A39 vs A37 - Battle of the Routes

[Billy Shears]

Me and other members of our party  are convoying down to Glasto from the North West in the early hours of the Wednesday morning.

We’re currently debating which would be the best route.

 

1. What seems the most logical route is down the M5 and then along the A39 heading for the orange parking.

 

2. Someone has suggested a route which means we will arrive from the East on the A37 to blue parking. This is a considerably longer route, although it’s based on rumours that queuing along the A37 is usually considerably shorter than along the A39 (I’m not convinced).

 

I was hoping some glasto regulars could help shed some light on this and settle what the ‘best’ route would likely be?

 hanks in advance!

Harry. 

[Beerqueen]

The only time I drove, I took the advice on here and left the M5 at Junction 22 for Burnham on Sea. Back roads through Mark, Widmore and Glastonbury.  Doesn't really answer your question but if you do take the M5 you might want to consider that.

[al_coholic]

Really depends what time you are talking. The queuing along the A39 from J23 in 2016 at 5:30am was minimal. 

[jmarmer]

1 hour ago, Beerqueen said:

The only time I drove, I took the advice on here and left the M5 at Junction 22 for Burnham on Sea. Back roads through Mark, Widmore and Glastonbury.  Doesn't really answer your question but if you do take the M5 you might want to consider that.

The first part of this route from J22 is currently closed at Harp Road, Brent Knoll. There is a diversion but tbh by the time you've negotiated it you'd probably be better off going to the next junction and follow A39. Any queuing is usually caused by the ground conditions in the car parks (2016!) so will affect you regardless of which direction you approach from. If you really want Blue car parks I'd come off the M5 at J21 and go Cheddar-Wells-Shepton Mallet. Definitely stay on the M5 though until you're south of Bristol.  

[Sara_out_west]

If you really want East car parks then I’m sure you’d be much better off going along the M4 and exiting on the Bath junction - the way in your photo is taking a lot of A roads and seems v. convoluted!

You want to be travelling down the A37 from the north surely? There farm shop on the A37 for cider supplies! 

I make my decisions based on where camping to minimise walking - though to be fair it’s years since I was a normal punter!

[al_coholic]

Yeah I missed that on the map above. If you want East side then it's best to go M4 towards Bath then down the A46, A36, A361. You could do A37 but you have to go through Bristol and it's slow at all times. A lot depends on the weather and where you want to camp. 

[Lycra]

Not experienced any difference between A37 or A39 these days, both reasonably similar since the car parks were opened up on Tuesday evening. Choose the east or west based on where you want to camp in order to minimise the drag from the car.

[vintagelaureate]

I come from the North West, I did the A39 last time but then took a wrong turn. Genuinely, we drove down a dirt track over a hill for a couple of miles and popped out literally outside the gate for parking with no queues. I don't know how we did it, but I'd love to recreate the route!!

[Billy Shears]

3 minutes ago, vintagelaureate said:

I come from the North West, I did the A39 last time but then took a wrong turn. Genuinely, we drove down a dirt track over a hill for a couple of miles and popped out literally outside the gate for parking with no queues. I don't know how we did it, but I'd love to recreate the route!!

I’ve just got to find that wrong turn then and we’ll be laughing haha!! Should get us in the mood for hunting out the secret bars! #followtheWhiteRabbit

[vintagelaureate]

Just now, Billy Shears said:

I’ve just got to find that wrong turn then and we’ll be laughing haha!! Should get us in the mood for hunting out the secret bars! #followtheWhiteRabbit

I'd love to. It was so random - we had the postcode for the car park off here but missed the turn, then got to the edge of the festival but all the access roads were signed posted as closed. Then Google maps pointed to a gap between two sets of trees so we went for it. It was pretty steep and there was a sharp turn half way up where we met a local, so that was a bit of a negotiation. When we got to the bottom we turned right onto the road and we were waved into the carpark!

[bucko]

If your travelling through the night come off the m5 at bristol and pick up the A37 thats always been the shortest route for us.

But if you leave at peak times on monday anything on the east side of the site heading to bristol can take hours on the A37.

We head southwest to taunton and pick the m5 up. Its about 40miles in the wrong direction for the northwest but seems alot quicker and at least your moving.

[clarkete]

A37 & 39 Bristol to Wells, then the sneaky back roads that they like to stop you going down these days.

[broken monkey]

Quick question, is there still a route to travel through Shepton Mallet + Pilton to get to the West car parks via Orange gate? I used to do this journey 10+ years back but it appears you'll be redirected to the East car parks from Shepton Mallet these days.

[EasyUserName]

1 hour ago, broken monkey said:

Quick question, is there still a route to travel through Shepton Mallet + Pilton to get to the West car parks via Orange gate? I used to do this journey 10+ years back but it appears you'll be redirected to the East car parks from Shepton Mallet these days.

The simplest way is via Wells and the A39.  The route from Bristol along the A37 has very large illuminated road signs directing you to turn left to keep following the A37 just after Farrington Gurney. This then goes via Shepton.  Keeping on straight (ignoring the signs) to the A39, then through Wells to Glsatonbury itself, would be the simplest way to the West side of the site.   You can see the A37 just after Farrington below.

 

[clarkete]

57 minutes ago, EasyUserName said:

The simplest way is via Wells and the A39.  The route from Bristol along the A37 has very large illuminated road signs directing you to turn left to keep following the A37 just after Farrington Gurney. This then goes via Shepton.  Keeping on straight (ignoring the signs) to the A39, then through Wells to Glsatonbury itself, would be the simplest way to the West side of the site.   You can see the A37 just after Farrington below.

 

It is a pretty good way, but ssshhh don't tell everyone  

Edited June 17, 2019 by clarkete

[broken monkey]

6 hours ago, EasyUserName said:

The simplest way is via Wells and the A39.  The route from Bristol along the A37 has very large illuminated road signs directing you to turn left to keep following the A37 just after Farrington Gurney. This then goes via Shepton.  Keeping on straight (ignoring the signs) to the A39, then through Wells to Glsatonbury itself, would be the simplest way to the West side of the site.   You can see the A37 just after Farrington below.

 

Thank you for the reply.

We have travelled via Wells the past few years but taken back roads through North Wootton. This leads us to the pink car park. Are we more likely to end up in the Orange car parks if we travel via the above route? We're aiming to arrive around 11am Wednesday.

Asking as one of our group has just dislocated his knee and any less walking would be appreciated.

[JGP]

If I park in the West car parks will I have much of a queue at 9pm Sunday to get out?