Round the Bend

Some of our party were ill-shod for serious walking so we went for what you might call a preamble, along the footpath that runs from Shirehampton to Sea Mills, between the Portway and railway track and River Avon - a section of urban edgelands none of us had visited before.

Below us the River Avon, looking steely.

I'd also settled on this route because I wanted to view horseshoe bend, graveyard of many boats and ships when Bristol's dock was sited at the Floating Harbour rather than Avonmouth.

This was the best shot I could manage without a wide-angle lens ...

... and this is a cheat, spliced together but giving a better view of what it looks like. 

Just visible on the right hand bank in this photo is the Old Powder House, where vessels were required to off-load gun powder and other inflammable materials before they reached the port in the centre of Bristol.

The path dips up and down between the road and the railway track.

Shirehampton Park

A scattering of bluebells

We stopped just short of Sea Mills and retraced our steps. I found myself wondering whether William and Dorothy Wordsworth took this route when returning from Joseph Cottle's bookshop in Bristol to their lodgings in Shirehampton.

They probably wouldn't have seen a train, not back in 1798.

Exploring a corner of the city for the first time is always enjoyable ...

... especially when the company is good.