Day 34 Part 2 - To Almondsbury

(continued from part one)

I walked out of Shirehampton on the old road towards Bristol, where a plaque recorded how in the days before refrigeration, live cattle were brought along the road from Avonmouth Docks by drovers. They used to pause to let the animals drink at a pool (now the golf course) before leading them to the city abbatoir.

I took the footpath past Kings Weston House, through the parkland at Blais Castle, where the rain started. A heavy shower poured as I walked through Henbury, Catbrain Hill and up to The Mall at Cribbs Causeway.

I took a coffee break at John Lewis, where I also picked up a travel sewing kit. My temporary repair of my walking trousers with a bulldog clip was threatening to give way without warning and I wanted a more secure solution.

Crossing under the M5 (the first motorway I've encountered in the English leg of my walk) I found my way carefully along the back road to Over and Almondsbury. The route is a bit of a shortcut between motorway junctions and the narrow verge-less road was as dicey as any I've been on.

Crossover House B&B is a very comfortable place to stay. I dined at The Bowl Inn (pork rissoles and a nice pint of Brain's Rev James). I fell into conversation with two men sent on a motivational training course by their company. The course might have been more motivational had they not been told a week before that their office would be closed.