Leigh Woods - Nov 2024
| Exploring Leigh Woods | |
| We had been looking to explore the area around the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, and ended up finding Leigh Woods. It is a nice park with hiking trails, car park, and picnic area. | |
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Hiking from the car park down to the Avon river, we walked through an arch under a viaduct.
Some research since told us it is the single-track Portishead Railway.
The train closed for passengers in 1964 and continued
as a freight line until the 1980s. We could find no notice about the rail still being
used for freight nowadays. One guy we bumped into used to work at the shipyard, and
he says freight trains still come through. In the news, there is now a discussion
to restore it and reopen for passengers because Portishead is famously without useful public transport.
We have seen this type of signs several places: very organized to give you phone number and description to call if there is an accident. |
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| Along the way, we found some interesting graffiti including this boulder of rocks that appeared to house many Mr. Bumps from the Mr. Men! series. | |
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| The towpath runs along the river and was quite busy with hikers, runners, and bicycles. | |
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Even this late in the year we spotted flowers and berries,
this one Google guesses is European spindle. Does anyone know?
Suddenly we could see Clifton Suspension Bridge. Very exciting! |
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| In 1830 it needed an Act of Parliament to build a bridge across the river Avon. The bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel when he was 24 years old. Brunel loved his bridge and called it ‘my first child, my darling’. For a while during construction, it was used to transport workers across the gorge and members of the public could pay to ride across too - olden day zip line! The project struggled financially and it took 33 years to complete construction. Brunel died in 1859, and the bridge didn't open until 1864. | |
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| We hiked back up the hillside into Leigh Woods and enjoyed a cup of tea at the picnic area where Percy had been waiting patiently. The birds seemed hopeful that we had food for them, but alas that was not the case. | |
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Postscript: A good day for hiking boots. |
November 2024