Bristol; Saturday, 16 April, 2011

After an early start I headed out of the hotel to the bus stop near the station to get the bus out to Wells, and from there on to Cheddar.

Cheddar is home to the UK’s most famous Gorge (though the Avon Gorge through the outskirts of Bristol comes a close second). The Gorge is littered with attractions at its lower end, focused around the two sets of show caves.

You can only get a joint ticket to all the attractions so it made sense to try and take in as many as possible. First off was the explorer tour, an open-top bus tour that takes you up the Gorge, past the worst of the tourist traps and into the unspoilt upper gorge where the scenery is stunning. The bus dropped everyone off outside Gough’s caves so I had a look around them, before crossing the road to the museum of pre-history.

Then it was a quick spot of lunch before heading down the gorge and then up 273 steps to the lookout tower on the top of gorge. From there it was all the way back down and into Cox’s caves and the very cheesy Crystal Quest in the lower part of the cave.

After that I was feeling pretty Gorged out so I wandered back to the bus stop and caught the bus on into Weston-Super-Mare, the West country’s premier seaside resort.

I had a go on the Wheel of Weston and then went for a wander along the prom (or more importantly got the land train most of the way along the prom and then walked back). Weston was very busy, but with the tide a long way out, and no particular wish to empty all of my 10p pieces into slot machines, there wasn’t much to do in the town so I headed back to the station and caught the train back into Bristol and then on out to Bradford-on-Avon.

The small town marks the point where the river and the Kennett and Avon canal, which have been running parallel to each other since Bath, diverge with a large canal basin. The town dates back to Saxon times with a small Saxon era church, and pleasant walks along both the river and the canal.

I had a look around the town and then had a walk along the canal tow path down to the next settlement of Avoncliff before catching the train back one stop to Bradford-on-Avon for another wander around the town centre before it was time to head back into Bristol and dinner.