Geography of Bristol

The first thing any visitor to Bristol will notice is that there are a lot of hills in Bristol. The second thing you notice is the remarkably well developed thighs of Bristol cyclists; the two are related.

Park Street in the West End is one of Bristol's main streets for restaurants and nightclubs. It is also very steep and the taxi ranks are at the bottom. Visitors enjoying a late night stroll are strongly advised to look out for drunks rolling down from higher up the street -- by the time they reach the Masonic Lodge, they can be rolling at over 60 miles an hour! Personally, I'm sure Park Street is going to be the death of me: if my heart doesn't give out as I try and get to the top, I'm going to get mown down by a high velocity drunk.

Hilly Bits

If you're into geology, this next bit is for you. (As I'm not, it may contain some mistakes.)

Bristol is surrounded by hilly bits, from the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire to the Mendips in Somerset, though the original settlement site was on the plain where the Rivers Avon and Frome come together. The Cotswolds are formed from two types of oolitic limestone and rise gently from the Thames Valley before dropping suddenly down into the Vale of Gloucester and the Vale of Berkeley. The hills to the east of Bristol are part of that oolitic band. The Bristol suburbs of Kingsdown and Clifton are on an outcrop of carboniferous limestone that wraps around the north and west of the city. In the south, you start climbing into the Mendips almost as soon as you cross the Avon, and you stay in them until you reach the Somerset Levels.

Wet Bits

Bristol is a sea port. It was founded seven miles from the sea at an easily defensible point, protected from storms and pirates by the carboniferous limestone hills. The settlement was built where the Avon and the Frome came together, but the Avon has been by far the more important of the two. There are several Avons in Britain: Bristol's rises in the same general area as the Thames then wanders west through Chippenham and Bath to Bristol. The Frome is a pretty little thing for much of its length before vanishing underground for the final few miles.

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