Return to East Bristol and the Frome

It’s been over a year since I last posted! There have been no new walks added for a while, and several of the existing walks could do with a few factual updates. I beg your indulgence: these days I have exhausted my existing pool of walks, meaning that new ones have to be devised specially for the site, and there never seems to be the time.

A recent update, made without fanfare in July, unfortunately had to advise against following a particular section of Walk Forty-One: ‘Eastwood farm and Stockwood Vale’ due to safe public access to part of the route being compromised. I’d like to thank Mike’s Bristol Walks reader David Groves for bringing the issue to my attention. Thankfully, the walk already includes an alternative route due to the rather hazardous nature of that section.

However, I’m also pleased to offer you a new walk for the first time this year! I’ve been meaning to dig a little deeper into Fishponds for a while, which I’ve finally done with Walk Forty-Two: ‘Fishponds and Downend’. The walk uncovers a number of historic buildings and unique green spaces in the borderlands between east Bristol and South Gloucestershire. Although it overlaps with one of the nicest parts of Walk Twenty ‘Stapleton and the Frome Valley’ at Snuff Mills and Oldbury Court Estate, it also ventures into plenty of new territory, including the characterful and feature-packed Page Park in Staple Hill. I hope you enjoy it!