Transport Links

Motorways

The M5 motorway runs north-south through the area from Tewkesbury to Charfield; the M4 is only just beyond its southern border. Consequently Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff are about an hour away by car.

London is about two hours away, and even Edinburgh is only about six hours away

Strangers should be warned that not only are the Severn Bridges toll bridges; they do not even take credit cards or debit cards: because they are private companies they see no need to consider the convenience of their customers.

Mainline Rail

There are direct trains to London from Cheltenham, which pass through Gloucester, Stonehouse and Stroud; and the London to South Wales line runs through Bristol Parkway which is about twenty miles south of the Circuit boundary, so there are good connections to South Wales and the Southwest. Furthermore, there are direct links from Cheltenham to Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and the Northeast, so it is easy to reach all parts of the mainland rail network with the minimum of changes.

Water

The River Severn used to be a major transport route, but the tidal range (10 metres - the second highest in the world) makes it dangerous, and it has largely fallen out of commercial use

The area used to have a good network of canals and navigable rivers, but this too had fallen into disrepair. Now several groups of enthusiastic volunteers are slowly bringing them back into use as leisure routes. It is hoped that one day it will be possible to take a narrow boat from the Severn estuary to the Thames estuary through Stroud, or from Stroud to Birmingham, and that Gloucester will become a major hub of the canal network.