My challenge of using trains to get to popular county attraction

Travelling by train is not something I do regularly, but it is a mode of transport that most of us have used. The idea behind this opinion piece comes on the back of the launch of Train Tripper [1], a new website designed by Gloucestershire [2] Community [3] Rail Partnership to promote car-free leisure trips in Gloucestershire, supporting businesses as well as tourist attractions in the county. Select any train station including Gloucester [4], Cheltenham [5] and some of the county’s rural ones such as Kemble near Cirencester [6] – the idea is to build-up an itinerary of things to do.

And so here comes the challenge I’ve been tasked with – choose a station and travel to a tourist destination by train. No cars allowed, buses are fine and walking on foot is ok too. The station I decided to select was Lydney [7], travelling from my nearest station Ashchurch for Tewkesbury.

Catching a Saturday train at 9:15am to arrive at Lydney for 10:19am via a change at Cheltenham Spa – it sounds simple and in all fairness using the train is easy to navigate until one of the services you want gets cancelled. Walking along the Sculpture Trail (Image: Will Luker)

Arriving 30 minutes later into Lydney than scheduled I was already on the back foot to get to the Forest of Dean [9] Sculpture Trail, the tourist attraction I decided to try and get to by public transport. Deciding to walk the 20 minutes from Lydney station to the bus station in the town centre wasn’t too bad and to my surprise the Stagecoach 23 service to Coleford [10] every hour on a Saturday was on time at 11:20am.

A trip of around 45 minutes through Whitecroft and Bream before reaching Coleford, where next to the Sculpture Trail? A transfer onto the 24 service to Gloucester via Cinderford [11] meant another wait for it to turn up and it did, getting me to Beechenhurst. From my point of view, as someone who loves walking, I could have walked the long distance from Coleford to the Sculpture Trail via footpaths in the Forest.

Catching the train and going via bus to get to Coleford – a journey like this is ideal for long-distance walkers providing you do this in good time. Waiting for the bus back to Coleford was the longest wait but eventually by 16:20pm I had managed to get the 23 bus back to Lydney, arriving at 17:15pm for my 17:50pm train back to Tewkesbury via a change at Gloucester.

Train arriving at Lydney station (Image: Will Luker)

To be fair to Train Tripper, one destination they do recommend for Lydney is the nearby harbour, which is within good walking distance for a family to get to and see, so would I recommend a family day out to see the sculptures via train and bus? If I’m honest I probably wouldn’t, but that’s just my own opinion.

Going by car is arguably cheaper for a family, easier and quicker to travel, but of course a car produces more emissions than a train. The one thing I will add about Lydney is how on earth public transport for the town doesn’t connect it to its very own train station! Lydney Dial-A-Ride provide a much-needed service but without causing them bother, unless you make the walk past the boating lake, which I did twice, there’s no weekend bus route to get there.

The only bus service to stop at the station is the 777 Forest Community [12] Transport [13] service, but that’s Monday to Friday not Saturday. Harsh? Connecting Lydney with its train station on a weekend is one reason why out of 10 I’m giving my experience of travelling to the Sculpture Trail by train and bus an eight.

References

^ on the back of the launch of Train Tripper (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Gloucestershire (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Community (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Gloucester (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Cheltenham (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Cirencester (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Lydney (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ ‘Bristol Water should pay for Gloucester Docks to be dredged’ (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Forest of Dean (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Coleford (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Cinderford (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Community (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)
^ Transport (www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk)