One of my favourite walks, in fine weather, is to catch a train to Bradford on Avon and walk back to Bath.
Bradford on Avon is a town in west Wiltshire, whose main attraction is the well preserved old buildings that make up the central part of the town. That, together with the Kennet and Avon canal and its proximity to the prime tourist destination that is Bath, mean that its main industry now is tourism (which is unusual, perhaps, for a minor inland town); although the reason that I know it well is that Netcraft had its offices there for 5 years.
The river valley between Bradford on Avon and Bath is very picturesque (although no doubt my compact camera (and its operator) will totally fail to convey that), making for a very pleasant 2 hour walk. These pictures are a mixture from walks in the summers of 2007 and 2008.
Update: refreshed with pictures from a walk in April 2009, where I got rather more sunshine.
Heading south from the station, and (once past the railway) turning right across the park, you soon reach the tithe barn, one of Bradford on Avon's main tourist attractions, and open for free to the public. The river is just beyond on the right here, and that's where I'm going.
The river and the canal both leave BoA heading due west, and close together; you can follow either the river or the canal towpath. I prefer the river towpath, as most of the middle part of the walk is on the canal anyway. Here is the river.
The river is slightly screened by trees here on the right, and the trees on the higher ground on the left are concealing the canal; the riverside path here is across this narrow strip of fields between the two waterways.
About 20 minutes from BoA, the hamlet of Avoncliff is reached. The other reason to use the riverside path is this excellent view at the river's edge arriving at Avoncliff, which you could miss if you went via the canal.
And, standing at the same spot but looking right, we have this rusty old barn (which is right next to the railway just past Avoncliff railway station, although you can't see that in this picture). In a piece of particularly sad geekery, I've dubbed this the red barn, as it reminds me of the red barn, one of the most charming spots in Half Life 2. Just to the left of it there is a weir.
Ascending the steps from there, I arrive on the canal towpath, facing towards Avoncliff.
The canal here crosses a massive aqueduct over the river. This is the view east back down to the weir I was looking at earlier.
And in this shot, from slightly further back on the bridge, you can see the red barn in the top-right, and below is the river bank where I was earlier ‒ and the garden tables of the Cross Guns pub.
This is the view from the other side of the aqueduct, looking west; the railway is now visible. To get to this side of the bridge and to progress on the towpath, you have to go back to the Cross Guns and descend and pass under the aqueduct and come up on the other side.
Looking north from the towpath a bit beyond Avoncliff.
The river now passes into a wider, flatter part of the valley on the approach to Freshford station, so the canal follows the contour lines in an arc around to the north. This is looking south across the river to the railway.
Much of this stretch of the canal is through the edge of woods.
The bridge at the north end of Limpley Stoke.
And the same road crossing the canal.
In sight of Brassknocker Hill now.
You can just see the viaduct carrying the main road over the valley south of Claverton Down from here.
Now approaching the impressive Dundas Aqueduct.
On the aqueduct now.
Looking from the aqueduct back down the Avon valley.
At the far side of the Aqueduct there used to be a junction between two canals, hence the space for turning here.
At Dundas is where I leave the towpath. You can continue along the towpath to Claverton, Bathhampton and round the north end of Bathampton/Claverton down and into Bath from the north-east, but that would be closer to 3 hours than 2 (and I cover that part of the towpath in another walk, as I have described elsewhere), so I instead cross Claverton down. From Dundas, follow the path straight up the hill (which is where I'm standing in this shot).
Following that path, cross the main road (there's a stile a few metres to the right on the main road) to continue on up towards Brassknocker. Here I am looking back south-east down the valley, from half-way up the hill.
Straight across the main road that is Brassknocker Hill, and over onto the top of Claverton Down. After passing some of the playing fields that now make up a good part of the Down, I arrive here at the start of the National Trust land on Claverton down.
Just after this sign the path splits north and west, which are the clockwise and counter-clockwise directions on the National Trust Bath Skyline Walk. I go west, the most direct route to Bath.
Looking north across a field on Claverton down. All this is National Trust land, I think. The path here is along the edge of the strip of woods which divide the fields from the main road; the wood is right behind me here.
After going west for a while, you come out alongside some more playing fields. Turning north along the skyline walk (we'll get to the skyline later!), this is looking east over more fields.
Further north, the path splits again ‒ I take the west route, continuing along the skyline walk. This way soon comes to the edge of Claverton Down, as you can see from this picture ‒ the path going into blackness there is actually the start of a 10% down gradient.
The path leads down to the village of Widcombe; the main road and the houses are behind me here, as is the turning for Prospect Lane which offers some good views of the valley. But I'm headed towards Bath; ahead here is the National Trust land of Smallcombe Wood.
I'll do a separate posting for the Skyline Walk another time, but this is why it has the name. This is the finest view over Bath, IMO.
The path dips down into a valley and past Smallcombe Farm, and back up onto the fields on Bathwick Hill.
This is overlooking the city from Bathwick Hill, which is a closer view; the crane on the left is part of the redevelopment of the Southgate shopping centre near the station. You can see the station on the left and the railway crossing the image diagonally from there; and the Abbey is in the centre of the picture.
From here you can just go onto Bathwick Hill, which brings you to the end of Great Pulteney Street. Instead, I follow the path that runs down the back of the houses on Bathwick Hill, and leads back to the canal towpath. Turning right along the canal for a minute and then left again into eastern bath, you come out at the end of North Parade Road instead.
One final picture then, of central Bath looking north from the bridge on North Parade Road towards the famous Pulteney Bridge.