West Country Wanderings - Bristol

After being out in the Somerset Levels, I had a day in Bristol.  I came in on the Park and Ride bus, and got slightly turned around, but once I'd found the tourist info building and picked up a street map, it was full steam ahead.

Or sails?  Full... sails ahead?  I don't know, I can't boat.

I started down the Waterside end of town, near where my sister and her husband live.  It used to be a cargo harbour, but now it's been opened up to show off the nautical history of Bristol.  There's a museum of local history there - the M Shed - and along the walkways the cargo hoists and old fashioned sailing ships.

Everything round here is named after John Cabot, who absolutely did not 'discover' America (because of, y'know, all the people already living there).  Here's a sculpture of him outside the Arnolfini, looking grump about it. I had lunch sat outside in the sun.

I like how Bristol does its public spaces.  As cities go, they've got a strong emphasis on the environment, with cycle paths and pedestrianised areas all over the place, and the open areas have lots of benches and sculptures.  

I headed up the river to the cathedral.  They're always good to visit as in Britain they are generally free, don't mind you hanging about, and act as a historical and social hub for an area.  This one had a small exhibit on, of the notebooks and drawings of conscientious objectors during World War 1.  Some of them had drawn up short quotes, or manifestos, or their own thoughts.  Others had done paintings, often landscapes of the homes they were missing.

Heading up through the studenty part of town (so many coffee shops!) I poked into all the little galleries and independent shops on the way up to the Bristol Museum. I wasn't going anywhere in particular, but I'm not in this part of the country often and I wanted to get a flavour for different parts of the city (or at least as much of it as I could walk in in afternoon!)



Then heading back down again I went down the Christmas Steps; a little alley of older buildings, most of them independent shops, and Dickensian street lamps.

At the very bottom I found a gaming cafe, 'Chance 'N' Counters'.  Normally groups would pay to play, but since it was the middle of a weekday and I was on my own, the nice owner let me sit for free (I bought a drink) and even found me a one person game.

That wound me up in the shopping quarter (arguably the least interesting area, as it's mostly just the same old franchise shops you find anywhere), where I could scoot back through Castle Park and pick up my bus.  Luckily it took me right past my sister's house, so I stopped in for a chat, and then that was lucky too, as a massive hornet had come in and landed on the curtain, and I had to catch and evict it using a beer glass!

Finally I got back on the road and went north, winding through the beautiful Wye valley to Leominster.  I actually had a little rouble finding the hostel, which was tucked back behinda church and some counil buildings, with no signpost!  I squeaked inight before the cut-off point, and found myself in a lovely old building, with a room enitrely to myself and the soft chimes of the church bells outside.