Dinner With A View

Today I went up to Clifton. I say ‘up’ because it’s an extremely steep climb to get up there! I have to admit I chose the easy option and took an Uber! It was the best £6 I’ve spent all week! I knew I’d be on my feet all day and didn’t want to arrive exhausted, especially since it was already very warm by the time I left the campsite late morning. The last time I was in Clifton (June 9th), it was a very short visit so I made sure I had more time today.

I stopped for elevenses, sitting outside the Clifton Arcade in the shade, enjoying a vegan(!!) latte and a delicious vegan pistachio croissant. I wandered around for most of the afternoon, window shopping, buying a couple of things, taking lots of pictures of beautiful houses and gardens. And I ended up here at the White Lion pub (in the Avon Gorge Hotel), where I knew I’d have a beautiful view of Clifton suspension bridge. I’ve taken so many pictures of the bridge from different viewpoints on previous visits to Bristol (here and here), and it was nice to be able to enjoy THIS view for awhile this afternoon. Having skipped lunch, I planned a very early dinner, and although it was only Wednesday it was very busy. I’m sure like me everyone was making the most of the beautiful weather after so much rain and cool temperatures of recent weeks. It was actually too hot for me on that terrace but occasionally a big cloud came over and gave some relief. See first Extra photo to see what I had for dinner - it was delicious! Also, top left for a shot of the hotel, and bottom left for a shot of the terrace showing the beautiful view looking the other direction.

The second Extra shows various views around Clifton. It was challenging at times because as beautiful as it is, there are plenty of cars, so most of my pictures show the higher sections of buildings! There were also some beautiful gardens in basement flats - bottom left. It’s worth looking down as well as up! Top left is outside Clifton Arcade, though that wasn’t the exact cafe where I had my snack.

When I was done with dinner I made my way back to the campsite on the other side of the river. On foot this time. There are several ways to walk back. I chose the zig-zag path leading down from the bridge to the bottom of the gorge. It was a beautiful tree-lined path, but even going downhill hurt my knees it was so steep!

I’m sure I’ll be back again - there’s lots more to explore in this part of Bristol, and more interesting restaurants to try. Hopefully next time will be sunny but not so hot.