Leigh Woods & Clifton

After a couple of days of enjoying the urban side of Bristol, I was ready for more tranquility and a leafy part of the city. It’s amazing that there are such huge areas of green so close to the city. I COULD walk to Leigh Woods (National Trust), but I have an aversion to long steep paths, so I take a bus and get off just 4/5 stops away. I was in Leigh Woods last week too but I tried to walk in a completely different area today. I had a sandwich and stopped at one point for a picnic.

After a couple of hours in the woods, I then headed to the Clifton Suspension bridge and walked across it to Clifton. The bridge has been having maintenance work done to it in recent weeks, and the south side of the bridge has been closed to pedestrians. I discovered today that they’ve switched sides, so the other path was open again and I got to enjoy new views to the south! If you look closely, you can see the three tobacco buildings. The campsite and the harbour are very close to them, but can’t be seen in the picture. The beautiful buildings to the right of the bridge include the Avon Gorge hotel where I had such a nice dinner a few weeks ago, with a beautiful view of the bridge. (Here)

Once over the bridge I made a bee-line for a certain cafe to enjoy a cup of coffee and a piece of cake. It had been a cloudy day so far but suddenly the sun came out and it was great to feel the sun on my face for awhile.

I walked back down to the campsite but took a slow way and enjoyed many beautiful houses, some of them the multi-coloured houses that Bristol is known for. I stopped at The Lion, a popular little neighbourhood pub, and enjoyed half a pint while sitting in their small flower-filled courtyard garden - another quiet oasis.

There are lots of beautiful and sometimes opulent houses in Clifton. While I’m sure many of them would be lovely to live in, I have to say I’m more tempted by the tiny house I saw in the woods earlier in the day - see the last picture in the collage.