Bristol might be a big city – the UK’s ninth most populous – but it’s a small county so any outdoor stuff is going to be hemmed in by built-up areas and busy roads. But does this detract from the quality? Not at all: as an outdoor venue, Bristol’s about as good as a city can get, with stacks of quality rock climbing, some pretty decent mountain biking, and at least a couple of decent-size walks, all within spitting distance of the busy centre.
The action’s focused to the south and west of the City, where the River Avon has sliced itself a sizeable gorge through what would have once been lofty limestone downs. South of the river, the gorge is crowned with expansive wooded parkland: Leigh Woods and Ashton Court, both providing excellent walking and mountain biking, and feeling like another world despite being less than two miles from the Bus Station; and on the other bank, high above vertiginous cliffs, lie the Clifton Downs: mainly open parkland that backs onto bustling shopping streets and grid-locked trunk roads.
The two are joined by Brunel’s Suspension Bridge – a distinctive icon that is truly spectacular from any perspective – and beneath this, the limestone cliffs of the gorge offer literally hundreds of rock climbing routes, mainly multi-pitch, in all grades.
Further out, just a few miles down the Avon, the grounds of the Blaise Castle Estate, provide yet more steep, wooded slopes, another limestone gorge and some fine views westwards to the Severn Estuary.
