On Saturday 2nd September we should have been at Longleat to watch the UK round of the Red Bull Air Race. Despite leaving Swansea at some unearthly hour (well before 8am) we didn’t even manage to make it to the car park near Longleat. To get to the event you have to leave the M4 and head through Bath – that’s slow enough as it is, but add in a few thousand people wanting to watch a bunch of blokes flying around the grounds of a country home and congestion is going to happen!

Add into the mix a few accidents and before long we were being over taken by snails and slugs enjoying the rain and the sight of car after car after car lining up along the roads. By 1pm we’d managed to reach the A361, the road that leads to the blue car park for the event, but with no sign of movement, a concern that we’d miss the event that started at 2pm anyway, and not wishing to sit in the car for hours on the way back, we headed for home. The road out was clear, and we passed cars that were heading for Longleat queued back to the M4 – at least a 3 hour wait before reaching Longleat!

At 3.30pm Radio 1 announced the event had been delayed due to traffic – in fact it was delayed to the poor weather, and finally cancelled. Turning back when we did proved to be the best move of the day as according to the reports from other visitors (BBC Wiltshire) it was chaos inside the event, and also leaving.

So, if you’ve ever tempted to go to a Red Bull event, don’t! They might give you wings, but they can’t organise anything. Longleat is not a suitable venue for anything other than an animal park and the chance to frolic with Lord Bath – the roads cannot cope with traffic taking 100,000 people in the same direction.

The only “saving grace” is that by cancelling the event, everyone gets their ticket money back.

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