We had one great sunny day during our (first) house sitting assignment in Bristol, so Mick and I decided to take an all-day pass on the ferry (like a hop on hop off bus, but this was on a ferry) for £7 each.

There were two ferries we could choose from, both starting at the same point but heading in opposite directions. The sailor on this ship gave Mick and I a bit of a history of Bristol and pointed out some interesting sites to us. He loved Bristol and its history and warmly welcomed us each time we got back on.

Early in the day, Mick and I were the only customers, but during the course of our hopping on and hopping off, the numbers picked up. In summer we were told, the ferries are very popular – and there is standing room only.

There were lots of bridges to go under, many of them foot bridges or a combination, like the one coming up in this photo – the Prince Street Bridge – that we have walked over many times already during our stay.

Along the waterway there are many restaurants, some new like the one in this photo, but many are located inside converted ships. They look fantastic and popular.

This photo shows a blending of mostly old and new buildings. The brown coloured brickwork is very common in Bristol buildings.

As we went under this bridge, we got a glimpse of some narrow boats moored along the edge. Many of them are clearly homes for local Bristolians.

 

This photo shows one of the new footbridges that have been built in recent years. There was another longer one than this about 3 minutes further on, and it too was curved like this one.

This photo shows the more modern area of the waterway, and this is where we would walk the dog most mornings once we got a lift from the small ferry that acted as a shuttle between the two banks of the waterway.

This ship – the SS Great Britain has been pretty much fully restored and is now a museum following significant investment by a wealthy businessman back in 1970.

Mick and I did not visit her during this ‘sit’, but when we return to Bristol we hope to. The SS Great Britain was built in Bristol by the Great Western Steamship Company, and was launched in 1843 after taking 6 years to build. In 1845 she took 14 days to cross the Atlantic, and that made her the first iron steamer to do so.

The ship was designed by I.K. Brunel, as were a few other key landmarks in Bristol. After a rocky start to her career, the SS Great Britain carried thousands of immigrants to Australia from 1852. It was deliberately sunk in 1937 at the end of her career.

These coloured residential properties are often featured on advertisements of Bristol. During the afternoon the lighting was great for this photo.

At the Pump House Stop on the ferry ride, Mick and I got off to go and explore the major lock for this waterway, and also to get a glimpse of another one of I.K. Brunel’s designs – the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The history of this bridge is quite fascinating – check out the link if you are interested. But in a nutshell, a design competition was conducted in 1829 for a bridge on this site. More than twenty entries were received, including four from Brunel. A Scottish engineer was asked to judge the entries and when he rejected them all, he was then asked to come up with a design. Which he did. However, Brunel came up with this design at a cheaper price and so got the ‘gig’.

Loads of trouble and strife occurred between the awarding of the contract and the completion of the bridge. The works were eventually completed in 1864, five years after Brunel died.

Mick was interested to see the lock which had huge doors – much needed to cope with the massive tidal differences in the Avon River. Not the prettiest river we’ve seen by a long shot.

And finally, as we walked back towards Wapping Wharf, we came across the pump that is needed to operate this lock, taking up pretty much the whole of this building below.