August 2021 - Searching for tunnels - Bath to Bristol and back.

It’s Saturday morning and we are in Bath… we didn’t fancy a day looking round the Roman variety, so instead planned to take full advantage of the amazing National cycle network route between Bath and Bristol. 

But that wasn’t our only aim. I mean how can you resist the opportunity to ride through a couple of miles of railway tunnel cut through the local hillside. So our search for the tunnels was on. 

Our day started with the most amazing continental breakfast at our B&B which perfectly set us up for the task ahead. 

A glide down the big hill to the start of our route beside the canal. (Let’s worry about riding back up the thing later). We really didn't get far before the camera was out.  

And almost immediately we reached our first tunnel. 

But this was small fry compared to what was to come. 

Sue stood talking to a really interesting chap who had paused to let us pass, while I busied myself trying to be artistic. The scenery was stunning, even on this slightly overcast day. It really didn't take long before we were in the centre of Bath. I was already eyeing up the local cafes, but Sue was more sensible and urged us to get more miles under our belt before we thought about loosening it. 

The route was built on a disused Midland Railway line and was one of the first routes built by the charity now known as Sustrans (It's been around quite a while - they started work on it in 1979 and finished in 1986. It is hugely popular, Sustrans suggest there are over one million trips a year made on that route alone. We could well believe this as the path was very busy. 

Just as we reached one of the many old railway bridges, we were distracted by the buzz of a Drone. Looking over the side, we could see that the Canal was pretty popular too. (the drone was apparently following a rowing boat team that had rounded the corner by the time I had grabbed out my camera. 

An increase in carriages along the seemingly disused track beside our route heralded our first station - yes literally a station, Bidden Station to be precise. We chose from their amazing array of food (especially from such a small kitchen) and sat and enjoyed the ambiance as the local steam train pulled in, picked up its next set of passengers, then moved on.  

 

There were a couple of stopping places on this route, but as time was marching on (and we were going nowhere) we decided to save further stops till the way back. So though the smells coming from the Warmley Waiting room Teagarden were quite tantalising, we rode on. 

Having past few a couple of other sites that I will mention shortly, we reached our first major tunnel at Staple hill, we popped on our lights and headed in. We were very glad of our coats as though it wasn't the warmest of days, the tunnel was definitely a few degrees colder still. 


This was great fun and we couldn't wait till we reached the bigger tunnels on our trip. 

Though this was the planned end to the 'there and back' section of our ride, we decided to continue on a little further, as we didn't feel that we had truly reached Bristol just yet. We were very happy to find the gold at the end of this rainbow was the Bakehouse Kitchen warehouse - with attached cafe - We did stop for a tasty treat before heading back down the line.  

Next stop - Mangotsfield old railway station - opened in 1845 and closed in 1966, only the walls and the platform itself remain as a testament to its past. The artwork in place of the windows were really cool. Shame about the graffiti. 

We made it back to Warmley, and waited in a very long queue to get some lunch. As with all the stops, the attention to detail was amazing, the gardens, beautiful and the food delicious. Even going to the toilet was like an act of time travel.  

So after spending much too long enjoying the beautiful gardens, we remounted our bikes, retraced our steps for a while before turning right towards Medford and joining the Sustrans two tunnels loop. 

We soon reached the entrance to the first of the long tunnels - the Devonshire - we were very excited! It was cold. It was dark. It echo’d as we peddled. Two bikes and an electric scooter passed in the other direction. Each adding to the illusion of being a train using the tunnel in its first incarnation. I wondered what was above and how deep we were. But all to quickly we could see the end and we popped out into daylight. 

This didn’t last long however as we rapidly approached Coombe Down tunnel. This is the longest walking/cycling tunnel in the world, It’s just over a mile long and like it’s partner, impossible to take photos in when you only have a phone at your disposal. Though it was lit all the way, we were very glad of our lights. It was also as cold as the freezer section of a supermarket, so we were very glad of our coats. 

We were climbing and turning for much of the ride. 

Mid way through, we started to hear music and noticed changing colours of the light. I was momentarily wondering if the whole experience was going to my head, but no. it it was indeed,  a permanent sound and light installation. We eventually could literally see the light at the end of the tunnel and we popped out just below a folley named Monkton castle.

We continued following the aigns for route 24, the path taking a winding route down towards the Kennet and Avon canal. We wound our way past a small reservoir and a rather large, well kitted out ‘independent’ boarding school before reaching the basin. 

We opted to take a very slight detour, over the moving bridge, to investigate the grade 1 listed aqueduct. We watched one family’s barge being guided through their first lock by the local pilot as a second family wizzed past in a motor boat, being expertly skippered by their very underaged son. The leisurely and luxurious lifestyle depicted by these groups must be a far cry from the original boats travelling up and down the waterway.  

We headed back along the canal towpath. It was bumpy in places and gravelly in others - not my favourite sort of cycling and as we neared the city we came across a lovely looking pub beside the canal. Being Sunday afternoon, we were surprised how quiet it was, expecting to struggle to get a seat, we were really pleased with an outdoor table right next to the bike racks. We headed in to make an order discussing whether to stop for food “Sorry, we are closed” I checked my watch 330pm. “I’m sorry” she said again “I have no staff, I have no choice. It’s been just the two of us since 7 this morning. We have to clear up” 

We returned to our bikes and were soon on our original route back to our accommodation then on to a search for food. Such a lovely day.