Moans about traffic and camping

[Nick Reg]

After last year we refused to have any part of it and made alternate arrangements which were fab. Heard about the shambles when I went to the village for a paper at 7.15 AM on Thursday and knew I'd made the right choice.

[Paul]

We had no problems getting in or out. Arrived 11:00 Thursday, and went straight onto 7c. Were in the very end nearest the railway line. Lovely and quiet, except for the railway line. I assume there is an unmanned level crossing near there. :-)
Left at 10:30 Sunday. Queue out slow and steady. The traffic lights were definitely manned, and they just kept letting us out, as there was very little traffic on the Great Bourton road. The only time we had to really queue was at the Maxwell House roundabout in Banbury.

Paul

[Chris]

The AA I believe were manning the traffuc lights and, yes, there is an unmanned farm crossing close by.

There was a 14yr old stewarding the day car park who obviously didn't know how a car can/cannot manoevre...asking several to make mives into spaces that just couldn't happen without a large(r) turning circle....whuch annoyed some who realised but the steward started shouting when the manoevre didn't happen

Other than that, which is stupidly minor in the overall festival, I thought this year went extremely smoothly & was probably the best Cropredy for me in 15 years! Congrats to Gareth & the whole team along with all the acts!

[PaulT]

Straight onto 7b just before 1030 Thursday (coming in from the Gt Bourton direction); left just after 0800 today (just this once eschewing breakfast at the school), no queues, looked as though the temporary lights and associated signs were about to be set up.

Btw, is that yet another housing development on the corner with the main road at Gt Bourton?

[Will S]

Straight onto 7b just before 1030 Thursday (coming in from the Gt Bourton direction); left just after 0800 today (just this once eschewing breakfast at the school), no queues, looked as though the temporary lights and associated signs were about to be set up.

Btw, is that yet another housing development on the corner with the main road at Gt Bourton?

I wondered that too

[Jim]

Straight onto 7b just before 1030 Thursday (coming in from the Gt Bourton direction); left just after 0800 today (just this once eschewing breakfast at the school), no queues, looked as though the temporary lights and associated signs were about to be set up.

Btw, is that yet another housing development on the corner with the main road at Gt Bourton?

its something very odd if it isnt!

[Tony Smith]

We were on field 8 on Wednesday (thanks for the ticket Ian). We were parked up very easily by an "adult" not the scouts who realised that as a large caravan we needed a big turning circle and needed room for our awning. Well done! The field was great. Short grass. Good loos. Friendly staff. Will try to get a Wednesday ticket again next year.

Tony

[barton cobbler]

We, a group of 4 cars, arrived at 08.30 from Williamscot end, tried to get in field 5 and was told by the people on the gate that it was full, I asked him what time had they opened and was told 5.00AM !!!!!!!. I could see that there was still room in there and this was confirmed when I later walked by to see more tents in there. We then went to Field 4, to be told that was full too and to drive on to Field 7. I then texted my daughter, who was just leaving Northampton, that all fields were full apart from 7. She arrived at Field 4 at 09.30, went in there and then sent me a picture showing the field less than half full ! Before anyone says "they have to keep the traffic from backing up" there were no queues at all from the A361 right down to Field 5, so that can't be the reason
     Anyhow, it was nice to see the McBastards were lucky enough to get their usual spot, it seems incredible that they are able to get that same spot every year, some people, it seems, are just born lucky  

[David Bean]

No problems in or out!  Stewards for the most part did what they were supposed to without fuss.  I was mystified by the bag tag thing, though.

[AdrianW]

A tip for a stress free departure from field 7 - walk to the Brazenose, stay till late afternoon, walk back to field, drive straight out.

[Gouty (Gary)]

Not a moan, but I am genuinely curious as to why the public footpath that links Crow Lane in Great Bourton with the canal via Peewit Farm was blocked by 'festival fencing' at the railway crossing? The footpath (and access to the crossing) is in a field adjacent to - but, because of barbed wire and hedgerows, not accessible from - a far-flung corner of Field 7, so it can't be said that either safety for children or worries about hordes of interlopers without wristbands  would have been an issue.

Yes, it compromised my walk from the Bell to the festival site and back but that was ok as I wasn't in a hurry and it was a good excuse for some exercise, but I was left wondering about the impact on other walkers and OS map users if public rights of way can be summarily blocked in this fashion.

Then I had a pint and forgot about it, until now, when I should be sleeping but can't because I'm still buzzing from the last 3 days...

[Danny_C]

Arrived about 1ish on Thursday; straight onto 7b which is where I wanted to be.  Excellent marshalling and this year they were allocating big enough plots for the family type tents most people have.  Security seemed good, was checked every time I came onto the field by friendly staff.  People round where I was camped were the normal good natured types and had several long chats with them.  Only slight downside was the very noisy generator by one of the lighting rigs but it did not seem to impact on my sleep.

Getting out on Sunday was a different matter.  We normally have a leisurely morning and late breakfast and leave at between 12 and 1 and there is no wait at all at this point.  I have never seen the field clear as slowly as this year, I watched cars sitting still or making 10m in half an hour; several just gave up and parked up to let the traffic clear.  We set off at 1:30ish and it still took over 30 minutes to get clear of the site.  

[Peter H]

A tip for a stress free departure from field 7 - walk to the Brazenose, stay till late afternoon, walk back to field, drive straight out.

Funnily enough, that's more or less what we did. Tasty lunch at the Brasenose and good music courtesy of Ric Sanders (and the other bloke whose name I didn't catch). Then back along the canal to field 7, where the queues were still queuing but definitely much improved. A further half hour sit down in the field with a cool drink and then we drove out with no delay.

Btw Ric must have an iron constitution given that he was on stage until midnight the evening before; I'd have just been flat out all Sunday!

[spooley (Simon)]

We had a leisurely arrival about 3pm Thurs, after rendezvous-ing with friends at the Bell in Great Boughton.
We were in 7d, not too far from the gate to 7a...the first time in my 25 years I've not been to the right of the roadway through the fields 7.

We left at peak time on Sunday, around 12:30. The road out of 7c/d was full of queuing cars and we were directed to a parallel queue in 7c.
Once through the gateway between 7a/b and 7c/d however it was more-or-less straight out.
The whole process from setting off in the car to the road back to Great Boughton took about 40mins.
Not too bad, I thought.

(If on my own, I'd have parked-up somewhere in the field and walked into the village for a leisurely lunch. But my companions were keen to get home and showered.)

[spooley (Simon)]

Oh yes, I nearly forgot: we were held up getting up School Lane on the way in on Thursday.
The Fairport Facebook page explained the delay was due to a caravan 'incident' in School Lane, and I was able to start relaying that back up through the queuing traffic behind me. We were probably held up for 10 or 15 minutes.

[Chris]

Yes, there are 38 houses being built on that plot in Great Bourton by the Southam Road. Plus a large village Hall that most don't see the need for (we've already got a cosy smaller one that is very well used.

That field certainly DID NOT open at 5am. Totally false news. I was outside there on the lane at 6am, and it still hadn't opened. The camping stewards didn't come on duty until 0630.

Vo Fletcher was the singer-songwriter at the Brasenose with Ric.

[iandiddams]

Very frustrating diversion on the A361. Not allowed to turn left towards Willismscot and told to "follow the diversion". This resulted in a long drive around and back onto the A361 so we're now we've waited for 15 minutes and been refused entry and been told to carry on driving back towards the motorway. WTF is going on? We're not early. The person directing won't say why.
Not the best start    

We drove up on Wed night from Wiltshire with a view to kipping over in a layby (usual plan :-)

We totally missed the sign just at the northern end of Burford presumably saying the A361 was closed not much further on so ended up at a totally closed road.  We eventually sorted ourselves out to get to chipping Norton and onwards but it was very weird. We checked coming back on Sunday and there was evidence of what was probably a  single sign.

Hey ho.

didds

[mickf]

We arrived at about 9.30 on Thursday morning. No problems - straight into Field 7. Camping was fine. Friendly stewards and clean loos in the field. Showers lovely and warm. We had brekkie in the school on Sunday morning and went back and packed the gear away. We left about 9.45am and had no hold ups at all. All in all a trouble free experience. Nice...

[iandiddams]

Met friends at Tesco banbury as usual, convoy of 5 vehicles.  very smooth journey through to the site. Onto Field 5 where they said they coudn't accommodate us all together - well done for spotting this as soon as we entered the field too. So we moved into field four where despite there appearing to be acres of space nobody could make a decision it seemed despite there being a perfect triangle at the end of the "main drag" that would do. We eventually convinced the bloke and it was perfect, and relieved the wait for those behind us.

Getting out was fine... just a stream of traffic through and out of Banbury and the roafd to Chipping Norton was "normal" and a clear run through to the Swan at Southrop for a seriously excellent lunch, and onto Lake 32 for a campover a swim in the lake this morning

If we weren't going to The Swan I'd be happy to lunch in the village and watch some of the cricket. maybe something to remember for next year...  but I suspect the wife would like to return to the Swan ...  and I can;t blame her either!  

didds

[barton cobbler]

That field certainly DID NOT open at 5am. Totally false news. I was outside there on the lane at 6am, and it still hadn't opened. The camping stewards didn't come on duty until 0630.

I'm only repeating what the guy on the gate told me. Was there any traffic about at 06.00, if so did they get moved on ? Was there any one from Scotland outside the entrance to Field 2 ?