Your say / Portway
‘Let’s reclaim the gorge for the people’
The Avon Gorge is a wonderful place, full of scenic beauty and geological interest, home of rare plants and trees and a superb venue for rock climbing.
Surely this gorgeous place is accessible to all of us, Bristolians and visitors alike, to visit at will?
Decide to see this wonder for yourself, close up, and you will start at the Suspension Bridge and take in the view of the suspension buttress and the striking amphitheatre of St Vincent’s Rocks, the Great Quarry further down the Portway and the luminous rock faces of the Sea Walls.
is needed now More than ever
Shall we take the zig-zag path down by the old funicular railway? We can then cross the road and continue our walk.
However, when we get to the Portway, there is no pedestrian-controlled crossing and we cannot continue our walk.
Colin Knowles writes that pedestrians are “barred” from enjoying the Avon Gorge – photo: Sarju Mashru
Instead we take the path which starts near the top of Bridge Valley Road, running through the charming, fairyland-like woodlands. Surely here we can cross the Portway and continue our walk? Impossible – the path ends in the inbound bus lane and there are no pedestrian refuges to help us
cross.
How about walking down from the Peregrine Watch point to the northern end of the Great Quarry? Initially there is a tempting path, but very soon it deteriorates into steep earthy slopes which are well beyond our comfort zone. We retreat.
After consoling ourselves with the view and an ice cream at the top of Sea Walls, we make our way down Goat Gully.
Whilst this brings us down to the base of Sea Walls, it doesn’t feel like a comfortable place to just walk around and enjoy all the gorge has to offer.
We decide to take a bus back into town – after all, there are plenty of them whizzing back and forth. But strangely there are no bus stops between Roman Way and Hotwells, so no bus ride for us.
In practice people are barred from enjoying the Avon Gorge.
Can we change this? Yes, easily.
We need footpaths, pavements, road crossing points, bus stops, cycle hoops. Bristol City Council – you could make all that happen. George Ferguson, when mayor, brought in some Sunday traffic closures.
They were great – let’s do that every Sunday and reclaim the gorge for the people.
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Work starts to build Bristol’s first railway station in almost a century
- Bonded warehouses to remain ‘dominant built structures’ in Western Harbour vision
- Famous goats tasked with grazing Avon Gorge gully
- Hotwells pub damaged again after car crashes into it
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