I decided to go to this festival at the last moment. Unusually, it takes place over a Thursday/Friday/Saturday, with the main acts being concentrated on the Saturday. I reached the village without any trouble despite the closure of the A361. In fact, having started a bit late on the Saturday morning, I drove through the village and into no.7 day car park without being held up at all, a complete contrast to the mile-long queues and axle-deep mud I had braced myself to expect.
Next I had a lengthy walk through the outer areas to find the ticket booth and hand over £70 for a Saturday ticket, and an equally lengthy walk back to find the arena entrance. Inside, I soon realised what important thing I’d forgotten to bring – a folding chair! The attendance was of the order of 20,000, and it looked like at least 90% of them were seated on folding chairs, in massed rows. I’d never seen anything like it. Unfortunately, without a chair one had to stand for hours or sit on the ground and suffer a view restricted by the seated, or people walking by every few seconds, or worse still stopping in front of one to jaw to some friend they hadn’t seen since last year.
Toilet and catering facilities were adequate. The beer came in by tanker lorry (no joke). As you can see from the photo, many attendees were as old as the Fairports. I’m no music critic, but the final Fairport & friends set and the support acts were really good.
At the end, it took a while to get out of the arena and reach no.7 car park in the dark, but once in the car I was able to get on my way without much trouble.