Day trip from York to Thirsk and Rievaulx Abbey - advice please

There is no bus from Thirsk to Helmsley. Helmsley is only really served on the 128 from Scarborough.

To do the journey you would have to backtrack on the Reliance 30/30X from Thirsk to Easingwold then change onto the 31X to Helmsley, but the service is so thin it would be almost impossible to make it work.
Rievaulx is just over 3 miles from Helsmley.
The only bus to Rievaulx is the Saturday and Sunday only Moorsbus but that only starts on the first Saturday in June- that is bus M31 to Helmsley then M4 to Rievaulx.
So on a Sunday the way to Helmsley this early in the year would be train to Scarborough, 128 to Helmsley, but it's a 3 hour journey each way then the one hour walk. So not viable.
The bus from York to Thirsk is part of the government £2 fare cap, so only £2 each way.
There are buses from Thirsk Station (the stop is called Carlton Miniott, hence why you can't find it) to Thirsk on Monday to Saturday
-Reliance Service 70 at 0802, 0946, 1157 and 1457, also North Yorkshire Bus 153 at 1154, 1344 and 1510.

Sensibly the only way to travel the 16 miles from Thirsk to Rievaulx is by taxi.
This is the Thirsk taxi page- so it should cost £35 each way from Thirsk to Rievaulx or £39 back to the station-https://www.visitthirsk.org.uk/pages/taxifares.php

There is no engineering work that Sunday affecting York to Thirsk trains.

Hi AS -

I think isn31c is probably right - it’s almost impossible to make this work without a car or unless you are prepared to walk the three miles each way to Rievaulx and back from Helmsley (in which case follow the Cleveland Way). I think a taxi, at not inconsiderable expense, is probably the only sensible way to achieve your visit to Rievaulx. And I would go on the Friday as opposed to the Sunday as it probably makes things easier in giving you more options.

Good luck. Damn those monks in wanting to live away from the rest of the populace!

Ian

Hi thanks for the replies so far. To clarify, we weren’t considering a bus from Thirsk to Rievaulx, just wondering if prebooked taxi was doable or prohibitively expensive. For example, someone suggested hiring a driver from York for the day and it was going to be £300! I don’t see the need for a driver from York as we are staying very near the train station and can easily get ourselves to Thirsk.

I’ll contact the taxi companies on the Thirsk Tourist info page to inquire about rates.

Glad to hear that engineering works won’t affect Sunday trains between York and Thirsk.

Unless we have difficulty arranging a taxi for Thirsk to Rievaulx on Sunday we will leave the days allocated as is.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the link to taxis in Thirsk. I contacted one of them and was pleasantly surprised to hear back that the estimated fare for a prebooked taxi is approximately £28 each way between Thirsk and Rievaulx Abbey. I thought we would have to pay for the driver to wait at Rievaulx for us while we visited, but apparently not!

I think that is very good news about the taxi, a fine example of northern hospitality.
I'm not a tipping person (it's not really in our culture), but I would give the driver a nice tip for that.
Thank you for letting the forum know.

isn31c, your response and good info is so helpful, thank you.

St Mary’s Church, isn’t across the street from the Herriot Museum, it’s down the road. If there is train strikes going on the smaller runs, (like York to Thirsk) won’t run. We took a taxi from York to Thirsk last May, the taxi driver was a lovely man, he even came back on Sunday to get us and take us the the train station in York.

I wanted to visit Rievaulx Abbey and didn’t - hard choices. If you get stuck, it was an easy bus ride from York to Castle Howard and back.

Instead of Rievaulx Abbey, I visited Fountains Abbey, which is magnificent. But that was after I picked up a rental car leaving York. It might be easier to reach than Rievaulx Abbey, it it’s still a pretty good bus ride away.

I wanted to suggest that if possible, you try to visit the National Railway Museum, especially if you are staying near the station.

Re- Fountains Abbey. Like Rievaulx the monks believed in living in isolated locations. It was not accidental, it was part of their way of life.

But it can at least be reached by bus 139- on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays- see the Dalesbus Book, which also shows how to get there from surrounding towns, including Northallerton on the East Coast Main Line Railway (mainly served by Trans Pennine and Grand Central, but some LNER trains also stop there.
From York you would reach Ripon on the not very frequent Bus 22.

As Moorsbus was mentioned above here is their website, although 2023 timetables are not out yet.
But this is still a very good guide to the buses which run on the North York Moors- basically between the area between the Scarborough and Whitby rail lines.

Thank you all for the additional information and alternatives. Rievaulx Abbey holds particular personal significance for me so that’s why I chose this Abbey over others in the area. We’ll keep an ear out for service disruptions on the York-Thirsk route and have a Plan B just in case.

I can't answer your question, but we will be in York May 20-24 for 4 nights and would like a day trip to the Dales. Am curious how you decided on a private tour with Tim Barber. Did you consider a day tour with Mountain Goat?

Am curious how you decided on a private tour with Tim Barber. Did you consider a day tour with Mountain Goat?

Yes, Mountain Goat are highly regarded, and I know they do private day tours (what we were interested in) but a word of mouth referral brought us to Real Yorkshire Tours—we like that Tim is a qualified Blue Badge guide, his online reviews are excellent, and his email communication has been responsive. So we are expecting to have a wonderful day out!