Long Bristol walk: Forties to Noughties plus Two

This is an all day walk.

New blog about this walk and others http://seebristol.blogspot.co.uk/

We will stop at the the Framing Factory Gallery and Cafe on Princes Wharf,

http://www.artwarehouse.co.uk/

Carluccios in Quakers Friars,

http://www.cabotcircus.com/shops/carluccios

and Knights Templars in Temple Quay.

http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-knights-templar

The Route

The walk covers Redcliff, Cannon's Marsh, College Green, See No Evil, St James, Broadmead, Castle Park, Temple Quay and St Thomas. We bypass the medieval heart of the city except to get away from the traffic on the ring road! There will be plenty of off road and waterside walking, both on the former River Frome and the River Avon in the Floating Harbour, and a few green spaces too. Here is the route.it is just over 7 miles!

http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=93A13C84-A4D4-E3D6-4C42DDE62FDA264C&success=1

Dress Warm and Comfortable!

Despite being mid spring temperatures will vary, we will find ourselves in the odd wind tunnel, and under the shadow of large buildings, if we are lucky with the weather we will be sitting outside at all refreshment stops! I suggest you bring something fairly waterproof/windproof. Good flat shoes or boots advisable, no guarantee your tootsies will stay warm it it looks sunny enough for sandals!

Pace and Terrain

Mainly flat with a few low hills, ramps or steps. This is a good trip for photography. I've tried to include the best of modern architecture and conservation, some plazas, green space, art, sculpture and waterside, we may pass a bit of stuff that probably looked better on the drawing board! I have tightened up the schedule a little so we can have people join us for the shorter walks.

So we need to be in the a Art Warehouse for 12.30pm, and Carlucios for 3pm this will still give some time for photgraphy and a leisurely look at what we find. I will not be giving long explanations about styles of buildings or history behind them, please read below for a summary

Food and Drink

I will be munching a healthy pack lunch on some benches, there are a good few on route, and just having a hot or cool drink at the cafes, so do bring your own stuff if you want a budget day out. If you want to order munchies at one of our refreshment stops, feel free, the time this walk takes is really up to you.

From The Blitz to Urban Art

From Temple Quay to the Bear Pit and Millennium Square, Bristol has experienced massive regernation, over more than 70 years since the Blitz devastated buildings and streets from Medieval to Edwardian Bristol, including.

The building of the new Council House was put on hold for the war, but its completion was a sign of a change in attitude to town planning. Much of our 17c-Edwardian buildings were deliberately cleared for ring roads and shopping centres. Through the 80's and 90's our city planners finally got their head round renovation and conservation, but still vast tracts of industrial dockside were cleared for new build spaces, and a lovely waterside park made out of the rubble of destroyed medieval and 17C streets, our post war architecture goes from Modernism to Post-Modernism and back to Modernism!