Public Transport

So you don’t have a car? No biggie. That’s no reason to miss out on most of the delights listed in this guide. If you use public transport, not only are you being kinder to the planet, but you can also travel home hogsnorting drunk and no-one will mind (provided you don’t make a nuisance of yourself). Hell, you can travel there hogsnorting drunk as well if you like.

There isn't a huge amount of advice and info on car-less rural adventures round these parts, although Bristol City Council a few years ago produced an excellent pack of 30 country walks entitled Exploring the Countryside without a Car. These are of varying lengths and accessibility (some wheelchair-friendly). Download from www.bristol.gov.uk/walking (where you can also find lots of other info on walking, and what little the council plans to do to get us walking). Likewise, Bath & North East Somerset’s website has some walking ideas - go to www.bathnes.gov.uk and click on W and scroll down to ‘walking’. But let's talk about cars for a minute…

City Car Club
Car-sharing is an idea whose time has come; there are lots of these schemes around the country, and the City Car Club, with branches (if that's the word) in both Bath and Bristol, is one of the leaders. It’s growing fast and for people who only need the occasional use of a car, you can understand the appeal. You join - prices vary according to how often you’re going to need a car - you book a vehicle whenever you need it, collect it from one of a number of points around the area and away you go. See www.citycarclub.co.uk

The Bus
It’s would cause us actual, like, physical pain to say anything nice about our grasping, profiteering local transport near-monopoly… Er, so we won't. But First do run an awful lot of services in town and countryside and with a little bit of planning and luck, you'll find that most places in this guide are bus-able. Obviously, getting to, say, Bath or Weston-super-Mare by bus from Bristol is very straightforward. The best thing, if you're trying to get to somewhere out in the sticks (as most National Trust or English Heritage places are), is to check with the attraction itself first for recommended public transport options. Then and only then do you check the timetables with First - see www.firstgroup.com

First have a wide range of fares and ticket options, some of which are excellent value (it’s only the commuters they really soak) and it’s well worth investigating the various options, including the combined bus and rail offers.

South Gloucestershire Bus runs a number of services in South Gloucestershire and Bristol. Now, to the average Bristolian who probably thinks of South Glos as being Filton, Thornbury and Yate, this might not seem like a big deal. But there are some really lovely places in this most unglamorous-sounding of local authority areas. There's some good rambling, for instance, around Wotton-under-Edge or Hawkesbury Upton, both reachable by South Glos Bus. For these and more, see www.southgloucestershirebus.co.uk

Trains
Yes, dammit, the local trains are now run by the same profiteering firm that's messed up the buses! Brilliant! First Group have come in for a lot of stick from commuters forced to travel on grossly overcrowded and unreliable services, but you can usually get a seat outside of the rush hours.

Trains are good for a number of things locally. Travel between Temple Meads and Bath Spa, for instance, is quick, convenient and cheap. It's also a less stressful way of getting, say, to Cardiff or Swansea than negotiating the Darwinian motorway system between the Bridge and the Welsh capital.

For pleasant countryside, quaint villages and country walks, try the Heart of Wessex line from Bristol to Weymouth, with its programme of guided walks through the summer. See www.heartofwessex.co.uk

For unpleasant countryside, there's always the Severn Beach Line from Temple Meads out to Avonmouth via Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road, Montpelier, Redland, Clifton Down, Sea Mills, Shirehampton and Severn Beach. Seriously, this is the nuts, and public transport campaigners last year persuaded Bristol City Council to put up a few quid extra to increase the service. Not only is it useful for commuters, it's also cheap, pretty reliable and a wonderful way of seeing Bristol from a new angle. To go all the way from Temple Meads to Severn Beach takes about three-quarters of an hour, and Severn Beach isn't a fraction as nice as the name suggests, being for the most part a forlorn and windblown commuter bedroom, but there are a couple of cafes, and an interesting walkway along the shoreline, which goes under the massive Second Severn Crossing.

Info on these services, and lots of other ideas for trainly outings, at www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

Venue Days Out Guide - Bristol and Bath's best excursion guide. To order your copy ring 0117 942 8491. Only £1.95.