After leaving my chalet at a holiday camp south of Clevedon, today's trek began with a walk over flat fields of verdant pasture, edged by drainage channels with a swan and a family of ducks and ducklings. A herd of cows in one field were particularly attentive, closely surrounding me as I made my way across. Fortunately they let me through, with some frisky jumping as they moved out of my way, not for those of faint heart. Ahead of me lay the wooded ridge that runs eastward from the town of Clevedon. Soon I was climbing up it then followed the ridge on a quiet lane, lined with discrete and no doubt very expensive houses, a view I determined from the many, large "Private Road" signs (although as the signs acknowledged it was a public footpath). The lane reduced to a track which led up to the Cadbury Camp hill fort, an ancient system of banks and ditches within which the local people could defend themselves. This one was particularly well preserved.
Coming down off the ridge I crossed the M5 Motorway, something I repeated several times today. This giant artery of traffic delivers cars and lorries to the entire south west of England, I was to hear the noise of its presence many times today as I we followed a similar direction.
Needing to simplify my route as I had far to go today, after the village of Clapton-in-Gordano, I chose to follow the Avon Cycleway rather than the more complex route in the guidebook. This took me to my first big bridge by mostly quiet lanes and a cycle track, with only the occasional whizz of passing cyclists, and one not-very-nice section of busy road. On the way I passed a lot of parked cars where people were apparently gathering for a walk in a bluebell wood. My first big bridge, 1.4 kilometres long, carried the M5 over the River Avon. On the upstream side of the structure there was a pedestrian and cycle path. The nearest alternative river crossing was the graceful Clifton Suspension bridge, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I wondered what he would have thought of the M5 bridge using the brute strength of modern reinforced concrete rather than anything more elegant.
M5 Motorway Bridge at Avonmouth
After leaving the Avonmouth bridge I wished to join the Severn Way, a long distance path along the banks of the River Severn. To do so I followed National Cycle Route 41 through green spaces around the suburb of Lawrence Weston (a funny name for a suburb I thought) and beside a drainage channel passed industrial works, but surrounded by green vegetation nevertheless. Then it was a walk through the Cabot Park Industrial Estate passed a big Coop distribution centre to join up with the Severn Way.
The entrance to the Severn Way footpath was not attractive, consisting of a pile of rubble, but a little progress over some old railway tracks and I was on a narrow green pathway, looking like it had some maintenance recently, with vegetation having been cut back. My walk proceeded well, initially behind industrial units, including a large Combined Cycle Gas Fired power station. In my younger days, power stations emitted a lot of steam from cooling towers, but in these modern, much more efficient plants none is visible. The heat from the gas turbines is used to generate steam to drive steam turbines, both the gas and steam turbines generate electricity, so the gas you burn works twice for you, I always thought this a neat trick. Later I followed the path in greenery beside a road, until I reached the first of multiple footpath closures. Closures had been effected for work on flood defences, such as banks of earth to stop water from the River Severn inundating the adjacent plain. They were also creating flooded areas behind the defences for wildlife. The first closure simply meant a move onto the cycle path beside the road until I reached the village of Severn Beach. The beach at Severn Beach is mud below a little shingle, not a place to build sand castles, but it had a promenade, popular with people out walking, an up-close view of the New Severn Bridge and, nearby, Shirley's café where I enjoyed a cheese and ham toastie and apple cake with a coffee with many others sitting at picnic tables in the sunshine.
As I was leaving Severn Beach I was hindered by my next footpath closure, however I saw people walking around it on the shingle and under the carriageway of the New Severn Bridge to re-join the promenade. I should not call it the New Severn Bridge, although that is the name I have always known it as, its correct name was the "Second Severn Crossing" however it has recently been rechristened the "Prince of Wales Bridge". Carrying the M4 motorway over the River Severn it is the second of my big bridges today, with a total length of five kilometres, the central, cable stayed span is just under a kilometre. There is no pedestrian or cycle access across the bridge, instead I was aiming for the old Severn Bridge, a white suspension bridge I could see upstream, not too far away. Reaching it proved difficult.
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| New Severn Bridge or more officially the Prince of Wales Bridge |
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| The cycle and pedestrian route over the original Severn Bridge |
At yet another footpath closure, a sign directed me on a diversion inland. I followed along a drainage channel to where a farmer was staking down a diversion sign. He complained bitterly about the number of walkers crossing his field and disturbing his cows because they were not following the diversion. However without his sign there was nothing to show where the diversion was meant to go. On reaching a road, and on the advice of the farmer, I decided to follow National Cycle Route number 4 to the Severn Bridge. Sadly I soon found a diversion sign for this route as well, but with no indication as to where the diversion might go. Being close to the route in the guidebook, I then decided to follow that, but alas, another diversion sign! Looking closely at the notice I saw that there were three aerial maps showing which footpaths were open and closed and where the diversions were, a complex web of open and closed paths in different colours. Taking a photo of the relevant aerial photograph I walked along the footpath and attempted to follow the diversion. There were no diversion signs and the aerial photograph was not that clear as to where field boundaries were, an Ordnance Survey map would have been much clearer. Exasperated I gave up, it was a Saturday, there were no workmen around so I decided to follow the footpath marked on the aerial photograph in red as "closed". It was not closed, it was open between barriers, the signs were useless!
Reaching the old Severn Bridge I retired to the nearby service station for a coffee, I remembered it from my youth when we visited to see the then recently completed Severn Bridge, a wonder at the time due to its aerofoil designed road deck that would keep it stable in high winds, and a central span of almost a kilometre. We were also astonished by the high price of the sausage rolls at the then newly opened service station. On proceeding across, I found some signs stating the cycleway across the bridge was closed, others that it was open. One was dated June - October 2006, 15 years ago. I just carried on, feeling sad that those responsible seemed to treat the users of such routes with such contempt, otherwise more precise information would be provided.
Crossing the Severn Bridge, from high above I looked down on the brown water of the River Severn, appearing to boil beneath me with its many eddies. The bridge continues across a stretch of land where I looked down onto the top of trees, then continued over the River Wye (the bridge crosses both the Severn and the Wye). I began to feel a sense of exhilaration that this part of my walk was nearing an end, yet there was still a long slog to up and down hills to reach the centre of Chepstow. There my wife and dogs greeted me and we celebrated with a glass of wine at a bar beside the sylvan Wye.
Having walked over 300 miles from Lands End to Chepstow, at an average of almost 20 miles a day it is time for a rest. This was too much, too quickly and my feet are badly blistered and I am stooping as I walk like an old man. On most of my long distance walks I cover an average of about 15 miles a day. I should have built up daily distances more slowly. I have a few things I need to do at home, such fix a broken tooth and receive my second vaccination for Covid 19. I hope to restart my walk sometime after May 17 when hotels and Bed & Breakfasts will hopefully be open, leading to a greater opportunity for accommodation. Only about 1000 miles left to walk.
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