Travel Info for the Beanos

Getting to the Beano • Travel Map • Useful Travel Links

We will send you more detailed travel information as soon as we receive your reservation form.

Travelling to the Beano

All of our venues are within cycling distance of a railway station. Fellow Beanoers can usually offer lifts back to the station at the end of the Beano. Most taxi firms have "people carriers" or mini buses etc that can carry bikes (ask first).

If you are coming by car and can give another beanoer (plus bike) a lift, please let us know.

There is ample car parking space at all the venues. Bikes are parked under cover.


Ellesmere Weekend:: Situated in Ellesmere. 10 miles from Gobowen railway station; 13 miles from Wem station; or 19 miles from Shrewsbury railway station. We provide suggested cycle routes from Gobowen and Wem stations. Buses (see Arriva Buses below) from Shrewsbury to Ellesmere town centre (1 kilometre from the venue). See the Ellesmere Beano Extra Travel Info page for travel updates or if you want to buy an OS map.

Snowdonia Beano:: Situated in the village of Nantlle. 20 miles from Bangor railway station – we provide a suggested cycle route (10 miles of which is on a Sustrans cycle path). Buses from Bangor (change Caernarfon) stop outside the venue. Nearest airport is Manchester Airport (good rail links to Bangor). See the Snowdonia Beano Extra Travel Info page for bus timetables, travel updates, or if you want to buy an OS map.

West Coast Beano:: Situated near the village of Roch, just 3 miles inland from Newgale beach. 8 miles from Haverfordwest railway station. Bus from Haverfordwest stops at Roch (1.25 miles away). See the West Coast Extra Travel Info page for travel updates, or if you want to buy an OS map.

Top

Travel Map

Map of England and Wales, UK

(Click on a beano name to return to holiday details)

Top

Useful Travel Links

These links open in a new window

Seat 61 - The best place to start. Lots of good info about trains, buses, ferries etc. Avoid the plane, travel by train – and The Man in Seat Sixty-One will help you on your way! Seat61.com is not a company or a travel agency, but a personal site originally started as a hobby.
Traveline Journey Planner - Will plot your public transport route to our venue in England (Welsh Borders Beano). Phone: 0870 608 2 608.
Traveline Cymru Journey Planner - Will plot your public transport route to our venues in Wales (Snowdonia and West Coast beanos).

Train:-

Seat 61 - Train Travel in Britain - A beginner's guide to train travel. Best place to start, with lots of very useful info about timetables, buying tickets, and getting the cheapest deals. They link to all the online ticket booking websites, but their main one is RailEasy.
Taking Your Bike on the Train - Bikes on trains info page provided by A to B Magazine. Regularly updated with bike restriction details for all the train, ferry, and rail-link bus operators.
National Rail - The gateway to Britain's rail network. Lots of info about cycling by train (for a pdf leaflet download), train operators, live departure boards, ticket types, engineering work and disruptions, etc. Can also download maps of the national rail network.
The Trainline - Train times, buy tickets and reserve seats for any train operator in mainland UK. Input date and destination station, and it gives closest match. It calculates the shortest journey between stations, which may not be the best or cheapest route. Also it does not give information about discount or special prices. Sometimes 2 single tickets booked in advance work out cheaper than a return ticket! Whilst this service (provided by Virgin Trains) may be useful, we recommend that you pick up the phone and talk to a human if you are looking for a cheaper fare. If you need to reserve a ticket for your bike, you may have to go direct to the train operator's website.
National Express - Said to be the only online rail-booking service that lets you book cycle spaces when buying your ticket, and that's for any service that needs cycle reservations, not just National Express's own. Try it and see!
Arriva Trains Wales - Train operator for all local trains in Wales and the Welsh Borders. Their on-line timetable (a version of The Trainline) is useful for finding trains to all our Beanos – may not show the cheapest fares available.
First North Western - Train operator for North Wales line – useful for trains between Manchester airport and Bangor for the Snowdonia Beano.
First Great Western - Train operator between London (Paddington) and South Wales. First Great Western's bicycle reservations are £1 per single journey if booked more than 2 hours before the train leaves its starting point (£3 if not, space permitting). Up to 6 bikes (including 1 tandem) carried in cycle racks in coach 'A' on their High Speed Trains. Their new Adelante trains carry 3 bikes in coach 'E' at the rear (no tandems). For more up to date info visit their bikes on trains page. You can also Print Your Own Timetable.
Phone Rail Info - If you don't want to buy train tickets online, phone (UK only) national train enquiries on 0845 7 48 49 50 (local rate call).
Eurostar - Cross-channel train info.

Bus:-

Arriva Buses - Bus operator for Ellesmere Beano and the Snowdonia Beano. For the Snowdonia timetables: click on Our Services>Bus>North West & Wales>Bangor, then #5 & #5X to Caernarfon, and change to #80 to Nantlle (see next entry below).
Our Snowdonia Beano Bus Page - Bus timetables between Bangor railway station and the Snowdonia Beano venue.
Gwynedd Council - Has bus timetables for Snowdonia Beano. Includes the #80 (operated by Silver Star) from Caernarfon to Nantlle (as well as the Arriva bus services above). Their site is not easy to navigate, so it is better to use our bus page above.

Boat:-

Stenaline Ferries - Ferries between the UK and mainland Europe, plus ferries between Wales (Holyhead or Fishguard) and Ireland (Dun Laoghaire or Rosslare).

Plane:-

British Airports Authority - Info about London airports (Heathrow & Gatwick).
Manchester Airport - Includes useful info about getting to and from the airport station.