[1] Your outward route takes you past the Watershed complex with the Floating Harbour on your left. Continue along the water’s edge and cross the Amphitheatre, with the Lloyd’s building to your right. Redevelopment around the old gasworks site is almost complete, so walkers can now keep to dockside for most of the circuit. With that in mind, continue to Capricorn Quay, where the statue of Samuel Plimsoll can be seen.
(A) On the far bank is Brunel’s SS Great Britain, the world’s first iron-hulled passenger liner, built here and launched in 1843. Nearby, the replica of John Cabot’s ‘Matthew’ can be seen (if not sailing off-shore).
(B) Samuel Plimsoll (1824-1898) became a Liberal politician, and developed a keen interest in safety at sea. His campaigning led to the Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 instructing the 'Plimsoll Line' to be painted on the hull of every ship to mark its load line and giving the Board of Trade greater inspection powers.
Now continue along Mardyke Western Wharf and beyond a floating restaurant, after which you are on Poole’s Wharf.
(C) The Mardyke was traditionally a waiting area for ships when berths in the city centre were occupied. Poole's Wharf was the former dry dock of the shipyard that was established on the site in 1772. It was later occupied by some of Bristol’s more pioneering shipbuilders, until shipbuilding finished here in 1904. Ship repair continued here until the 1930s, after which the area became a coal-importing yard and then the final home of Bristol’s sand-dredging fleets. After they left in 1991, the area was redeveloped with housing.
[2] Cross the wooden footbridge and after passing the Pump House pub, climb the steps to the swing bridge.
(D) The Pumphouse housed the original hydraulic pumping system for operating the lock gates and bridges of the 1870s locks.
Cross the road with care and descend the steps opposite. You are now walking with the Cumberland Basin to your left and the imposing Plimsoll Bridge ahead.
Beyond the bridge the walk can be shortened by crossing the footway over the lock gates to your left. If you have a wheelchair or pushchair, this is the route to take. It will shorten the walk by about 2.5 miles. If you choose this option, move to Waypoint 7
[3] However, if you are feeling energetic continue alongside the River Avon as far as you can before taking to the pavement and passing the derelict Victorian pier on your left. Now cross the busy road with extreme care to reach a row of cottages called The Colonnade, built in 1786. Pause to read the information plaque on the wall of No 1 then walk on past the entrance to Clifton Rocks Railway.
(E) This was a water powered funicular railway constructed with great difficulty inside the cliffs of the Avon Gorge in order to reduce its visual impact on the picturesque surroundings. It opened in 1893 and operated for 40 years before lack of use forced closure in 1934. During WWII, it became a secret transmission base for the BBC, but since then, the tunnel has been empty and disused, although a Preservation Group is trying to restore the railway.
Where the pavement ends, steps lead you to a zigzag path upwards to the rarefied atmosphere of Clifton. With your climb over pause for breath and admire the view before walking across the grass to the Suspension Bridge.
[4] Cross the bridge and into Bridge Road then take the first turning on the right (North Road) and follow this as it bends round to the left to reach the entrance to Leigh Woods on your right.
[5] The information board shows you a map of the area and you will see your route ahead shown as Nightingale Valley, this is the path that leads off to the right and you soon find yourself on an exciting descent through the woodland eventually emerging on the banks of the Avon downstream from the Suspension Bridge.
[6] Go through gate and turn right and walk under the bridge, continuing to reach an open grassed area with Avon Bridge ahead. Take the steps on your right up to the road turn left and keep to the footway as it bears left after crossing the river. Follow footway until it levels off by the wooden footbridge on your left. Turn through 180 degrees and follow path round to the left that leads you to a monument celebrating the opening of the Cumberland Basin complex. (There must have been just one bucket of concrete left over!) Retrace your steps then turn left over the wooden footbridge crossing the first of the locks.
[7] Now turn right (or left if you are following the shorter route) and walk beneath the bridge, then cross the concrete footway and walk now with the Cumberland Basin on your left as far as the Nova Scotia pub. Cross to the pub and walk right, with the pub to your left.
[8] You have a choice of routes here. A left turn, signed ‘Harbourside Walk’ is the more interesting route (though sometimes closed), taking you through the Underfall Boat Yard. (The Yard is named after the sluices (‘underfalls’) that control the level of water in the harbour.) The Yard is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument and parts are operated by a Trust to encourage traditional boat-building and repair skills. The haul-out slipway is in regular use to maintain vessels. There are interpretive panels to tell you more about the Yard.
The other route follows the pavement, which bears left to enter Cumberland Road. In a short distance turn left into the Cottage Inn car park then right through metal gates to pick up the quayside of Baltic Wharf. Easy walking now along the harbourside until you reach the marina; here you must turn right, then go left across the top of the slipway to a road.
[9] Turn right here and follow the road for a short distance, bearing left on a path towards the Bristol Diving School which is passed on your right, eventually reaching Gas Ferry Road.
(F) Ahead are the former offices of Aardman Animation (they are currently situated a short distance to the right). The building was originally a banana-ripening warehouse for Fyffe’s.
Turn left and walk to the quayside. You can make a detour left, to see the Matthew and the SS Great Britain, but your walk continues to the right, passing the Maritime Museum and then the Fairbairn steam crane.
(G) The Fairbairn steam crane was built in 1878 to handle occasional heavy lifts up to 35 tons. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, but it still works and is demonstrated by the Museum on some weekends.
Walk the full length of the wharf where, beyond the Bristol's Story, Bristol's Life Museum (called the ‘M Shed’, one of the transit sheds, named alphabetically, that stored goods for import and export when the docks were functioning) you reach Wapping Road.
[10] Turn left over Prince Street Bridge, and then left again with the Arnolfini gallery on your right.
(H) Prince Street swing bridge replaced a drawbridge in 1878. It is operated by water hydraulic power and swings regularly during the summer months.
The final leg of your journey takes you along Narrow Quay and back to your starting point.