Accidentally Steve: Every County in England - Part 2: Gloucestershire, Bristol & Somerset

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Every County in England - Part 2: Gloucestershire, Bristol & Somerset

Gloucestershire may not seem like the obvious starting point for a round England tour but looking up from where I stood the reason became clear. 150ft above my head the rumble of cars speeding along the suspended deck of the Severn Bridge carrying a constant stream of vehicles over the border from Wales into England, and Gloucestershire, the first county of the 48 in England I was just setting out to visit.

The hulking bridge looming above me was built in 1966 to span the mighty Severn Estuary which cleaves a huge wedge out of Gloucestershire. The River Severn is the longest river in the UK and was an important shipping route, but a treacherous one. The estuary in front of me swirled with muddy water, shifting quicksand & clashing currents. Now two bridges span this dangerous channel, but previously the only way to avoid the 60mile detour via the first bridge upstream was to catch a small ferry to the far side. I was stood on the now disused

ferry slip, a sad relic to this town’s past bustling atmosphere. Next to me sat the old pub, at one time bustling with people waiting for the ferry, now the car park sat empty.

This forgotten town didn’t really do the county justice but I had to move on. I’d be returning this way to complete the journey so I’ll return to explore what the rest of Gloucestershire has to offer then. For now I had to join the traffic above my head and make my way through Bristol, not an easy task on a busy Friday lunchtime.

Arriving in Bristol I felt quite pleased that I’d ticked off a second
county in the first day of travelling (although whether Gloucestershire really counts from
that fleeting visit is debatable). Bristol is an anomaly, most counties in England have a fairly large area with a selection of towns & cities, Bristol (County) however is just a micro-county housing the docks & core of the city of Bristol, whose 1million inhabitants sprawl out in unwieldy suburbs draped across the hillsides and narrow valleys in all directions.

Bristol has been inhabited since the Iron Age and grew rapidly thanks to its docks, which were a starting port for manyvessels heading to the New World. Today the city has also gained some of the worst traffic in the country thanks to its narrow valleys and gorges funnelling busy routes into bottlenecks. My journey from the west allowed for a slow approach to the city past the grim industrial splurge of Avonmouth and into the Avon Gorge. The destination I’d chosen was soon to come into view. Yet again I found myself looking up at another bridge, but this time a much older one. A few hairpins past some colourful terraced houses & large palatial homes and I was up at the viewing area where I could have a better look.

The bridge ahead of me was the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Spanning the gorge and river 350ft below the bridge as been an iconic sight since it was opened in 1864. The view was spectacular with the murky River Avon making its way between the steep wooded slopes of the gorge. The area had a lot of attractions, a viewing tower, some caves cut into the cliff face, a modern museum and of course the bridge itself.

I was dreading the possibility of getting stuck in the city’s rush hour so I didn’t linger. Heading into Somerset, the third county of the day, I had a very important mission to accomplish before retiring to a hotel for the night. I had some cheese to buy!

Nearby was the village of Cheddar, the birthplace of Cheddar cheese, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get the real deal whilst I was in the area. The village sits at the foot of the impressive Cheddar Gorge whose many caves provided the ideal temperatures for maturing cheese. Today only a single cheese manufacturer remains. Walking into the shop the sales assistant jumped into action, I have a feeling that I may have been one of the only customers she’s seen today. The range of cheddars was quite startling and as the only customer I got sample after sample thrust in my direction. I felt I better just buy something and leave before I fell into a cheese coma, for some reason I plumped for the strongest on offer. Offering it to me the enthusiastic clerk proclaimed “This is well strong, it’ll melt your face’” she then screwed up her face into a contorted gurn to demonstrate its power. Perhaps this facial manoeuvre hypnotised me or perhaps I had just eaten too much but for whatever reason I found myself walking into the Somerset with a block of the smelliest cheese I could have hoped to find. What a perfect item to put in the car at the start of a road trip! We’ll see tomorrow how much I regret this purchase!