On the Road Again

Well, it's less than half an hour before I set off for my expedition to the Forest of Dean. I've been through innumerable websites and compared a huge variety of bus timetables before deciding on my itinerary. Here it is:

Aberdare (dep)                0950

Merthyr (arr)                 1030

Merthyr (dep)                 1100

Abergavenny (arr)           1225

Abergavenny (dep)          1530

Monmouth (arr)               1615

Monmouth (dep)             1715

Coleford (arr)               1735
As you can see from this, I'm actually not travelling for longer than I'm travelling. It would be nice to have a look around Abergavenny and Monmouth for a little while, but not with a tent and a rucksack in tow. There won't be anywhere to leave them, either, so I think I'll probably end up killing time in a pub or a café with the crossword and/or a book.

Now, remind me again, what was all that crap that politicians used to talk about 'integrated public transport'?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Last Bus to Everywhere

Image
About a month ago, Stagecoach in South Wales – part of the UK's largest bus operator – announced that they would be closing their depot at Brynmawr in Gwent. 77 jobs are at risk following this decision, which Stagecoach have attributed to the cut in Welsh Government subsidies. The company are also dropping fourteen services and reducing the frequency of another eight. In a statement on the BBC Wales News website, the company's managing director John Gould said: Make no mistake, ultimate responsibility for the loss of bus services and jobs lies firmly at the door of the Welsh government following years of cuts to bus investment. We deeply regret the impact this will have on our customers and local communities. Instead of protecting and supporting bus travel, ministers' misguided decisions have dealt a body blow to the country's public transport network and wider economy. People across Wales have repeatedly warned the government about the consequences of their actions, bu...
Read more

The Last Bus From the Cynon Valley

Image
This is the first of a series of similar entries examining the various bus routes which criss-cross the South Wales Valleys. I've already written a general preamble called The Last Bus to Everywhere . For the next few posts (barring accident or incident, of course) I want to look more closely at specific areas in turn. I've started with the Cynon Valley for a couple of reasons: mainly because it's where I live, and so I've experienced the problems at first hand on many occasions; but also because its topography makes it rather different from some of the neighbouring valleys. As well as the classic north-south ribbon development centred on the four main towns (Hirwaun, Aberdare, Mountain Ash and Abercynon), there are a couple of smaller branching valleys with distinct communities, and some sizeable villages scattered around the hillsides. It's also possible to drive out of the Cynon Valley in a northerly direction, which isn't true of some of the other valleys in...
Read more

The Last Bus In the Cynon Valley (Part 1)

Image
This is the second part of my examination of the bus routes in and around Hirwaun, Aberdare, Mountain Ash and Abercynon, which I started with The Last Bus From the Cynon Valley . For this entry and a forthcoming one, I want to look at the buses which run purely within the Cynon Valley – although, in spite of the best efforts of the operators, the local authority, and the Welsh Government to put a stop to this unreasonable behaviour, a couple of them still manage to stray into the neighbouring districts. What can you do, eh…? Figure 1 shows most of the area in question, sandwiched between the Merthyr and Rhondda Valleys: [caption id="attachment_12057" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Figure 1: The Cynon Valley and surrounding areas[/caption] The main axis lies roughly north-south between Hirwaun and Abercynon. I've already dealt with the buses which run between Aberdare and Pontypridd/Cardiff, covering the southern part of that stretch. To recap brie...
Read more