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How to get to Glastonbury Festival 2022 if the rail strikes go ahead-Elizabeth Atkin-Entertainment – Metro
Be prepared for a possible change of plans.
Could your Glastonbury travel plans be derailed? (Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty)
Glastonbury 2022 festival-goers have waited patiently for three years to return to Worthy Farm post-pandemic, but they could find their plans seriously scuppered by national train strikes.
Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) workers for National Rail and 13 rail operators are set to walk out on Tuesday, June 21, Thursday, June 23 and Saturday, June 25 – the same weekend Glasto falls.
If the strike goes ahead, it could start affecting passengers the day before the festival’s Wednesday, June 22 kick-off date – until it ends on Sunday, June 26.
More than 200,000 music fans are expected to hit the Somerset farmland – albeit not all by train – to enjoy performances by headliners including Sir Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish and Kendrick Lamar. So, people from all over England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and beyond will be trying to make their merry way to Glasto’s iconic Pilton location.
So, in case you and your mates were planning to heave your tents, sleeping bags and beer onboard a train service which ends up being affected, we’ve rounded up all of the other travel options you have at your disposal.
How to get to Glastonbury if the train strikes go ahead
By coach or bus
National Express is the official coach partner for Glastonbury 2022 (Picture: Getty)
One of the easiest ways to get directly to Glastonbury is to take a dedicated National Express coach.
As the official festival partner, coaches from 70 stations across the UK will take passengers straight to Worthy Farm’s dedicated coach station, and later bring you home too.
Departure cities include Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Canterbury, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Newport, Northampton, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield, Southampton and Swansea.
Plenty of major towns offer a direct route, too, plus coaches from key airports Bristol and Heathrow.
Tickets may end up being in short supply as the festival approaches, although slots are still available at the time of writing. Book yours on the National Express website.
Acts this year include Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Megan Thee Stallion (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
If you’re travelling from Bristol, the 376 bus service goes from Temple Meads to the town of Glastonbury, and bus 174 goes from Bath Bus Station to Shepton Mallet.
From both destinations, you can then switch to a bus service taking you to the festival.
By car
It is possible to drive to Glastonbury, if a form of public transport eludes you.
You will need a parking pass if you want to arrive by car. They’re available on the Glastonbury website for £50, until Wednesday, June 15, so act fast.
The website has also provided a helpful list of roads to take and Sat Nav postcodes to follow, listed below
Glastonbury’s recommended routes and Sat Nav postcodes
From Swindon: M4 then A350 onto the A361. (Sat Nav BA4 4LY).
From the North East: A1 or M1, M25 to M3 (Junction 12), then A303 and A37. (Sat Nav TA11 7DP)
From the Midlands: Preferably M40 and A34 to A303 and A37. (Sat Nav TA11 7DP)
From the North West: M6, M5 to A39 (Junction 23) then A361. (Sat Nav BA6 9XE)
From Wales: M4, M5 to A39 (as above) (Sat Nav BA6 9XE)
For more local traffic using the A37 North or A361 East (Sat Nav BA4 4LY)
You’ll need a pass for parking (Picture: Getty)
That said, the postcodes will only get you to the vicinity of Glastonbury, where you’ll start seeing physical signs directing you.
Once you’re there, you’ll need to follow Glasto’s parking instructions and check out this map.
By Uber or taxi
If you’re willing to splash the cash you could take an Uber to the festival.
From Bath to Glastonbury (the town), you’d be looking at £126 for just one journey, or £148 from Heathrow Airport and around £250 from Central London, according to Taxi How Much.
It’d be cheaper from Bristol, though, with an hour-long car ride costing between £45 and £60 per journey – ignoring any surge pricing that may happen around festival time.
Taxis to Worthy Farm will cost a pretty penny (Picture: Getty)
And from there, you’d still need to make it from the town of Glastonbury to the festival site of Worthy Farm.
By bike
Cyclists who live not too far away from the Pilton site could, if they fancied it, bike to the festival.
It’s something Glastonbury encourages, in an attempt to cut back its CO2 emissions – and Worthy Farm handily just a few miles away from Route 3 of the National Cycle Network, which connects Bristol and Cornwall via Devon and Somerset.
From Bristol, you’re looking at a three hour, 10 minute cycle, with shorter journey times from towns
If you’re not sure where to start, use the Cycle Streets Route Planner to plot your course.
The festival is more than three hours away from Bristol by bike (Picture: Getty)
By aeroplane
The nearest airport to Glastonbury Festival is Bristol International Airport, with flights operating from airlines such as KLM, easyJet, Ryanair, Go, DAT and British European.
Bristol is the closest airport (Picture: Getty)
From the airport, you can get the Bristol International Flyer shuttle to Bristol Temple Meads before continuing your journey to the Pilton site by bus (see above).
Partygoers flying into London Heathrow Airport, however, will need to get the National Express coach from the airport – as it takes you directly to Worthy Farm.
Keep in mind that late May and June (at the time of writing) have seen a number of flight disruptions, cancellations and delays from airlines such as easyJet, and at airports such as Bristol and Gatwick, among others.
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On foot – if you’re up for it
Can you get to Glasto on foot? Well, you’d probably be too knackered to enjoy the festival if you tried.
From Bath, you’d be looking at a seven hour walk, while it takes more than eight hours from nearby city Bristol or Weston-super-Mare.
It takes around 22 hours from Cardiff, 40 hours from London, 61 hours from Manchester or a back-breaking 126 hours from Edinburgh – none of which sound particularly appealing.
More: Glastonbury Festival
By helicopter
If you’re feeling especially flush, you could even charter a private helicopter to land you at Glasto.
Fly Glastonbury (an unrelated business) can make it happen, but it’ll surely cost you. The prices aren’t listed on their website, so you’ll have to make an enquiry to get them. That tells you everything you need to know.
MORE : When is Glastonbury 2022 and can you buy tickets?
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