In 2010 we arrived on Wed PM for the first time, were routed to East car parks and queued for 2 hours to get in, then had to schlep across the site in the blazing sun - took 3 hours in total. In 2011 arriving Wed AM, we were in West, but there was a huge queue to PGD (a mud slide), took around 2.5 hours.

To be honest, we tried to take only what we could carry in one trip. Going back and fore to the car is a complete a*se-ache. You'll be gone for 1.5 to 2 hours typically. But again, depends where you're camping....it takes around an hour to walk from one end of the site to the other.

[liz bish]

about 2 miles normally I'm quite fit it usually takes me about an hour but often have to do two trips to carry everything so its then 3 hours

 

[e_p]

worthy view. 10 mins tops.