Campervan arrival advice

[Tarnishedglitter]

Hi all, just looking for some advice please. This is our first year in a campervan at Glastonbury, and we're coming in our 80s VW van. She's not the best at sitting in traffic for long periods of time so just wondering if we arrive when the field opens on the Tuesday will we be likely to get straight in or will there be lots of queuing? Happy to come a bit later if the traffic flows a bit better then. Thanks all! 

[ivan]

On 6/15/2019 at 9:05 AM, Tarnishedglitter said:

Hi all, just looking for some advice please. This is our first year in a campervan at Glastonbury, and we're coming in our 80s VW van. She's not the best at sitting in traffic for long periods of time so just wondering if we arrive when the field opens on the Tuesday will we be likely to get straight in or will there be lots of queuing? Happy to come a bit later if the traffic flows a bit better then. Thanks all! 

In the past we have hit the site around 3–4 am , there is hardly any traffic on the road and in 2017 I think we were one of only three vans at the ticket check for CV East.

[gigpusher]

We usually arrive at about 2-3pm and get in with minimal hanging around. I'd say if you come as the gates open that will be the worst and then between 1pm to 7pm ish you should be ok. After that you may start getting caught up in traffic of cars coming. 

[EasyUserName]

8 hours ago, ivan said:

In the past we have hit the site around 3–4 am , there is hardly any traffic on the road and in 2017 I think we were one of only three vans at the ticket check for CV East.

I thought in 2017, apart from a handful of vans that were let in by accident, were the fields not closed until around 6pm?

 

 

[daclown28]

2 hours ago, EasyUserName said:

I thought in 2017, apart from a handful of vans that were let in by accident, were the fields not closed until around 6pm?

 

 

It says on the glasto website camper fields open at noon. There are reports of people getting gin as early as 9:30/10. But then counter claims of being turned away at the same time 

[ivan]

59 minutes ago, daclown28 said:

It says on the glasto website camper fields open at noon. There are reports of people getting gin as early as 9:30/10. But then counter claims of being turned away at the same time 

Sorry I meant 3-4am Weds morning 

 

[garyc]

They always say noon but we have rocked up 8am for the last few years and they have waved us straight in.

[TheGoodWillOut]

Are the roads relatively quiet around mid to late afternoon on the tuesday ? we're heading down in a campervan from the north east but have to get to the west side. unsure which way to go

[BeddyDriver]

19 hours ago, EasyUserName said:

I thought in 2017, apart from a handful of vans that were let in by accident, were the fields not closed until around 6pm?

 

 

Ah, that was 2016. I was one of the lucky few, and had plenty of campervan stewards for company in m y motorhome sheltering from the weather that day

it was purely because the weather/ ground conditions were so bad that opening was delayed.

They let maybe 15-20 vans in by mistake thinking we were staff. Wondered why we weren't subject to the usual entrance scrutiny but once in they let us stay, and came and checked tickets once parked up, and shared a beer or 2 , as they had nothing to do but stand around all day.

Generally the site opens a bit earlier than advertised. 2017 from memory was around 8am ?...I was still asleep in a layby and got honked at to get up.....:D

 

 

[ivan]

Glastonbury will have a delicate balancing act between what the licence says and what is practical on the day.

So if their head of Health & Safety thinks they are good to go and traffic is building up outside the site they will make the decision to open the gates earlier.

That's why in 2017 with a heatwave forecast that day they opened the Pedestrian gates an hour earlier on the Weds to get people through to the camp sites and facilities rather having them sat in the baking heat in a bare field.

Funny as that was the year we were supposed to be subjected to serious security checks , but in the end  poorly  dehydrated sun burnt festival goers , stood queing for hours in the baking sun  took preference over what may be in their rucksacks !

 

 

[EasyUserName]

51 minutes ago, ivan said:

 ...That's why in 2017 with a heatwave forecast that day they opened the Pedestrian gates an hour earlier on the Weds to get people through to the camp sites and facilities rather having them sat in the baking heat in a bare field. ...

 

 

Did they open the gates (pedestrian) an hour early in 2017!?  That's impressive, as Gate C was terribly painful when I went in around lunchtime in 2017. 

[ivan]

1 hour ago, EasyUserName said:

Did they open the gates (pedestrian) an hour early in 2017!?  That's impressive, as Gate C was terribly painful when I went in around lunchtime in 2017. 

Yes i was in the East CV fields had got there about 4.00 am and set up , friends coming by car contacted me around 7 saying where they were in the Q down to Gate C ( to have a meet up and extra pair of hands to carry stuff )  , for them to tell me not long later  they were already on the move and the gates were open.

 

[grayzer1]

On 6/15/2019 at 9:05 AM, Tarnishedglitter said:

Hi all, just looking for some advice please. This is our first year in a campervan at Glastonbury, and we're coming in our 80s VW van. She's not the best at sitting in traffic for long periods of time so just wondering if we arrive when the field opens on the Tuesday will we be likely to get straight in or will there be lots of queuing? Happy to come a bit later if the traffic flows a bit better then. Thanks all! 

We've arrived at various times between 3 and 11pm and drove straight in. I drive a T25 and know the pain of a quickly overheating van!

[Tarnishedglitter]

Thank you everyone! Think we will try and arrive a little bit later so we don't risk overheating

[The other Bellboy]

On 6/18/2019 at 4:40 AM, ivan said:

Yes i was in the East CV fields had got there about 4.00 am and set up , friends coming by car contacted me around 7 saying where they were in the Q down to Gate C ( to have a meet up and extra pair of hands to carry stuff )  , for them to tell me not long later  they were already on the move and the gates were open.

 

Its a good job they did open the gates early then as the queue didn't did down until around 2pm as it was.

[Jack The Stripper]

Anyone arrived in a camper van on the Weds morning before? If so, what are spaces like?

[Cooter]

Weds is okish, Tues is perfect, Thurs is shite.

[BlueDaze]

On 2/5/2020 at 7:20 AM, Jack The Stripper said:

Anyone arrived in a camper van on the Weds morning before? If so, what are spaces like?

 

14 hours ago, Cooter said:

Weds is okish, Tues is perfect, Thurs is shite.

@Cooterspeaks the truth...

However, if you look at the map below, anything to the west of Blue Route (E19-25) is quiet and they fill in a fairly logical fashion (front to back)... but the 'regular' (E14-18) has been filled going around the wood (i.e. E18 first-17-16-15 and then 14...) so it is very possibly that you could arrive on Tuesday and get parked in the arse end of E17* or turn up on Thursday and end up in the bottom of E14, next to E25... (which is much close to the gate...)

*this happened to us a couple of years back when we arrived Tuesday afternoon and ended up almost in Car Park 8...

Who knows what this year will be like as they are getting shot of CV West  and i assume will have to fit them in on the East..... Either they are going to grab some of the car parking or it is going to be a tighter squeee this year..

[circus92]

7 hours ago, BlueDaze said:

 

@Cooterspeaks the truth...

However, if you look at the map below, anything to the west of Blue Route (E19-25) is quiet and they fill in a fairly logical fashion (front to back)... but the 'regular' (E14-18) has been filled going around the wood (i.e. E18 first-17-16-15 and then 14...) so it is very possibly that you could arrive on Tuesday and get parked in the arse end of E17* or turn up on Thursday and end up in the bottom of E14, next to E25... (which is much close to the gate...)

*this happened to us a couple of years back when we arrived Tuesday afternoon and ended up almost in Car Park 8...

Who knows what this year will be like as they are getting shot of CV West  and i assume will have to fit them in on the East..... Either they are going to grab some of the car parking or it is going to be a tighter squeee this year..

Brilliant info 👍

This is so what I love about efests - information like this from those in the know is really helpful to the less experienced like myself.

Thanks Buddy 😁

[SecretFish]

On 2/13/2020 at 12:44 PM, BlueDaze said:

 

@Cooterspeaks the truth...

However, if you look at the map below, anything to the west of Blue Route (E19-25) is quiet and they fill in a fairly logical fashion (front to back)... but the 'regular' (E14-18) has been filled going around the wood (i.e. E18 first-17-16-15 and then 14...) so it is very possibly that you could arrive on Tuesday and get parked in the arse end of E17* or turn up on Thursday and end up in the bottom of E14, next to E25... (which is much close to the gate...)

*this happened to us a couple of years back when we arrived Tuesday afternoon and ended up almost in Car Park 8...

Who knows what this year will be like as they are getting shot of CV West  and i assume will have to fit them in on the East..... Either they are going to grab some of the car parking or it is going to be a tighter squeee this year..

I hope it's not a tighter squeeze!  It's already pure luck with how much space you get. Perhaps bribing a steward with a cider is a good plan?  😇

[BlueDaze]

1 hour ago, SecretFish said:

I hope it's not a tighter squeeze!  It's already pure luck with how much space you get. Perhaps bribing a steward with a cider is a good plan?  😇

Interestingly at Bearded Theory last year they actually mowed parking guidelines in the campervan fields....it worked very well. Of course, this isn’t scalable or practical for Glastonbury...

but still the question of how to fit the CV West folk into CV East this year remains.... I am assuming that they sold the same number of spaces for 2020 as 2019...?? Otherwise we would have heard about CV East ticket angst in the regular accommodation sales.?

[noplacelikehome]

On ‎2‎/‎19‎/‎2020 at 4:42 PM, BlueDaze said:

Interestingly at Bearded Theory last year they actually mowed parking guidelines in the campervan fields....it worked very well. Of course, this isn’t scalable or practical for Glastonbury...

but still the question of how to fit the CV West folk into CV East this year remains.... I am assuming that they sold the same number of spaces for 2020 as 2019...?? Otherwise we would have heard about CV East ticket angst in the regular accommodation sales.?

They do that at Camp Bestival as well and it works really well, but the fields there are a bit less "rugged" before the fest in the first place (often been knee deep in nettles when parking up at Glasto!).  I also wonder about the extra vans this year as it is very much pot luck how much space you get depending on the stewards directing you to your space. We always used to go on Thursday (arrive about 11am) and for around 6 years always ended up about half way down E14 with lots of space left in the field.  2017 we went Wednesday (arrived around 1pm) and ended up much closer to the lane on E14 i.e. the fields were fuller and the field was almost full by that time as they seemed to be giving everyone loads and loads of space - not sure where they put the extra vans that would have turned up later Wwd/Thur! Then last year Wednesday again around 1pm  we were in E18 and had to argue with the steward to get a bit more space for our awning and friends tent and they wanted up parked about 1ft away from the next van and there was loads of space in E14 on Thursday.  "There is no pattern" to misquote the hashtag

[RyanForThewin]

On 2/19/2020 at 5:42 PM, BlueDaze said:

but still the question of how to fit the CV West folk into CV East this year remains.... I am assuming that they sold the same number of spaces for 2020 as 2019...?? Otherwise we would have heard about CV East ticket angst in the regular accommodation sales.?

I think they will utilize B&W more for those spaces that were in the west CV field. It's set up for this kind of thing and there was loads of space last year. in fact there were unused fields they could have used.

[Wellyboot]

My parents go in a van and they have a West CV pass.

On the Sticklinch info page right at the bottom is says:

"Additional campervan pitches will be available on the East of the site, and at the Bath & West Showground to accommodate the displaced campervans and caravans."

So if they have a West CV pass, will they get into West or be redirected to East or B&W if the West field is full?

Or did less of West go on sale originally and if they have a West pass they will be fine?

 

[Crazyfool01]

19 minutes ago, Wellyboot said:

My parents go in a van and they have a West CV pass.

On the Sticklinch info page right at the bottom is says:

"Additional campervan pitches will be available on the East of the site, and at the Bath & West Showground to accommodate the displaced campervans and caravans."

So if they have a West CV pass, will they get into West or be redirected to East or B&W if the West field is full?

Or did less of West go on sale originally and if they have a West pass they will be fine?

 

west doesnt exist anymore ... sticklinch has replaced it .... so it will be East or Bath and West