Final part - 4 of 4















And headed home

 
Part 3 of 4

 
Part 2 of 4

 
I was thinking of writing up my travels and experiences of - well - all sorts of things. Then on Saturday I was in The Galleries in Bristol browsing in a secondhand bookshop and musing over shelves of travel books (you know - those things made of sheets of paper before we had the Internet) and I found myself really wondering if I want to add to that river of writing that has become a flood with different media experiences these days. 

How often we overlook the places near us. Last Saturday's plans to go a bit further - to London - have transformed into making London the last stop on our next Interrail trip; I am very familiar with much of it having been brought up there, but there is much of it that's still new as it's so vast, or so changed over 40 or more years. So on Saturday, I took the train from Melksham into BRISTOL - 44 minutes from our train pulling out of Melksham, to arriving into Bristol (Temple Meads).  The story of how "Temple Meads" got than name is another article.   The story of what's going on in Trowbridge where I changed in another.  And the story or musings on the lady who took her enshoed feet off the seat so that I could side, and proceeded to brush her hair, using her phone as a mirror, put stuff on her nails, and put a really strong perfume that stank on her throat ... where was she going? Who did she want to impress? Why did she not get fully ready before she left home? Should such personal things be done on the train?

BRISTOL.  An internet search tells me it's "a historic city in southwest England with roots dating back to the Stone Age, evolving into a major port, industrial hub, and cultural centre over centuries". This week, it's making the news as the most expensive place to rent a home in the UK, and sprawls out into North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.  It's tended to be a place I've passed (and will pass through) many times; on Saturday my loose objective was to see the new, second, back station entrance (£23 million) that was opened a couple of weeks ago and to explore the walkway back from there along the Floating Harbour in-towards the heart of the city. Those are documented in other posts - at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10737.msg379744#msg379744 and https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10737.msg379763#msg379763 - and are somewhat niche records for friends with similar transport interests, and also perhaps for the record in years to come.

And having made my way out of the new back entrance, past the university buildings in final fit out, past the wide new cycle lanes and bus stop available and working but awaiting the flood of passengers, I took a wider look around. The new is plonked onto the old. The old back river was a muddy ditch; it's tidal, and the River Avon has the second greatest tidal range in the world, so it would have looked far prettier a few hours later had I gone back this way, though in practise I did a looped walk in parts of the city and docks, and came back to the front entrance of the station a few hours later.

Pictures.  Hundreds and hundreds of them.  It was a grey day, and most of them are "record shots" rather than anything with any artistic merit.   There is the occasional gem in the mud, and I'll try and pick out some of those gems to share on this post, and also to pick out some of the pictures that share the city and what was there to see. And there you have a conundrum - what audience am I writing for?   Answers on a postcard please - or in modern terms, please follow up.





















Pictures to be continued - total 4 sets of 10