When we think of festivals, revellers trudging through mud with cans of beer springs to mind. But one festivalgoer, who quit alcohol last October, has been pleasantly surprised at how going to events and festivals sober has meant she has enjoyed them even more.
Speaking amid Reading and Leeds Festival this bank holiday weekend, Cat Merrick, 43, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has shared all the things she hasn't missed when being intoxicated at festivals - from the multiple portaloo trips to saving a fortune on booze. This year, she has been to a handful of gigs sober and as she hit 10-months without drink this August, attended the Soul Circus Festival in Gloucester - where she found she was still the person doing the most dancing among the crowd.
Although Cat admits she didn't have a drinking problem, she began to look into cutting back on her alcohol consumption as she turned perimenopausal. "I found that my hangovers were lasting way too long," Cat, a yoga and breathwork coach with her own business Breathe Dance & Yoga, tells The Mirror.
