Porfil one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Porfil here.

I wouldn’t walk one this for a leisure day out, but if you do want to get from Portishead to Filton, it’s a decent route and I had plenty of fun exploring it.

This Slow Way is a right old mixture, routing variously via the modern development around the Portishead marina; a bit of Severn Estuary coast; a wetland nature reserve; some semi-rural roadside; a cycle path snaking around the course of a disused railway and vast car parks used to house vehicles imported through Bristol docks; the M5 motorway bridge over the River Avon; a wooded limestone ridge through the suburb of Shirehampton; remnant estate parklands; plus a couple of golf courses and the Southmead housing estate.

The route looks to be largely wheelable between Portishead and Shirehampton, with mostly paved or good surfaces, but then passes through a lot of woodland from Shirehampton to the Henbury/Combe Dingle area with various ups and downs, sets of steps, the odd stile and some very muddy paths in winter. I also found I had to use my GPS to help guide me through the array of pathways in the Blaise Castle estate near Combe Dingle, even though I know the area reasonably well.

There is one access issue on the route which demands a short detour. The little decorative iron footbridge over the B4057 Kingsweston Rd (at what3words toys.senses.cones) is unsafe and has been closed for some years and there is no sign of it being repaired at the moment. For now, the easiest alternative is to walk south 100m or so down the ridge and back up the B-road or to fight your way through the shrubbery near the top of Kingsweston Lane at its junction with the B4057. (and take care crossing the lively, curvy road here).

At the northern end of the walk the mapped route misses a couple of opportunities to use off-road footpaths instead of roads between Henbury Golf Club and the B4055, and again through the Southmead estate, but otherwise it makes very good use of the available green spaces.

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