Field A was highest but was poorly drained. I chose this because it was closest to the football club (hot showers and hot water on tap!) and also because it was close to the ceilidh tent.

Only two other caravans made it onto field A before it was declared off limits. The lower part of area A was akin to marshland - as one of the festival directors found out when he tried demonstrating the off-road capability of his prestige 4x4. Some people seem to become folk festival directors because they need an excuse to justify the ownership and use of a macho 4x4.

Exiting from area A become difficult because the gateway was narrow and the ground sloped sideways. This would have been no problem on hard ground (vehicles would go where they were pointed) but was a problem in deep soft mud.

Most caravans and motorhomes were supposed to go on area C which is a low lying field that had been underwater during the previous week - the river runs alongside! However, it was constructed as a football training field and is well drained.

Area B was mainly tents - very wet but largely flat.

I managed to pitch my caravan (left of picture) without assistance - but it was a close thing with wheels slipping all the time on the heavy morning dew.

Go too fast and wheels will dig deep ruts - and then stall.

Go too slow and the vehicle will lose momentum over any small bumps and then stall.

With only a few vehicles on site, the area around the entrance was already becoming impassable except for 4x4 vehicles.

And the mud was becoming so slippery that even 4x4s exhibited wheelspin.

The technique at this stage was to take the entrance at a moderate speed - fast enough to get you over the worst area.

Volunteers then helped by leaping from the sidelines - no-one seemed to bother with 'Elf and Safety. No reflective or hi-viz jackets either!

It worked for a short while but a violent rainstorm early on the Friday evening waterlogged much of the ground just as many people were arriving.

I spent a couple of hours snoozing.

Although the ruts were not deep at this stage the ground was becoming somehow emulsified into a thick semi-liquid paste having remarkable non-grip properties.

For a while, 4x4s were used to tow new arrivals into place.

The bottom area of the field contained a particularly boggy area.

A large 4x4 became stranded for some time....

This vehicle, driven by one of the festival directors, had to be rescued.

A few days later, he confessed that this was the first time on this site that things had been so bad and that "they had learnt a lot about how to do it next time".

Fortunately the track was passable all weekend in wellingtons or stout shoes.

I kept my car and caravan coupled up - thus aiding subsequent escape.

After three days, the car wheels had sunk an inch or so into the ground - whilst the caravan was still supported on its stabilisers.

By Monday morning it was becoming firm again.

Anyone who walked here sunk down about 125mm (5 inches).

The trick seemed to be to keep moving - if you stood still for any length of time, your boots were difficult to release from the mud that had enveloped them.

Tractors had difficulty changing direction and the rims of car wheels disappeared from view.

A small amount of rain had much rejuvenated the mud - just in time to inconvenience the many people who wanted to leave on the Sunday afternoon.

Staying until mid morning on the Monday proved the best course - but many people had to get back to work - poor things!

Novice tractor drivers received extra tips for going slowly around corners.

Water run-off created an area of mud that was so liquid it slowly flowed back into place after being disturbed.

Fortunately the organisers had laid grid roadways to take vehicles down into the main camping areas (B and C).

These grids worked very well - despite becoming submerged in places.

Despite being at the bottom of the site (and covered in up to 300mm of flood water the week before!) it drained well owing to having been constructed as a football training area - with a matrix of underground drainage channels.

Needless to say, the churned up roadways became impassable even to 4x4 vehicles.

The temporary roadways worked very well - but first you had to get to them!

If you tried to take this corner too fast you just went straight on - even in a tractor.

The mud was still too liquid for deep ruts to form.

Applying full opposite lock in an attempt to get a car correctly aligned for the gateway.

This car was being pulled around a right hand curve, despite the steering wheel having been turned fully left.

Steering was ineffective because the wheels were being dragged sideways through the mud rather than being able to turn.

After some good weather overnight, the ground was much less of a problem than on the Sunday.

The mud was now much firmer and the ruts near to the gateway became so deep that vehicles being towed out 'planed' the peaks with their undersides.

Provided that at this point your car wheels were firmly located in the main ruts then no matter which way you turned the steering wheel the direction of travel was largely determined by the towing chain and the deep ruts - the wheels being unable to move out of these.