Adventure: Greenbelt Festival - 2008

A spontaneous agreement (my friend phoned and said he was booking the tickets online right then & did I want to go) has brought me to the Greenbelt Festival for the August bank holiday weekend. A 4 day Christian music festival on Cheltenham Racecourse. I have absolutely no idea what to expect or what happens other than there will probably be mud, & I'm unlikely to get much sleep.


Courtesy of www.greenbeltfestival.org.uk

Day 1: We, a bunch of friends who had never camped before, and me with some camping experience, squashed into our convoy of cars loaded with camping gear, meet more friends & new people at the designated campsite on the temporarily horse free racecourse, ready to build what will be our homes for the next few days. I can see nothing other than a sea of tents in every colour, shape, size & description imaginable.

Day 2: Bacon sandwiches & mugs of tea around my tent with the only stove albeit a tad old now. Time to explore the Greenbelt village. Solid under foot & dry, so far so good. There are literally thousands of people, 20,000 to be exact. I really hate getting lost & some how I keep getting separated from the rest of our ever growing group & get lost frequently. There is a very relaxed atmosphere here though which is nice, making the warm sunshine more appreciated.  To be totally honest, overall I'm not having the greatest time as yet but it's slowly getting better as the day progresses. Having that 'don't like it, give up' feeling was a definite low point. The food is good though, especially the Tartiflette which I'd never had before but is yummy. It's sort of potato's, bacon & maybe a few other little bits cooked in cream.  The music isn't bad either. We've been up hours now, it's getting late & the whole place is still buzzing with life. A couple of us stumble across a giant Wii game in progress which we didn't partake in but was fun to watch. Never before or since have I seen Mii's 3 foot tall!

It's been a very long day & I'm cream crackered so to bed I shall retire.

Day 3: Breakfast at the YMCA tent, which so far has served great, cheap food.  Today is pastries and hot chocolate all round. The day is again very relaxed, the sun is shining, bit breezy but ok. The seminars are interesting & a good time is had by all at 'The Jesus Arms' pub. Yes it's really called that.  Very merry Christians are so funny to watch & quite a sight to behold. Beer swinging to Jerusalem, You'll never walk alone, Swing low sweet chariot, and a few others I now forget.

The rain has come, now have MUD. Very glad I brought the wellies, unfortunately some did not.  We went to a great party though back at The Jesus Arms. Bearing in mind the pub is a marquee on grass, this also meant a party in the mud. So, there is dancing including on the indoor wooden picnic tables, there is singing to Tom Jones, Robbie Williams, and the finale, Frank Sinatra with 'New York, New York' complete with actions. Any description really doesn't do it justice but needless to say, we laughed until our sides hurt.


Courtesy of www.flickr.com
 

The summer night is drawing in again but we're all wired so we finish the day sitting around on the benches and the path outside what is fast becoming our new favourite haunt, The Tiny Tea Tent, with it's lanterns, bright multi-coloured tipi, and gentle reggae music. This is the life :-)

Day 4: Today is our last day. My friend who coerced me into coming and I seek breakfast at the YMCA tent where there is a mass fry-up in progress. Unfortunately we catch the tail end, have what's left & are both locked in the loo's within the hour with dodgy guts. Won't make that mistake again. Fortunately I always carry spare toilet paper when camping.  Oh well, it's all part of the experience.

The village is bustling. I'm comfortable enough to wander around alone, even though there are 20'000 people. Wellies are now essential. There is a smallish area of non muddy grass near the bandstand where speakers are drawing a crowd from passers by. As I walk past, there is a comic on the stand. I've no idea who he is but he's very good. Last night some of us went to a gig by an Irish country/rock singer named Brian Housten, and on seeing he was still on the line up for today, I couldn't resist the lure of the café tent where he is performing, even if all I can find is a crate to sit on. He was great. I've bought all 3 of his CD's. Whenever I listen to them I will always remember this weekend, my first year at Greenbelt.

I'm really enjoying my time here now. the other Christians are more liberal than I'm used to and are mostly nutters by the look of it, although sometimes I wonder if the interesting attire is because here pretty much anything goes and it's a safe bubble to express yourself outside of modern  society. The whole place is stuck in the time of the hippy. Care-free, flower power, people walking around the site strumming guitars that aren't attached to amplifiers, & dance classes from all era's. A couple of us went to a Jive class, that was fun. Then to a salsa class, not so fun, Having taken salsa lessons from a professional teacher, this one wasn't quite up to the standard I'm used to, but no matter, it's fun to watch the others. The day is coming to an end, as does our back in time weekend. We pack up our tents and head for home.

Will I be back next year? Definitely!