BRISTOL TO CARDIFF - THE LONG WAY ROUND
(Part Two of Two)
30 October 2022
ABOVE: Stagecoach South Wales 47862 (CN13 CZJ), an Optare Solo ‘Slimline’, arrives at Monmouth Bus Station to take up a journey on the since-renumbered 83 to Abergavenny. All photos in this article taken on Wednesday 10th August 2022.
There seem to be more and more multi-operator bus tickets springing up, and many of them offer excellent value compared to single fares – especially if you’re doing a grand tour like me!
I’m in Monmouth, doing the long way round by bus from Bristol to Cardiff. I have already called in at Chepstow (briefly) and have been enjoying the heatwave sunshine in Monmouth for the last couple of hours (see Part 1).
The South East Wales Network Rider covers a wide area – from the likes of Pyle, Porthcawl, Bridgend and Llantwit Major in the west, to Merthyr Tydfil, Ebbw Vale and Abergavenny in the north, and east to the English border. And all this for… erm…
And that’s the strange thing. The price seems to vary depending on where you look. Cardiff Bus and First Cymru say it’s £8.50, but Stagecoach has it advertised for £9.00. Newport Bus charges only £8.30, according to its website. Surely the price can’t be dependent on which company’s service one boards first?
There seem to be more and more multi-operator bus tickets springing up, and many of them offer excellent value compared to single fares – especially if you’re doing a grand tour like me!
I’m in Monmouth, doing the long way round by bus from Bristol to Cardiff. I have already called in at Chepstow (briefly) and have been enjoying the heatwave sunshine in Monmouth for the last couple of hours (see Part 1).
The South East Wales Network Rider covers a wide area – from the likes of Pyle, Porthcawl, Bridgend and Llantwit Major in the west, to Merthyr Tydfil, Ebbw Vale and Abergavenny in the north, and east to the English border. And all this for… erm…
And that’s the strange thing. The price seems to vary depending on where you look. Cardiff Bus and First Cymru say it’s £8.50, but Stagecoach has it advertised for £9.00. Newport Bus charges only £8.30, according to its website. Surely the price can’t be dependent on which company’s service one boards first?
I get mine in Chepstow, from the Monmouthshire County Council bus, and it costs £8.30. It’s an anonymous-looking ticket, naming no company and just stating the bare essentials – basically what the ticket is, the price paid, where boarded and the ticket number.
Now I’m awaiting the 83 service from Monmouth to Abergavenny. Monmouth Bus Station isn’t any more inspiring than it was when I visited before, but it is a lot busier this afternoon – quite a crowd in fact. The Monmouthshire County Council minibus is parked up awaiting a 1430 departure on route 65 back to Chepstow as the Phil Anslow Travel service 69 turns up, also heading for Chepstow with a (slightly delayed) 1410 departure.
Phil Anslow Travel’s MX12 DYN, an ADL Enviro200, pulls into Monmouth Bus Station on route 69 from Chepstow
The 69 clears a few people, but quite a crowd remains for the 83. The departure is at 1420, and a Stagecoach South Wales Optare Solo nine-metre Slimline pulls in one minute before the scheduled departure time. This vehicle is only 2.33m (7 feet 8 inches) wide, so it looks like some tight roads might be in prospect.
The driver is known to the regulars and there’s lots of banter, which makes for a nice atmosphere. He’s just back from holiday and, by the sound of things, wishes he was still away!
We leave with a decent load of 20 or so. Just prior to crossing back over the River Monnow, we pass the centre of the town’s sporting life; comprising of playing fields, tennis courts, a Bowls club, the local Cricket Club and Monmouth FC’s home ground.
There’s a glimpse beyond of the A40 road; if I follow that for long enough it will bring me to within a couple of miles of my home in West London. Beyond that are the hills; cross those hills and you’ll be back in England.
But we’re turning away from all that for the moment and heading out of town in a south-westerly direction. Then we turn onto a road past some modern housing, now heading south-east; completely the opposite direction to Abergavenny!
There are bilingual next stop displays and announcements on this bus, although the value of some of the stop names being presented in both Welsh and English may be limited – ‘Carbonne Close’, for example, translates into the Welsh as ‘Close Carbonne’!
We have now completed almost an entire circuit of the western and southern sides of Monmouth. As we turn right onto Portal Road, we’re just a quarter of a mile from the Bowls Club and the river, albeit now heading away from town.
We cross the A40, which is in tunnel for a short distance. We will see the main road more than once during this journey. We’re heading into the village of Mitchel Troy, which also lends its name to the road we’re now travelling on.
Trelleck Turn, Mitchel Troy
I find one of those curious bus stops on a road known only as Dingestow – it’s on a T-junction where we are turning right, so can’t be for us – but there can’t be any other buses coming down these country lanes, surely? (Actually yes; route 60 to Newport runs this way as well, but doesn't turn right here.)
The road known as Dingestow is narrow and takes us under the A40, into the village of the same name. Here we do a three-point turn before heading back out the way we have come.
Dingestow Village Hall
A mile-and-a-bit further on and we’re heading under the A40 once again. This is now deep countryside if you look right (north), with pretty cottages and open countryside. The view to the south is less pretty, as the site of the A40’s Monmouth North services is just visible; the trunk road itself just beyond that. It’s one of those occasional reminders that one gets in this part of Wales that this is the industrial south, not the rural north.
Our fifth crossing of the A40 is on the level, rather than over or underneath it, and we actually traverse a very short section of it before pulling off for the village of Raglan.
Raglan has a picturesque High Street that I have no memory of having travelled through before – in fact my reaction on the approaches is “this time I get to go into Raglan”. But a Newport Bus on route 60, which I have used in the past, is heading the other way, so I must surely have forgotten a previous visit?
A view towards the front of the 83 bus in Raglan High Street shows the bi-lingual “Next Stop” signs as well as an approaching Newport Bus on route 60.
For what it’s worth, my recollection is that route 60 (or at least the journey I used in March 2022) bypassed Raglan, so maybe the routing has changed since?
Another crossing of the A40 (number six) takes us to the village of The Bryn, where we undertake another three-point run at a stone bus shelter in a road called Pentwyn.
The Bryn
Pentwyn is actually a circular road just here, and there seems to be room for the bus to circumnavigate, which would surely be safer than a three-point turn.
Back we go the way we have come (back across the A40 for the seventh and last time!), and we’re into the environs of Abergavenny. We have lost a few passengers along the way but still have a decent number to drop off at the bus station.
This route 83 was going to be my choice for my 100 British Bus Routes series. However, since my visit, it has been renumbered 68 (and I already have an alternative route 68 planned). The route has also transferred from Stagecoach to Adventure Travel. It may only be 45 minutes from end-to-end, but it’s a really interesting ride. There are still a couple of daily journeys between Monmouth and Abergavenny numbered 83, but these miss out several of the key intermediate points.
Abergavenny’s bus station is large, and surprisingly well-equipped, with public toilets and a café. It sits next to the River Gavenny on the edge of town. There are five run-through bays as well as bus parking. But, during my brief visit, there are never more than two buses in evidence at any one time. It’s rather exposed to the elements and could do with a few more shelters, but the overall impression is that it is woefully underused.
Stagecoach 47862 again, in Abergavenny Bus Station, at the end of the run from Monmouth on route 83. The Phil Anslow Travel bus in the background Enviro200 is on local service A2 to the Llwynu Estate, north of the Town Centre.
I travel a lot, and don't remember everything, so it's a surprise to me when I realise that I have been here before! I did a circuit from Bridgend to Cardiff via Merthyr Tydfil some years ago, and Abergavenny was on the route. I had forgotten until this moment.
There are several poster boards in the bus station but they’re all blank. There is nowhere to confirm which of the five stops my next bus is going from, and no timetable information.
The next couple of trips are not particularly memorable. I’m taking the X3 to Pontypool; a service that starts in Hereford. This is another Stagecoach South Wales Optare Solo and is pretty busy. Although a number of people get off, a sizeable number have also turned up to replace them.
The driver gets off for a smoke. He invites people to board anyway, saying that it’s “too hot to worry about fares … I’ll charge everyone double next week”!
Stagecoach South Wales 47640 (CN58 BYK), another Optare Solo, is working route X3 towards Hereford, departing a few minutes before my service the other way, to Pontypool is due
There are various items of shopping strewn across the back two rows of seats. Turns out that the driver isn’t the only one to have got off for a smoke. All this shopping seems to belong to two people who are taking up far more than their fair share of space on a small bus that doesn’t have much. They could squish up a bit, but there’s really nowhere else to put their shopping. Most other seats are taken and it’s a tricky ride perched on an outside seat with my suitcase in the gangway. I question whether a bigger bus could be used on this route?
It's a crowded and uncomfortable ride, but only 25 minutes long. I miss my intended stop at Pontypool Town Hall because roadworks mean It has been closed and replaced with a temporary stop. I have a tight connection to my bus 23 to Newport and this could cost me.
I get off at Crane Street Loop and walk round to the Market Square stop. I then discover that all terminating buses in Pontypool use the Crane Street Loop to turn around, before starting / finishing at Market Square, so I could have sat tight.
And, as I approach the Market Square stop, my 23 is there – it’s the bus I just got off! Rather than re-join the same vehicle I decide to spend half an hour wandering around Pontypool. It actually only takes 10 minutes (nothing much doing) and I spend the rest of the time watching the various comings and goings of a series of routes at this very busy stop.
Market Square, Pontypool: Optare Solo 47384 (CN56 EYV) is parked awaiting its next trip, whilst 47636 (CN 58 BYF) is about to work around the Crane Street Loop.
A few moments later, and spinning around 180 degrees from the previous picture, 47636 has arrived at the Market Square and is getting ready for the next trip.
The 23, another Stagecoach Optare Solo, is an unremarkable journey. It leaves Pontypool at 1620 with seven passengers on board. As we enter the evening peak, traffic is building up, and it takes a few minutes to get out of town.
Some bus stops along the route do not show the correct route numbers. One stop at Gloster’s Parade, New Inn, claims to be served by routes 15 & 22. As far as I can tell, there is only the 23 here. At least there is what looks like a current timetable panel underneath.
At Cwmbran Bus Station, the main intermediate town on the route, there is a complete churn of passengers other than me.
Part of the ruins of Newport Castle
It seems to take ages to access Newport’s Market Square Bus Station due to the road layout. We pass both that and the Friar’s Walk Bus Station, on the far side of a dual carriageway, before turning around and heading back.
I am finishing my trip with a ride on route 30 from Newport to Cardiff. This is one of a handful of services that is officially jointly-operated by two operators – in this case, Newport Bus and Cardiff Bus. Mine is a Newport Bus double-decker (my first double-decker of the day!) – an Enviro400 MMC.
Newport Bus 406 (SK70 BUP) arrives at Market Square Bus Station ready for the run to Cardiff
The driver hasn’t seen a ticket quite like mine before. He knows what it is – it’s just the anonymity of the Monmouthshire County Council-issued ticket that confuses him. No big deal – there's no dispute and I’m on board heading to the top deck.
We leave with around 15 passengers, and there's a lovely cool breeze from the air-con, on a day when the outside temperature is nudging 28 degrees.
Looking south down the River Usk in Newport
This is a straight-forward and direct run between the two cities, taking just shy of one hour. On a westbound run I’m facing straight into the blistering heat, but I have no wish to give up my front seat!
The massive Pont Ebbw roundabout on the outskirts of Newport. The structures in the centre background are part of the “Newport Wafer Fab”, a company that manufactures semiconductor components.
A family boards on the outskirts of Newport. The small children like shouting and clapping and are very good at both. Mercifully they do not stay with us for long.
As we enter the outskirts of Cardiff, I see a couple of Cardiff Bus’s electric vehicles. Both Newport Bus and Cardiff Bus have sizeable numbers of electric buses in service, with more to come.
Cardiff Bus 427 (CE71 YXM) is a Yutong E12 electric bus, on route 45 on the Newport Road at Oakfield Street in Roath, about a mile from Cardiff Queen Street
I recognise Queen Street, and the bus drops me outside the station there. There is no longer a bus station in this capital city, so buses are spread around the city streets - a great shame, and something that cannot encourage bus use.
Having left Bristol at 1005 (not counting the earlier bus from Temple Meads to the City Centre), I have touched down in Cardiff City Centre at 1837, having used six buses covering around 100 miles.
Now I just need to find my Premier Inn. I open my mapping app and it asks me to look for a landmark as its accuracy is “low”. I have a look around and the very first landmark I see is - a Premier Inn sign!