Equihands

Hello to all, I would like to do a day trip to the Cotswolds. After looking at the National Rail schedule, it appears that Moreton-In-Marsh is one of the few towns to be reached by train. If I make this my starting point, I would like to travel by bus to some of the other towns in the area. Can anyone tell me which towns I would be able to see in a day. I was thinking of perhaps Stow-On-The-Wold, Broadway and Chipping Campden. What would be the best route to take from Moreton or could someone tell me where I can look up bus route schedules? Is this too much to see in a day? I am mainly wanting to walk through and see a few towns, visit the shops, see some scenery since time would probably not allow much more. If there is anything of special interest that someone might suggest, I welcome any and all suggestions. I have previously been to Bourton-On-The-Water and Burford last year on a bus tour but would prefer to not do a planned tour. Thank you very much for your help.

TimS

This site may give you all the information you're looking for: www.thecotswolds.org.

Kay2

My info from 2001 may be dated:

Author: Kay
Date: 03/05/2002, 01:31 pm

The walking paths are great in the Cotswolds. We had planned to train to Moreton-on-Marsh and then hike, bus, and taxi around. There we had a B&B for a couple of nights. Walked to Chipping Campden (good day hike), saw the town, then caught the bus back.

The folks at the Information Center in M-on-M were GREAT! with the most up-to-date bus schedule, maps, and drivers to hire. We thought the bus was fun--the driver was a local treat. The bus we were on was more of the city type, not the intercity with luggage compartment.

flanneruk

There are two painless ways to do something like what you're planning. Drive (either from Cheltenham or Oxford) round a circuit and come back to where you started, or train to one place - like Moreton or Charlbury - and spend the day walking.

You've chosen the truly heroic (the term used by the most senior British politicians and public servants to mean "barmy&quot alternative.

The scheduled buses aren't designed for tourists: they're for people living in smallish villages to shop or go to school in the nearest market town. The national bus timetable site (www.traveline.org.uk) is just a nightmare to use, and Gloucestershire is too mean to have its own bus site.

I think, though, that the Cotswolds AONB site - which is relatively user-friendly - keeps its timetables up to date. Go to http://www.cotswoldsaonb.com/bus_tim.../north_bus.asp

Then go to "select a route here", and you'll see a list of all buses in the Moreton/Stow/ChC area.

With an early enough train out of London, you can probably make Stow and Ch C. But it's a total of four buses. And do double-check (by phoning the operator) these times are right before starting off. Cabs round here can be damn expensive, and may take some time to get to where you've got yourself stranded.

Sorry to be gloomy. And good luck.

tcreath

I personally would recommend driving. We drove around England a few years back. We were very hesitant to rent a car due to having to drive on the other side of the road, but we didn't have any problems at all, and it actually made for an interesting experience! The countryside is beautiful and with a car you could explore at your leisure and possibly visit other nearby towns. If you rent a car from the US (we used orbitz.com) it was very inexpensive and would probably work out to be cheaper than the train-bus route.

Good luck!
Tracy

djkbooks

We just returned from a ten-day trip to London, with a visit to the Cotswolds tops on the list of seeing and doing.

You can go on your own. There's train service to only one town (I've forgotten which, check Rick Steeves, etc.) with bus service to the rest (though not on Sundays).

Another option is LondonWalks leaving from Paddington station.

We opted to go on the Evan Evans bus tour. Probably the priciest way, but the scenery all along was spectacular, along with the commentary, we visited three towns (with an hour each to walk all about) followed by tea at Blenheim palace before returning.

Though you've "done" the bus tour and visited Bourton-On-The-Water and Burford, I'd mention the bus tour for others planning a first-time excursion.

Equihands

Thanks much everyone for all the information. I have looked at the websites and the bus schedules are a help. I will check out the information center for more help when I get to my destination. Not brave enough yet to drive on my own, if I had a navigator with me, I think it would be easier since someone could read a map while I drive, but not knowing the countryside I'll have to leave this idea for another trip when I have more time to plan out a route for a few days. To Flanneruk, yes, I can be a bit barmy at times, lol, and I don't think that you are being gloomy. I have a very positive, light hearted attitude and I make the best of things on my holiday. I am a very adventurous person for the most part and learned the hard way last year by not planning trips in advance that one wastes a lot of time. This is a last minute thought as I will be in London the last 3 days of my visit and wanted to squeeze in another day trip. So I will take your advice and keep to the two towns suggested, leaving on an early train to make the best of my time. I tend to squeeze a lot of activity into a day since I am traveling on my own, probably not the kind of schedule that most people traveling would do but easier to accomplish by oneself. Thanks again to everyone as I leave this week for the UK.

flanneruk

Equi:

One other source I forgot, though it's a bit messy.

The hard-copy train timetable you can get at Paddington carries details of some connecting buses. It's usually called "Cotswold Line train timetables", and my copy (just found in the pile Mrs F intended throwing out) does have many of the services from Moreton to Stow, Ch C, Bourton, and Broadway.

Unfortunately, the timetables changed (trivially) yesterday (May 23), and the franchise has been re-assigned, so it's not certain the new train franchisee (FGW) will issue the same helpful guides for the bus services, some of which they don't operate. And the .pdf's downloadable from the web have rarely contained the bus details, and the hard copies don't scan well. But ask at the FGW information desk at Paddington.

Incidentally, although there are fewer services on Saturdays, the connections are more convenient for what you've got in mind on Saturdays than during the week. And there are no buses on Sundays or public holidays (ie May 31)

As a sample, the 0628 from Paddington on Sats connects with the 0925 to Broadway (arr 0942 and the least interesting of the three places you mention. Unless you fancy the glorious 4 mile walk up to Broadway Tower and back, what you see from the bus passing through is pretty much what there is),or Ch C (arr 1003).

The return 1249 from Ch C connects with the 1345 from Moreton, arr Stow 1355. The 1620 bus from Stow connects with the 1641 train at Moreton, arr Paddington 1812. The last run back from Stow on Sats is 1915, arr Moreton 1925 and Paddington 2217, or 2115 weekdays

SB_Travlr

Just a thought -- it would be worth checking if the folks from Original London Walks do anything for the Cotswolds(http://www.walks.com/). I know they do some full-day visits to places outside London, usually on weekends, and somewhere like the Cotswolds would be a great location for that.