From The Sea Walls.

Following on from yesterday's blip, today's is a view from where we ate our 99s and it's looking through the railings put there to stop little boys falling over the edge. A few feet in front of those railings is a precipitous 300 foot drop onto a busy road, if the fall doesn't get you an HGV will.

Why would a little boy want to get close to the edge? The cliff face from here to the other side of the bridge is an SSSI (site of special scientific interest); it is the host to many rare plants, some of them unique to these rocks. I may have mentioned in a previous blip that Brunel himself was an early conservationist, moving plants from the suspension bridge construction site to a safer location. On the other side of the river is a perennial peregrine nest and bird watchers congregate a mile or so towards the bridge to see it and the birds. Last year I was privileged to be standing there when someone said, "Her she comes" and she passed a few feet above my head going like the proverbial clappers. Then the someone said, "You should see her when she's really moving!"

Just beyond the final visible bend in the river is Bristle's Floating Harbour, so called because, being behind lock gates, the boats in it are all afloat. From this view, it is easy to see how difficult it was for a large cargo vessel to navigate this river. If you've not already seen it, have a look at my blip of the 15th of May to see what happened on a much gentler bend a few miles downstream.