Great Western Coffee Shop

Went to bus station in Bristol City centre asking above question

We can only get you as far as  Berkely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OR National Express to cheltenham then a local bus back to Gloucester.

Checked with stagecoach and that involves THREE bus's

These are the reasons that train is best

Local buses simply aren't designed for regional journeys ... at best one town to the next.   You don't mention the much longer taken by bus in most cases.   Try comparing Swindon to Chippenham, or Chippenham to Bath.    There are exceptions such as Scarborough to Whitby which is much quicker by bus.

There was a time when the 308 ran up to Gloucester along the A38 using Stroud valleys dual purpose green and cream bus/coaches when they were part of Bristol Omnibus. You could also catch the X72 direct to Worcester with Midland Red, Newport and Cardiff with red and white, and Bath and Salisbury with Southern National on the X4.
However there always seems to have been a bus desert between Bristol, Bridgwater and Taunton, with no overlap between Western National and Bristol Omnibus.

Yep, I remember very occasionally using that Bristol Omnibus service as a kid.

They seem to be inspired by Cross Country.

I started a couple of Days Out on the 05.40 (I think!) 529 Bristol to Gloucester. I say 'I think' because it doesn't appear in my 1974-5 timetable; maybe it wasn't advertised because no-one in their right mind got up at that time in the morning... The driver would stop at the 'News Stop' newsagent in Horfield to pick up his paper, and have a chat and a fag.The 529 took just over two hours to get to Gloucester. As an alternative, you could have taken the 526 which went via Wotton and Dursley, was described as 'scenic' and took about half an hour longer.

There was a 419 Bristol to Swindon that left Bristol at 04.something, which I think I may have caught once, though I'm not sure how I got to the bus station in time as the first No.3 rolled into the Haymarket just before 6am. Maybe I walked?

You probably sleepwalked.

Just had a look online. One website has a Time Table (TT) for the 418 Bristol to Swindon: first one from Bristol given as leaving at 0645 in the Time Table (TT) valid 15/06/1969, journey time on that was 2.5hrs. IIRC there was, until a few years ago, an X54 Bath - Swindon on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

I had never heard of the 526 though (too old to have done so I think: when did it last run?):first from Bristol was 0651hrs, journey time approx. 2hrs 20min.

Dave

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying abbreviation

I've just checked with one of my old school mates who used to do Days Out with me in the mid-70's and he confirms what we all suspected - I have indeed gone mad. My '74 timetable has the first 529 to Gloucester going out at 0605, and the first 419 to Swindon at 0640... which is early enough for a teenager, especially given the need to get the bus into town from Hengrove before I started!