Category: travel

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Clevedon Pier

Clevedon Pier is a seaside pier in the town of Clevedon, North Somerset, England on the east shore of the Severn Estuary. It was described by Sir John Betjeman, as “the most beautiful pier in England”.

The pier opened in 1869 and served as an embarkation point for paddle steamer excursions for almost exactly 100 years. Two of the spans collapsed during stress testing in 1970 and demolition was proposed, but local fund raising and heritage grants allowed the pier to be dismantled for restoration and reassembled.

It reopened in 1989, the pier now, once again, offers a landing stage for steamers and is a popular attraction for tourists and anglers.

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Visiting Edinburgh

Though I have visited Edinburgh lots of times, it has always been for work. My first holiday to Edinburgh was in 2021. Then we had a lot more time to explore the city. However on a recent return visit for work, I had some time for some exploring.

I would have explored more during my visit, but we had lots of rain.

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Taking the train to Edinburgh

I recently visited Edinburgh for a conference. As I was in London I caught the train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley.

It was a damp early evening when I arrived at Kings Cross.

Went to platform one to get on my train.

The seat I was booked into was a table seat by the window. There was four of us on the table, so it was quite cramped.

I was quite impressed with the speed of the train, taking just four hours and twenty minutes from platform to platform.

Arrived at Edinburgh Waverley.

Walked along the platform to the overbridge.

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Walking around Uphill

Though it was quite cold and chilly, it was dry, so I went for a walk around Uphill. I went to the beach, past the boatyard and quarry and along part of the Brean Down Way.

Having parked the car I walked past the stream that runs through part of the village and headed to the beach.

From the beach you can see Brean Down. Despite it looking close, the River Axe (and its mud) gets in the way. If you want to get to Brean Down, you need to walk along the Brean Down Way.

The beach wasn’t too busy, but then it was also quite wet and damp.

I walked back from the beach and headed pats the marina and then onto the footpath by the quarry.

There were climbers climbing the quarry walls.

I got as far as looking over the Walborough Nature Reserve, before I turned back.

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Cheddar after the rain

I had a walk around Cheddar after the rain and the Cheddar Yeo stream, which is usually still and clear. This time however it was much more a raging torrent.

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Kings Cross

When I was in London I visited the area north of Kings Cross railway station. This area was redeveloped a few years ago now, but still looks really nice.

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Routemaster

I was in London and driving down Fleet Street was an old London Routemaster bus.

Bus

I was curious was TFL now running a Heritage route using the quintessential Routemaster red bus.

A quick Google search revealed this:

There’s a new vintage bus service for Central London. Route T15 links Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the Tower of London. Fares for all-day use are £7.50 for adults (including seniors), £5 for children and £20 for groups of four. It’s not a TfL service, so you can’t use Oyster cards

So it’s not TFL, but certainly a nice idea to relive what it was live taking the Routemaster around London. It must be popular, as when I saw it again, it was packed.