Green man festival - setting the scene

I am back from the Green Man festival. I had a really good time. My tent didn't fall down. I didn't fall into any ditches dead drunk. I didn't fall head first into the mud bath. I got the train to on Thursday to Abergavenny The ticket cost about 120 pounds which was bout 50 pounds more than I thought it was going to be. Somehow it more expensive to go there than to go to London. The journey from Glasgow took 6 hours, but as I was reading my book time went quickly. There was a coach from the railway station to the festival site. There was a little wait for the buses to turn up, but everyone looked excited by the prospect of a weekend of cider and bands. It was less than a 20 minute drive from the station to the festival site. The festival site is in the country. The green man festival is a small festival compared to the big ones such as Glastonbury.I think that there were fewer than 10000 people - but still a good number of people. The camp site seemed big to me. The festival was in Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons. When you look up you see a huge mountain with its top covered in cloud. If the cloud is at the bottom of the mountain that means it is raining or it is about to start raining. There were a lot of trees around. There were 3 or 4 stages, plus other areas for children, a cinema tent, a green field site. I saw that the Institute of Physics were doing some demos there. Umm, good to see that my annual membership fee is put to good use. If all "outreach" was like that I would be more keen to get involved. There was a lot of space to explore. The main stage was in an amphitheatre. Some of the other venues were up the hill hidden away in an enchanted wood. I believe that children under the age of 12 were free to go in. There were a lot of children about. I am not really a family person, but somehow having children playing makes an occasion more adult. There was a huge choice of food available. There was food from Spain, the middle East, China, plus interesting stuff from the UK. So you could get through the weekend without eating a single burger. OK, so I ate one burger when I was there, but it was gourmet and frankly what did you expect me to do? Cook for myself? I will post about the music and camping later. I have to admit I came home a day earlier than I planned. It rained most of Saturday, so the festival site was essentially covered with 2 inches of mud. I had good boots that I am still scrapping the stuff off. It looked as though it was going to rain on Sunday too. I am the kind of person who will fall flat in a big pool of mud. When I was younger I went on a camping trip with the ATC. I managed to fall in a big pile of mud in a farm yard. When my father, never a person who could restrain exerting his wit on an unfortunate person, picked me up to take me home, he noted that sh*t people attract sh*t. (How I laughed). It was possible to move between the stages at the end of Saturday, but the mud \ slowed me down. It was taking me 20 minutes to get from the main stage (near the bar) to the toilets. I would drink a pint of cider, take 20 minutes to go to the toilets. By the time I came back I was ready to go to the toilet again. I would come back to bar at the main stage, drink a pint of cider, after which I was ready to go to the toilet again. You get the picture. There was an incredible age range of people at this event. Some people were with their children and their parents too.