Hi everyone,
I planned to follow Rick Steves book and go to North Wales, he seems to think that it is more interesting than the south. I'm sure it's no slight, just that with limited time, you have to pick and choose.
After finding it difficult to get a reasonably priced room over the weekend in Bath, I decided to stay in Bristol instead since it's just down the road and do day trips from there - Yesterday I took the 376 bus with a day pass for 7 pounds to Glastonbury,(about 75 minutes if I remember), then backtracked to Wells (Same bus), then at the end of the day (evening) again on the 376 back to Bristol Temple Meads - my IBIS hotel is just behind the station so the whole process was very convenient.
Looking around the map for other places there is course Bath, but I looks like Cardiff is 90 minutes away, and Tinturn looks close. I've read Wordsworth Poem, and seen the paintings, but I'm not in a must see mood for Tinturn, and am wondering what people here think- a day after seeing the Glastonbury abbey would Tinturn be "worth" it via public transportation from Bristol on a long day trip?
Posted by
Lake District, England
8132 posts
The way to Tintern (as opposed to Tinturn) from Bristol isn't via Cardiff- take the #T7 bus to Chepstow, then the #69 Chepstow to Tintern- the service is far better Monday to Friday than on a Saturday and not at all on a Sunday.
The T7 is regarded as a Welsh bus, so is not covered by the £2 fare cap.
If on the train you would go to Newport, not Cardiff then the #60 to Monmouth for the #69 towards Chepstow.
The T7 route is far easier
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7206 posts
I like Tintern Abbey better than Glastonbury Abbey, but I wouldn’t make a separate trip to visit just it. There’s little else to the town and you’ll be in the abbey maybe an hour, if coming from Chepstow, maybe combine Chepstow castle with the abbey on the same trip.
You could also day trip to Castle Combe or Bradford-on-Avon. They are supposedly a nice villages. Another abbey about the same distance away as Tintern is Malmesbury Abbey.
We always have a rental car, so I can’t speak to the ease of using public transportation to get to those places.
Posted by
Chicago
1173 posts
Totally on you and your preference.
I first visited Tinturn Abbey, poem in hand, by public transport as a young 20s back-packer. For me, it was a pilgrimage of sorts which I found moving and simply gorgeous. I’m visualizing the scene and my traveling friend now! Next visit, I was married and had to share the place with my husband. We had a car, simplifying transport. The area was no less meaningful and beautiful than my first visit. Interestingly, both times no others were there, adding to the atmosphere.
If not in a must-see state of mind, perhaps I’d suggest skipping. It is the kind of place, at least for me, that needs some quiet contemplation, not frustration from after long bus rides. Thanks for the memories!
Posted by
OP
Edmonton Alberta Canada
93 posts
Thanks everyone especially isn31c for the tip about Sunday having poor service, since that's when I was thinking of going. Today I explored Bristol. I started a new thread for anyone's thoughts on a route or order from Bristol to Chester/Liverpool/NorthWales before moving up to the Lake district.
Posted by
8322 posts
We were glad we did Tintern Abbey. We liked it more than Glastonbury.
Posted by
Winchester, UK
142 posts
From my maps, you can walk from Chepstow to a view of Tintern Abbey on Offa's Dyke, but it's not clear how you can get to the abbey from the path. Chepstow is lovely in its own right with a castle, a priory and one of the only visible remnants of King Offa's dyke from the 8th-9th centuries
Posted by
Lake District, England
8132 posts
There is Section 17 of the Wye Valley Way to walk from Chepstow to Tintern (this walk description assumes you are going in the other direction)- https://www.wyevalleywalk.org/route-sections/tintern-abbey-to-chepstow-castle
Posted by
Bristol, UK
1452 posts
It’s easy to walk from Tintern Abbey to the Devil’s Pulpit viewpoint which is on the Offa’s Dyke path. I think it only took about 30-40 minutes going up and quicker coming down. The start of the route is by crossing the footbridge over the river.