Worcester to Cardiff: The Long Way Round
(All the Way Around Wales)
Part Five
11 November 2024
ABOVE: First Cymru 44612 (YX14 RVC), an ADL Enviro200, pauses briefly in South Parade in Tenby Town Centre, before heading off on a short-working of route 381 back to Kilgetty. A section of the Town Walls is visible on the right. Photos below were taken on Thursday 19 September 2024, until stated otherwise.
I’ve navigated my way by bus from Worcester to Hereford, then loosely around the East, North and West sides of Wales (follow links above to read the story so far).
Now I have reached the South West, and am about to head across the south and, hopefully, back to my starting point at Brecon, Mid Wales, before heading to the finish line in Cardiff.
That’s assuming I can find the bus to Tenby. My 381 service is due to depart from Bay 4, at Haverfordwest Bus Station, in 10 minutes.
But Haverfordwest Bus Station is closed. That’s very clear from the pile of rubble that stands where the Bus Station should be (see last picture in Part Four). Turns out there's a new Public Transport Interchange being built, and buses have been moved to a temporary adjacent site while the works are undertaken.
The temporary site has three stands. Is there are fourth bay somewhere outside the Bus Station, for some services to desist from having to call in? And, if so, where?
It's a little unfortunate that every single source of information that I can find online is saying that the 381 bus to Tenby will depart from Bay 4. Bus Times.org shows Bay 4. Traveline shows Bay 4. Both of these use "open data", so it's the data source that is wrong, not them.
What about First Bus itself - the operator of the 381 bus that I am after? Well, it doesn't say "Bay 4" - it just says "Haverfordwest Bus Station", with a stop code of "5210AWC50981" which, for some inexplcable reason, doesn't appear to be displayed anywhere!
A search of the stop code itself brings up "Bus TravelUK.info", which confirms that this is the code (whose code?) for Bay 4, but does at least imply that the stop is out of use by crossing the information through.
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ABOVE: Disappointing online results from my 'quest' to find out where the 381 is going to leave from - BusTimes.org, traveline.info, First Bus and BusTravelUK.info.
Fortunately, at near 5pm on a Thursday, there are plenty of people about to ask. But sometimes, one doesn’t need to ask; one just needs to listen. I hear a couple of women discussing the 381; it’s always late, apparently, and takes longer than it’s supposed to, but what choice do they have?
They’re waiting at Bus Stop 1, where I subsequently find a timetable taped to the shelter. This now feels like a safe bet...
Such a shame about the poor information online. I find a Pembrokeshire County Council page about the works, with some "Frequently-Asked Questions" (FAQs) such as "what is a Public Transport Interchange", "Why do we need this" and "Couldn't that money be better used elsewhere"? But, whilst there is a "Where will I park..." FAQ (there was a car park above the Bus Station), there is no equivalent "Where can I catch my bus..." question.
I’ve mainly used Traws Cymru services over the course of this epic journey, but there are fewer of these in South Wales. Maybe that’s because there is a better network of local services here than in some equivalent spots in the North and West.
The 381, which does turn up at Stop 1, three minutes late at 1705, is one of many in South Wales operated by First Cymru, using buses in a smart Western Welsh branding (such a shame that these brands are, reportedly, being phased out by First).
This is a standard ADL Enviro200, and it’s pretty busy as it pulls out of Haverfordwest Bus Station. The journey takes us through some lovely Welsh villages, including Kilgetty, home of the Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo.
The drive becomes more memorable as we reach Saundersfoot, less than three miles from Tenby as the crow flies. Having been gradually emptying out customers, we gain a flurry of new ones here.
Wikipedia tells us that permission to build the harbour at Saundersfoot was granted by Parliament in 1829 to the Saundersfoot Railway and Harbour Company, for the export of anthracite coal from the many mines in the area. The village grew up to serve the port. By 1837, it had five jetties handling coal and iron ore (and subsequently pig iron and firebricks) from local sources. As we leave the village, we get a bird's-eye view of the harbour as we ascend St Bride's Hill.
ABOVE: I was siting on the wrong side of the bus for the best views, but this image hopefully gives a flavour of Saundersfoot Harbour
Tenby isn’t really on the ‘circuit’ that I have set out to cover, but it’s a lovely spot that I’ve been wanting to revisit, and, being so close, it really would have been a shame not to call in.
The 381 reaches the town at 1822, 12 minutes late. The bus is on its way again very quickly, on a short working to Kilgetty; the last bus to Haverfordwest having already left at the ridiculously early time of 1737.
This is where I am staying over for the last night of the trip. The plan for tomorrow: Brecon, Cardiff, and home.
Friday morning rewards me with a beautiful sunrise over the Harbour:
Looking across Tenby Harbour soon after sunrise. This picture, and those below, were taken on Friday 20 September 2024, unless otherwise stated
A hugely-popular seaside resort, Tenby lies within Carmarthen Bay. It was taken by the Normans in the early 12th-Century, and is in an area known as "Little England beyond Wales". This name has been applied to this corner of South-Western Wales, which has been described as "English in language and culture", despite its remoteness from England (information from Wikipedia).
The Tenby town walls are Grade I-listed medieval defensive structures, and are assessed as one of the most important surviving medieval city walls in Britain. The walls were built in the 13th century by the Earls of Pembroke.
ABOVE: Tenby's South Parade is dominated by the Town Walls, looking broadly south-east with the coast in the distance.
1421 is the vital statistic today. Not the year, the time. That's when a bus leaves Swansea that will enable me to complete my circuit of Wales to Brecon. But there are a couple of tight connections that could scupper me.
I’m retracing my steps slightly (there being no viable alternative) on the 381, back to the town of Narberth. From there, I have a 13-minute cross-the-road connection to route 322 (Haverfordwest to Tanerdy, Glangwili Hospital), which I am planning to take to Carmarthen. It’s a little risky as this bus only runs every three hours, so I need my 381 to be punctual.
At the departure time of 0837, a bus comes round the corner and I hail it down before I realise that it’s the 351 to Saundersfoot and Pendine, and not the 381 that I’m looking for! The 381 eventually turns up seven minutes later, but there are only three passengers to load so we’re soon on our way.
We pick up more people along the way, and it’s noticeable that there are people making local journeys between the various villages – they’re not all heading into town.
With my connection already feeling a little tight, we head down Valley Road, an extremely narrow residential road leading from Saundersfoot to Pentlepoir, where we meet the next 381 coming the other way! There is a bit of manoeuvring by both vehicles, but there simply isn’t room for the two buses to pass.
ABOVE: An impossible situation as my 381 meets fellow First Cymru ADL Enviro200 44645 (SN15 LKG) going the other way, in Valley Road, Saundersfoot
Our driver gets out of the cab to remonstrate with his colleague. It sounds as though there is a ‘rule’ that drivers on Tenby-bound services are supposed to wait at a specified point until the Haverfordwest-bound service has passed, so that this situation does not arise.
Our driver is far from happy with his colleague, but maybe if he hadn’t started out seven minutes late this wouldn’t have happened?
After more fruitless attempts to pass, the Tenby bus reverses about 300 yards back, to a point near Saundersfoot Railway Bridge and Station, so that we can pass. Problem solved, and no real harm done, but we have lost a few more minutes and my connection at Narberth is now looking really tight. If I miss it, I am not going to complete my circuit...
Narberth stands on the Landsker Line - a term used to describe the language border in Wales with the English-speaking "Little England beyond Wales". Narberth was a Norman stronghold on the Line. I am here just a little too early for the Narberth Food Festival that takes place on the fourth weekend in September.
There's a Theme Park outside the town - Oakwood - which I visited when holidaying with some younger family members a decade or so ago. We drove all the way from Porthcawl, near Bridgend, where we were staying - a round trip of almost 150 miles!
I hope to have long enough to appreciate Narberth, but I'm not wanting to spend three hours here...
Fortunately, we reach the town in the nick of time. I make it across the road literally as the 322 pulls up to the stop. It's worth noting that I am not the only person doing this. Is there a market for a Tenby to Carmarthen service?
There is certainly a market for the 322. I had assumed that a bus that only runs three times a day, on a three-hourly frequency, is only going to be there for a handful of customers for reasons of social necessity. But this bus, another ADL Enviro 200 of First Cymru (Western Welsh) is busy when I board and gets busier through the journey, to the point that there are very few seats left by the time we reach St Clears.
ABOVE: A busy load on route 322
The 322 is a busy route and there are a number of towns along the way. Surely there could be some passenger growth if the service was better?
ABOVE: Although the 322 links a number of towns, there are still plenty of country scenes to enjoy. This is on the A40 near Carmarthen.
I have a seven-minute connection at Carmarthen Bus Station, but I'm confident about it because I just need to get from Bay 5 to Bay 2, to catch the 197 bus to Llanelli. Things feel a little tighter when I realise that we are five minutes late at St Clears.
I am still optimistic when we join the A40 trunk road, which should enable fast, non-stop running into Carmarthen, and the opportunity to make up some of those lost minutes.
But it is not to be. We hit a traffic jam, and crawl for the next two miles. At one point, we are stationary for sufficiently long enough for the driver to leave the cab for a moment to stretch. “Bit boring,” he says as he does so.
By the time we reach Carmarthen Bus Station, at 1037, we are 24 minutes late. My intended 197 to Llanelli is long gone, and the next one isn’t until 1220. I might have to take a short cut if I am to make it to my key connection in Swansea at 1421.
It's interesting to note that Bay 5 at Carmarthen isn't three down from Bay 2. Bays 1, 2 & 3 are on the road outside the main Bus Station, so that five-second dash that I was anticipating might have taken, say, 30 seconds! But it wasn't to be anyway.
ABOVE: A quiet Carmarthen Bus Station. An Optare Solo of Morris Travel is in Bay 4, next to where my 322 arrived (Bay 5). On the right, Taf Valley Coaches BV22 HBZ, a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora, is just departing on route 222 to Pendine. Bays 1 to 3 are on the extreme right on Blue Street.
Carmarthen is the county town of Carmarthenshire and may be the oldest town in Wales, recorded by Ptolemy and in the Antonine Itinerary. The Roman fort nearby is believed to date from about AD 75.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Catholic cleric, began the legend in 1188 that Merlin was born in a cave outside Carmarthen. The town's Welsh name, Caerfyrddin, is widely claimed to mean "Merlin's fort".
I stumble across a memorial, erected in 1858, dedicated to the members of the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers who died in the Crimean War.
ABOVE: Lammas Street, Carmarthen, with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Memorial on the right.
Missing the 197 is not as big a disaster as missing, say, the 322 would have been. There are various ways of progressing my journey from here, including trunk route X11 straight through to Swansea.
But I had planned a slightly more convoluted journey, and I discover that there is another meandering route to Llanelli – the 195, due at 1115. Presumably a companion to the 197, this is yet another service from First Cymru, though not branded as Western Welsh now. To provide some variety, this one is a Wright Streetlite DF rather than the so-familiar E200! A very rattly Streetlite, in fact!
The vehicle, number 47664 (SN15 ABV), is named after Ivor John Allchurch MBE (1929-1997). Known as the "Golden Boy of Welsh Football", Allchurch played for Swansea Town, Newcastle United and Cardiff City.
But what a treat this ride is. We're swiftly into the countryside with five passengers aboard, and we head through a succession of small villages, all nestling in the valley.
The village of Bancffosfelen seems to be downhill all the way, for what feels like at least a mile. Glad I'm not going the other way!
At Pontyberem, we do a three-point turn on Station Road, using Furnace Terrace for the manoeuvre. That there was a railway line here (on the The Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway) is evident not only from this road name, but also from the bus stop called "Old Railway Station", and from a rusted level crossing gate that still stands here.
ABOVE: Pontyberem, Station Road with the junction of Furnace Terrace, which we are looking down.
We travel through several pretty villages. Passenger numbers are light - at times I am on my own - but there is clearly a small, regular group of people who rely on this service. Curious that this seemingly lightly-used service has a better frequency (every two hours) than the much busier 322, which surely deserves at least a two-hourly frequency as well.
We pass through Pont-Henri (possibly another example of the influence of the Breton language), where we are officially halfway between Carmarthen and Llanelli. Then comes Pontyates, which hosts "impressive views of the surrounding valleys from the top of the hill" (Wikipedia). There are two distinct sides to this village, the Carmarthen side and the Llanelli side, known locally as "pentre hyn" (this village) and "pentre draw" (that village), depending on which side the speaker stands!
Five Roads is exactly as it suggests - five roads leading off from Y Sgwar, the central part of the village.
The territory changes as we approach Llanelli, as isolated villages turn into the town suburbs. This has been a delightful ride. As well as the villages, the views across the valleys are stunning at times. Slightly off the beaten track but well worth the detour. We arrive, bang on time, at 1212, with half a dozen passengers present for the final reckoning.
The Bus Station at Llanelli is a straight-forward affair of half a dozen bays down one side of a road, adjacent to a modern shopping complex. The cinema here has a Costa attached to it, thus providing me with a place to take a tea break.
ABOVE: Llanelli Bus Station, where First Cymru 63447 (MF23 ZVE), a Wright Streetlite Max, loads on a journey on route X11 from Swansea to Carmarthen
My next service is the 111 to Swansea. This is a half-hourly service (hourly on Sundays), and the 1240 should get me into Swansea at 1358, in time for that vital 1421 bus I am after.
The timetable in the stop is a little misleading. Whilst highlighting the Sunday services, it doesn't, in so many words, clarify that the other buses listed only run on Mondays to Saturdays. I know most will work it out, but Sunday times are usually listed separately, and there may be a reason for that.
The bus is on time. This is another Wright Streetlite DF. We have 15 passengers on board as we start out.
On Pemberton Road, just outside Llanelli, the driver inadvertently fails to stop to drop someone off at the Pemberton Lights stop. The passenger says everyone misses it because it doesn't look like a stop, and the flag is too small and too high up. Have a look on Streetview and see if you agree...
We cross the Loughor Estuary by way of the Loughor Bridge. This bridge dates from 1923, and stands next to a railway viaduct built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1852.
ABOVE: Looking broadly north over the Loughar Estuary from the east bank of the Loughar Bridge
This is now a much more urban run. The fields and hills of today's earlier journeys have given way to residential areas, and this shows in the numbers of passengers using the service, and the amount of churn along the route.
Gorseinon is around six miles north-west of Swansea itself. It was a small village until the late 19th century when it grew around the coal mining and tinplate industries. Its Bus Station, on West Street, separates the main road from the pretty Argyle Gardens. I manage to get a photograph (of the Bus Station) over my shoulder as we leave.
ABOVE: Gorseinon Bus Station
We're up to around 25 passengers by the time we reach the outskirts of Swansea. It's a bit of a slog through the City Centre, but we reach the Bus Station on time, at 1358. My 1421 target bus is (figuratively) in sight.
You will recall that I am heading for Cardiff. I have covered Swansea to Cardiff before, via Port Talbot and Bridgend. I did take a couple of detours on that occasion but I don’t want to just retrace my steps from that day. In any case, I have a loop to complete first.
And so I am back on a Traws Cymru service, the 1421 departure on route T6. This will take me back to Brecon.
ABOVE: Adventure Travel OM163 (CN20 BZC), an Optare Metrocity, pulls into the departure bay at Swansea Bus Station, to form the 1421 departure to Brecon
Eventually... The friendly driver warns me that we will be taking a detour to Ysgol Gymraeg Ystalyfera Bro Dur (a school) to pick up some youngsters, hence this journey is going to take two hours and five minutes, 15 minutes longer than a standard journey.
I make some comment about unruly schoolchildren but the driver assures me that “this lot” are “quite well behaved ... not too raucous”. We shall see in a while.
The bus is an Optare Metrocity, operated by Adventure Travel, with USB sockets, and a Customer Information Screen that thanks passengers for “traveling with us” (US spelling with one L in travelling). It's in the red and silver Traws Cymru livery.
It’s a brisk run out of Swansea with few stops. We have started with around 12 passengers, but it becomes much busier from Neath, where we serve the Railway Station but not the Bus Station. We leave here with more than 20 people on board.
ABOVE: Adventure Travel OM 165 (CN20 BZE), an Optare Metrocity, is south of Ystradgynlais on a working of route T6 towards Swansea.
We reach the town of Ystradgynlais, meaning "vale of the river Cynlais". Rowan Williams, now Baron Williams of Oystermouth and the Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 until 2012, grew up here, and actress Eve Myles, whom I know best for Torchwood, was born here.
There’s a driver change at the Bus Station here and we set off for our trip via the school, currently with only three passengers.
That soon changes, of course. There’s a sizeable crowd at the school. The driver has some sort of hand-held device to check the children’s tickets, but it doesn’t seem to be working (it gives out a Family Fortunes-style double bleep). The driver gives up on it, and boarding is therefore very quick. We’re almost out of seats but there is sufficient capacity.
A few minutes later we’re back at Ystradgynlais Bus Station, where two people reboard, having left before the detour began.
The driver who left us at Ystradgynlais has proven to be true to his word. These children are quiet and unobtrusive, which makes a nice change!
Curiously, the vagueries of my planning mean that we're now heading away from my final destination of Cardiff again, moving north-east back into central mid-Wales. The scenery is changing again as we drift away from the bustling, more built-up, southern areas.
ABOVE: Just beyond Penrhos, Ystradgynlais, the scenery is getting interesting again as we approach Caerbont. An Adventure Travel ADL Enviro 200 can be seen ahead of us. The poster at the garage on the right says "You're better off by bus".
Many of the schoolchildren travel a significant distance, and it’s only after Sennybridge, 38 minutes on from the school, that we start to thin out.
We reach Brecon at 1627, three minutes earlier than scheduled. The bus does not drop at the Interchange, as there is a quick run to Brecon College to do – it will be back at the Interchange is a few minutes.
ABOVE: Stagecoach South Wales / Traws Cymru 21358 (BV19 LPN), a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora, leaves Brecon for Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff.
I am back where I started on Tuesday morning! I have completed my circuit!
But I have an hour-and-a-half to pass here before I can undertake the last leg, and to celebrate the fact, the heavens open for the first time this week. And once they are open, they are staying open!
A deluge falls, and doesn’t let up for the entire duration of my stay here. I am able to pass some of it in a Fish & Chip restaurant, but then have to make my way back to the Interchange as what feels like an entire week’s worth of rain falls in one go (the rain will be heavy enough to disrupt trains on the Hereford to Newport route this evening).
The display board at Brecon Interchange has been repaired since Tuesday and now shows a full list of around 20 departures – the last of which, as of 1800, is 881 minutes away – that will be the T4 to Merthyr Tydfil that is due at 0841 tomorrow. The T4 is a long route but I doubt that this particular bus has set out yet.
ABOVE: Route X43 (Brecon to Abergavenny) is part of the Traws Cymru network, but does not appear to qualify as a T-numbered service. An Optare Solo of Stagecoach South Wales stands in Brecon Interchange.
Some of the posters in Brecon Interchange could do with an update...
For the second time this week, I hear a local ask why a visitor has come to Wales. But this time it’s me they’re asking! I catch sight of a mountain peak between the houses – even in the rain it looks delightful. Why would I not come to Wales?
The 1813 departure on the T4 service to Cardiff brings me back to Stagecoach South Wales and one of its 12-metre long Volvo Evoras.
ABOVE: Stagecoach South Wales 21357 (BV19 LPL), a Volvo B8RLE MCV Evora, arrives into Brecon Interchange for the journey on route T4 to Cardiff.
Following the heavy rain, the windows are steamed up, and it's getting dark as well. So my attention is drawn to what is inside the bus, such as a dog getting VIP treatment in the pushchair space...
There’s a driver change at Methyr Tydfil Bus Station (a new facility since I was last here some years ago). The new driver doesn’t seem to have a particular interest in the job. A passenger boards and asks him the time of the last bus to Cardiff. “Dunno,” comes the reply.
ABOVE: St Tydfil's Bridge, Merthyr Tydfil
At Pontypridd Bus Station, my disinterested driver nearly has an accident when the bus moves forwards when he should be reversing off the stand (he stops, sharply, just in time). The last section is a brisk drive down the A470, a dual-carriageway with no pedestrians and no bus stops. At times, the driver gets extremely close to other vehicles and I reflect briefly that it would be a great shame if I didn't finish my journey, having come so far.
We come into Cardiff from the north-west, via Whitchurch. An intending passenger is running towards a bus stop on this stretch, but has no chance as our driver is in far too much of a hurry.
We reach Greyfriars Road in Cardiff, the terminus of the service, nine minutes early at 1938. As with many of the longer-distance services in Cardiff, this bus does not penetrate into the City Centre and does not serve the new Bus Station, so I have a brisk 15-minute walk to the railway station.
It's a bit of a shame that my last bus has been a bit of an anti-climax, and a rather poor demonstration of customer care after such a remarkable week. But I have reached Cardiff - journey's end!
I omit to take a photograph of this bus, or the end of my journey, so I have to dig into the archives for something even vaguely relevant... And here it is - the New Theatre, Cardiff, on Greyfriars Road, just a hundred yards from the terminus of the T4 (and it is Cardiff, but it doubled for East Acton Theatre in "Secrets of the Stars", an episode of the wonderful Doctor Who spin-off, "The Sarah Jane Adventures").
ABOVE: The New Theatre, Cardiff, on Friday 10 February 2023
And maybe the stars have been good to me... I have completed the journey that I set out to do. I have reached Cardiff some 98 hours and 33 minutes after I left Worcester (and only just over 96 hours more slowly than it can be done by train)! And I am nine minutes early, which gives me more time to trek across to Central station.
It's a curious thing, the Traws Cymru network. It isn't quite as coherent as it ought to be. Is it one word or two (one word on the buses, two on the website)? Are the buses meant to be green and white, or red and silver (the latter is a 'new' livery, apparently). Would more frequent services enable better connections and passenger growth? Why are the route numbers so random (why a T22 and a T28 when there is no T9, T13, T15, etc)? Where do the X43 (Brecon to Abergavenny) and the 460 (Cardigan to Carmarthen) fit in? Why does such a useful long-distance route like the T1C (Aberystwyth to Cardiff) only run in peak hours?
I reckon I have covered the best part of 700 miles since I left Worcester. I have spent 33 hours and 43 minutes travelling on 22 individual journeys. Oh, and it has cost me £80.90 in fares!
As I travel home, I reflect on how far away the likes of Chester, Corwen and Porthmadog already feel, given that so much ground has been covered since. It's a lovely country and there's so much to see, so I'll be back!
I do hope you have enjoyed reading about my epic journey as much as I have enjoyed writing about it! And in case you're wondering, I stepped through my front door in West London at around 2305 that night. If one of those 381 drivers hadn't agreed to reverse, I might have still been in Valley Road, Saundersfoot!
ABOVE: First Cymru / Traws Cymru 65127 (CE72 YOM) is a Yutong E12 (electric) and is seen here at Carmarthen Bus Station, loading on route T1 to Aberystwyth
BELOW: An approximation of this part of the journey
BELOW: The whole route, from Worcester to Cardiff!
