Tag name:Bristol

Bristol Harbour panorama

First published 26th January 2018 (Last Modified 9th January 2021)

I'm quite pleased with how this panorama of Bristol's floating harbour turned out, I perhaps should have been further along to the east so that perhaps SS Great Britain would have been included - but then I'd have had to contend with the black pipe visible on the right edge of this image and would probably have lost the tower of Clifton Suspension Bridge that this one includes. I might play with GIMP to see if I can tone down the brightness of all the white houses, but I'm liking this one.

(You may wish to click on the image to get the full resolution, this 900x322 version doesn't do this image justice.)

Walking to Wales

First published 3rd September 2017 (Last Modified 9th January 2021)

Yesterday I did a walk from Severn Beach to Chepstow via the old Severn Bridge (the newer one (M4) doesn't have a walkway/cycleway on it). This is a walk that is only recommended on days without much wind as you're quite exposed once on the Severn bridge crossing. Also worth noting that you're actually not in Wales until halfway across the Wye Bridge (which crosses the River Wye).

View (looking North) from the eastern end of the Severn Bridge. Most of the view is actually England, although the hills in the distance next to the bridge in the West (left of the image) are Welsh.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

First published 27th August 2017 (Last Modified 9th January 2021)

This was taken in March 2015 from the Leigh Woods side of the Bridge (i.e., looking towards Clifton. It looks a bit weird (no roadway for example) as it's composed from images from both the north and south sides of the Bridge Parapets.

Clifton

Bristol Harbour

First published 27th August 2017 (Last Modified 9th January 2021)

Another panorama from my visit to Bristol during the Heritage Days last year. I was near the end of the floating harbour when a flotilla of boats passed through the lock into the harbour - so the swing bridge across this end of the harbour was open while I was collecting this panorama.

Bristol Harbour

Concorde Cockpit Mockup

First published 27th August 2017 (Last Modified 9th January 2021)

Composed from a set of pictures I took in Bristol during the Heritage Days last year.

Blaise Castle

First published 28th March 2017 (Last Modified 9th January 2021)

Yesterday I upgraded my castle visit by taking a day trip out to Blaise Castle. This kind of trip is very possible to do when there's no trouble on the trains (I need to change at Bristol Temple Meads onto the Severn Beach line, so if there's a long delay on the line between Romsey and Bristol, I end up having to change plans).

Blaise CastleBlaise Castle is another folly - in this case a three sided castle like folly on a hill that overlooks both Bristol and with views, allegedly, out to South Wales (with the haze around Bristol yesterday there was no chance of that). The grounds of the Blaise Estate are managed by Bristol City Centre and, while overrun with dog walkers, is very much worth the trip.

Bath to Bristol

One of my minor goals has been to successfully walk all the way from Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads. My previous attempts have usually involved the Bristol to Bath cycle route (which follows the old Midland Railway from Bath Green Park via Bitton). This route, while flat like most routes that use old railway lines, is a bit long. The SUSTRANS web site claims it's 13 miles, but I think a more reasonable estimate is 14-15 miles based on my experience - though to be fair I've always been forced to break it in the middle at Bitton and detour to Keynsham station (which is a significant-ish detour).

Today, though, I decided to walk along the River Avon to Keysham using initially the towpath (which I would note would actually now be hard to use for towing barges since there are plenty of trees along the actual river's edge once you're outside of Bath). This does meet up with the cycle route, which I used only to cross the river from the North Bank to the South Bank and then followed footpaths along the South Bank (and hence largely following GWR's railway from Bath Spa).

Once at Keynsham though, I checked my phone's map (I use the maps.me app which is based on the data from openstreetmap) and discovered that from there it was less than five miles to Bristol Temple Meads as the crow flies. The computed pedestrian route was six miles (which, as I'm not a crow or a car, is the route I wanted to follow).

It turned out to be pretty straight forward and followed footpaths in the main rather than roads. Usefully Bristol City have recently given most of their paths a hair cut recently, so the paths were only muddy and not completely overgrown!

I didn't stop for food - big meal was planned (and eaten) for the evening - total journey time about four hours and twenty minutes - which probably equates to about 14-15 miles (so I could have just followed the cycle path!).

Barcelona?

First published 2nd September 2016 (Last Modified 9th January 2021)

I've been enjoying my books giving city walks, and while the author sometimes concentrates too much on the architecture (and not quite enough on history in my opinion), it has lead me to this gem:

20160826_123725_stitch(As this image is a stitch together of a bunch of pictures I took (and have then scaled down in GIMP), I'm quite impressed with how the image has come out - the weird concrete curtains in the middle of the balcony wall is NOT an artefact of the stitching process!)

The building definitely reminds me of some of Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona - but this isn't Barcelona, it's actually Bristol!

(The same walk also led me past this pair of building, which could be from Amsterdam) 20160826_132024