The Avon Gorge and the mud within

Out of nowhere I went for a long (ish) run around Bristol including Ashton Court, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the Cumberland basin and back. 9 happy miles in the sunshine. Mostly happy anyway.

Did some school work this morning and felt better for it I suppose.

Felt productive so made a courgette and pepper soup which actually came out alright. Family approval was hard to gain but there were no obvious complaints on the Dad Advisor feedback form.

Run this afternoon. Clifton Suspension Bridge is still quite special. I drove the school minibus passed it a few weeks ago and some of the pupils could not name it. We have failed them a bit there or someone has.

The photo shows the newly revamped Avon Gorge hotel - there's a grand ballroom at the bottom that has been unused for years but there's talk of revamping it. There used to be a cliff railway, running down through the cliff to the hot springs at the bottom - you can probably just see the bottom entrance. The buildings at the bottom were there to serve the hot springs. I'm reading Waterlog by Roger Deakin who remarks on the spa tradition we had and lost and contrasts it with the thriving spas in continental Europe.

Anyway, the cliff railway still exists but no longer works - it was a BBC broadcasting station in the Second World War. It all seems long ago but still very recent as the Berlin trip reminds us - only today in the Guardian there is a story that German collaborators are still getting a state pension from the German government. Funny old world.

Anyway, eventually back home and out to collect the dog food and have a 25 minute chat with the pet shop owner about my school, the old headteacher, the old deputy headteacher, PFI contracts, the cost of housing in Bristol, renting and more!

The dog's got his food, I've run my run and all is temporarily well with this little corner of the world.

The extras: Who can resist these mirrors? Probably most people.  The other is the wider shot of the suspension bridge and the ugly bits of Cumberland Basin - the mayor has big plans for its revamp (but him and that are a whole other story for another time).

Oh, and the mud? 53,000 tonnes of sediment a year enter the Severn estuary from the Avon apparently.

You used to be able to ford the river at low tide and the mud saved one poor young woman when she jumped off the bridge in 1885.

Sorry for going on. Not normally like this - Maybe I'm putting off some work!