Glastonbury trip

[rachel]

Tales from Glastonbury:

Well it was wet and muddy, we had a great time but I couldn't have done it without Mavis! She was the highlight of our weekend, without her I think I would have come home early, I'm not as hardcore as I used to be! A few people commented also, most of the campers were VW's and big chunky motorhomes, we didn't see another roma so we felt really cool. The comments were "very neat", lots of questions about usability, diesel consumption (man questions). All us girls care about is a sink, toilet, mirror (well me anyway), when I met up with a few girl friends on the saturday, they all had greasy hair and commented on my nice clean glossy hair, courtesy of Mavis. Saw some great bands as you do: Super Furries, the winehouse, bright eyes and gorgol bodello? to name a few, popped in the comedy tent for a few belly laughs, tried to learn trapeze - haa!! not good after a belly full of somerset cider, watched in envy the gorgeous burlesque girls at lost vagueness, tried to tap into my physcy (spelt wrong i'm sure) in the healing fields and had a great dance and chill at the alternative stone circle (courtesy of Banksy - he's 'de rigeur' at the mo don't you know!), but we both agree that the times sat in Mavis drinking cups of rose lee and watching people go by were the best. I cannot wait for my next trip - come on the sun!! anyway i'm boring you all now so thanks for taking the time to read about my weekend. Mavis rocks !!! xx we survived glasto 2007

[Graham]

Well done Rachel and Mavis for surviving Glastonbury, it sounds like you had a great time, we saw the pictures on the telly and it did look muddy and wet.

If you can enjoy Mavis in that weather I'm sure you'll enjoy it even more when the sun comes out (if it ever does). ;D

Graham

[rachel]

Hi all, I forgot to mention the palavar with the water when we first arrived. I filled up the tank in preparation but the water wasn't coming out of the tap, the pump seemed to be making a noise but no water, so in dismay i emptied out all the water into a bucket by hand with a small bottle from the hole in the top. Then DING DONG I remembered reading somewhere on this site the same problem someone had and it was only an air bubble and they only had to suck on the tap, so got my other half to try it and yippeee, water a-plenty, so i would like to thank this site and the people for all the help and tips because i would never have thought of an air bubble, i would have taken it to a garage, ended up spending money when there was no need. this site is brill and i'm glad i've read every thread to get tips. thanks

[Graham]

Thats what this Forum is all about, sharing tips, ideas etc., and making friends in the process.

Glad you sorted out your water problem.

Graham

[jamieww]

Wish I'd gone to glasto too... but I'm allergic to all that mud nowadays (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)
Am glad u had a fab time by the sound of it... Think I'll b trying sum festivals soon in my roma (still not got a name!)
It's always good to b different, I always luv it when u get these big motorhomes beside u struggling to manouver and I just drive in beside them with no probs... They may have more room inside, but I believe that the best things come in small packages!!!

Take care

[djsooz]

Hi Rachel,

Glad you got the water thing sorted out. It was me that posted the thing about sucking on the tap if there's an airlock. So it worked for me and for you. Looks like the dealer who sold me my romahome knew what he was talking about. I had to phone him on my first trip in the van and felt a bit silly . Glad to know I'm not the only one who had this problem.

Graham's right. This forum is a brilliant source of help. I've found owning my first romahome so much easier arter reading all the advice here.

Maybe I'll make it to Glastonbury one year. Sounds great.

Sooz.

[lovetravel]

Hey, sounds like you had a great time! Off the Isle of Wight Bestival www.bestival.net in a Dimension in September, Fri night with two little uns aged 5, then taking them home to daddies on Saturday while the mummie's dress up (biggest fancy dress party in the world on Saturday!) on Saturday & Sunday and rock on to the Beasty Boys & Chemical Brothers! Hooray for Romahome's!!!!!!! Very, very excited xxx

[lizziehill]

Hi Rachel,

Glasto sounds ace! Glad you had a great time in Mavis - bet it was a lifesaver having somewhere warm & dry!

I've now been to two festivals in Priscilla, my C15 hitop. I'll never go back to camping again!!

Rock Ness was great, the weather was fab and the location, just at the end of Loch Ness, beautiful. The campervan field accomodated about 100 vans (of course, ours was the tiniest and coolest by far!) and was in a nice quiet spot between the main campsite and the car park. Only complaint was that there were only 2 toilet cubicles for the whole campervan field!! Obviously they expect all motorhomes to have their own toilet, but, unfortunately we'd opted to use the space normally occupied by our Porta-Potti for more beer...

Having a comfy bed to retire to after a hard day's partying was a real bonus, and made the festival much more enjoyable, as did a nice hot cup of tea in the morning! The best bit was at the end of the festival when we had to be off-site - while all our friends were wrestling hangovers and dismantling tents, we were still asleep, safe in the knowledge all we had to do was get up and drive away!

Unfortunately, Glade Festival, near Aldermaston, didn't quite turn out as planned. We arrived on the Thursday afternoon to black clouds, and by evening the heavens had opened, and we were immersed in a 16-hour torrential rain & thunderstorm which proceeded to flood the entire site...

Amazingly, however, the living area of our old van (1989) proved to be completely watertight, which was an absolute godsend when the campsite had rivers through it and people's tents were being washed or blown away. We were very cosy tucked up inside under our duvet! This time we'd brought the Porta-Potti & a toilet tent, which meant we didn't have to brave the elements too much.

By the morning of day 1, a small stream under the entrance to the campervan field had burst its banks and had become a waist-high torrent, and the whole field was slowly becoming a mudbath a la Glasto.

We did, however, still manage to have a fantastic weekend despite the horrendous flooding (the local villages were evacuated, and there was no public transport into or out of the area). While cars were being towed out of the knee-deep car park, we were very lucky to make it out of the campervan field with only a small push.

I'd definitely recommend taking a Romahome to a festival. That little bit of 'home comfort' helps recharge your batteries and lets you make the absolute most of the festival. It also makes a great base for you to meet up with friends who may have travelled and camped separately. And the added security of a lockable space for your valuables is great too.

One more festie to go this summer, at the end of the month - here's hoping it's a dry one... :-)

Lizzie

PS: We had the same water problem before we went to Rock Ness - filled the tank for the first time, tried the tap but no water, even though the pump (newly replaced) was working. However, the drive up must have worked the airlock out as it was fine by the time we got there. Good tip about sucking the tap though!

[lizziehill]

(Sorry - just realised how long that message was! Oops!)

[rachel]

Hi lonetraveller, bestival looks fab, watched it on the tv last year and thought it looked ace, a bit of glasto magic without the size which is great when you got wellies on all day (fingers crossed the sun will shine for you). I might try bestival next year instead of glasto, i finding it to big these days, either i'm getting older and legs are giving up or to much wine and cider is rendering me legless. Have a great time, i'm so jealous xx (give us an update on your return, ps if gorgol bordelo is there give him a look, he brightened up an otherwise wet day in glasto)

Hi Lizzie, I'm loving all this festival talk, keep it coming ! Priscilla is a lovely name. are you an elvis fan or queen of the desert !
Any band reviews ?

We have just back from the greenman festival in beautiful wales (not that i'm a biased bonny welsh lassie) It is such a beautiful place to hold a festival "glanusk park". A really chilled out alternative independent folkey dokey weekend. We had a great time but it bloody rained again, I got trench foot from wellies this summer. I am thinking of going to the end of the road festival in september but am going to wait until the last minute to check out the weather, i'm fed up of accessorizing with wellies. I look forward to reading about your lost weekends. xx

[Pauline]

lizziehill said:

(Sorry - just realised how long that message was! Oops!)

No, never apologise for long messages! we love to hear about your travels!

[lizziehill]

Hi,

Glad my festival review wasn't too long-winded!

Rachel - just mentioned this on the "What's Yours called?" page, but Priscilla came from a combination of the film and my reg number (PSL).

Djsooz - I see you're from Dundee, thought I'd say hi as I'm a Dundonian Romahomer living in Edinburgh! Are you a DJ as the name suggests?

Lonetraveller - Bestival does look fab. They took over part ofthe Rock Ness site, under the guise "Ness-tival", and it was very cool!

Just back from another festival, Connect at Loch Fyne. Will write a proper review when I get a moment...

[pinky]

Hi- Hope to see you at Glastonbury this year! Can't wait to take Rosie (Citroen C15 Hy/Lo).

We have been before but tented - thought we'd go up market this time. What day did you arrive and what were the pitches like - they seem to be quite big. Pinky

[marc4242]

My partner's slipped a disc so we may not make it, but if we do go down it will be on the Wednesday. We have a rascal romahome which we bought spcially for glastonbury.

Marc

[jayjay]

Jun 14, 2008 22:49:52 GMT marc4242 said:

My partner's slipped a disc so we may not make it, but if we do go down it will be on the Wednesday. We have a rascal romahome which we bought spcially for glastonbury.

Marc

Oh no!

I'm an expert on slipped disks, I have several 'stuck' ones - ruptured and herniated.

Tell your partner to lie flat on the floor for half an hour in every 1.5 hours, pillow under head, feet up at right angles on a stool or a chair. Then roll to side and on hands and knees to get up slowly. Wear trainers with air cushioned soles all day, even indoors. Buy or borrow an infra-red lamp and use regularly, and a microwavable wheatie bag helps as well. Hanging off a door by fingertips for a few minutes at a time seems to help as well. Also, 'walking' across a swimming pool in chest high water, and 'cycling' at the side of the pool.

Ibuprofen double strength gel seems to work - also Vicks vapour rub is very effective at the site of the pain.

I hope your partner gets better in time for you to go.

[marc4242]

Thanks for all those suggestions, I'll pass them on. We'll be v disappointed if we miss G, but we've still another 3 festivals booked to try Snowdrop out on ...

I spent a few hours changing a thermostat recently btw (anyone who knows the task will wonder why it'd take so long, but I'm a novice with mechanical things) - very satisfying fixing these things oneself isn't it.

[rachel]

hi Pinky, the campervan fields are outside the festival itself, you have to keep your ticket safe as you need to show it everytime. Depending of what field you get its quite a walk away, last year we went on the wednesday thinking we would get the closest field (not) we were a good 15 minute walk to the entrance, and were very bugged on the friday when we were watching vans arrive and getting the fields dead close to the entrance so this year we are going on friday am, not just because of this tho. can't get the time off work. Stewards direct you to a space and you just park up and off you go. we were quite close to our neighbours but not a problem coz our awning goes on the back not the side. I don't think there is much logistical planning, they just fill up fields till their full and then start on a new field. It is so much better in a van, no more soggy clammy tents especially if it rains, its such a pleasure to go back to a warm dry place after a hard days merryment. have a fantastic time, and return with tales. rachel x