I wander across town from Welsh Back to Clifton, taking various detours. It takes as long as it takes; for once, time is of no importance.
Living amid the flat fields of East Anglia, it's also easy to forget what it's like to be elevated, to look down on rooftops and trees and to see for miles, and the first time I glance out from Brandon Hill at the view the vastness of it adds to my slight dizziness. It may not be that high up in the scheme of things, but it's SO different from home, and I just want to take it all in.
View from Brandon Hill
Cabot Tower, plus squirrel on bench
As I leave the main thoroughfares behind and venture into the back streets, it's very quiet, I barely see a soul...
... apart from around a corner where some students are packing up for the Summer. The car boot is open and a pile of assorted ephemera being loaded into it by a dutiful dad.
I feel an unexpected sort of envy, witnessing them right at the start of their adult lives...who knows who they'll meet, where they'll go and what they'll do - they don't even appreciate it yet. What must it be like to stay in digs on Royal York Crescent with those odd little storage spaces under the arches? I love looking into them through the barred gates and at the stalactites of ceiling plaster plus all sorts of randomness: a discarded door, the figurine of a duck. I believe this is one of the most expensive addresses in the city.
I feel an unexpected sort of envy, witnessing them right at the start of their adult lives...who knows who they'll meet, where they'll go and what they'll do - they don't even appreciate it yet. What must it be like to stay in digs on Royal York Crescent with those odd little storage spaces under the arches? I love looking into them through the barred gates and at the stalactites of ceiling plaster plus all sorts of randomness: a discarded door, the figurine of a duck. I believe this is one of the most expensive addresses in the city.
I keep on walking.
What a lovely post with some splendid photos. Take me home, country roads. To wander alone is often sheer delight.
ReplyDeleteThanks SB. I didn't really get the photos I'd have liked, but it was all about the simple experience and that in itself was just great, just what I needed. Indeed, nothing like wandering alone sometimes!
DeleteTravelling by yourself can sometimes be very lonely, but then again, with fewer distractions, one can fully experience a place. (You brought back some recollections, in particular, of my solo train trip to New Orleans a number of years ago.)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing your travel diary and wonderful pics with us, C.
Thanks Marie, your train journey sounds interesting...
DeleteI like the head space of travelling alone - making my own decisions and choices, just doing as I please as and when - it's lovely to share experiences with someone else, but there's a different type of satisfaction to be had in being completely independent, isn't there?
With each new post on your travels C, I want more and more to visit Bristol. It's not just the lovely photos you have taken, but the imagery of the words that accompanies them that makes me want to go. I love the last sentence, makes you want to know what happens next.
ReplyDeleteThanks Scott... I only scratched the surface, I'd like to spend more time there - perhaps you will?!
DeleteNot a lot happened! But I felt like an almost childlike observer for a few days and hope to get that across.
I'm loving these C.
ReplyDeleteIt's not flat flat where I live...it's rolling hills but every time I get to Birmingham or some place with proper hills the views are always a novelty.
Glad you're enjoying, Erik... I know what you mean about views being a novelty. It's only really been a few years since I've been anywhere high-ish with far-reaching views (a brief but lovely trip to Italy in 2007), but still long enough for it to almost feel like the first time.
DeleteReally enjoying reading your Bristol diary but then Bristol's my home town and I know all these places you're writing about very, very well. Your walk up Brandon Hill reminded me of the same walk I took years ago, taking the same route basically, and ending up down at the Arnolfini. I was on a date with a girl and I took her for a walk to show her some of the sights of Bristol and I took her to the top of Cabot Tower. I had brought some balloons with me and when we got to the top I blew some up and told her to do likewise then we let them go and watched them drift away far over the city. It was such a simple and almost child-like thing to do but she thought it was the most romantic thing ever.
ReplyDeleteThanks John, I thought I'd picked up on your Bristol roots over at your blog but I couldn't remember - it seems to be a place which resonates with quite a few readers here! I'm so glad I went and I want to go back (I was only there for 3 nights). I felt quite at home, though, and was reflecting later on how it felt more "me" than several other cities I've visited.
DeleteI think your balloon gesture was very romantic too!
I'm playing catch up with this enchanting series C and I don't want it to end. I haven't traveled solo for many years, but I did go to New York alone a few times in the 1990's and I felt I experienced the city in a totally different way - very much in the moment - than I did when I was accompanied on other trips. Alone or accompanied, both enjoyable, yet distinctly different experiences.
ReplyDeleteThanks TS, all finished now, but somehow I got 7 posts out of a 3-night stay!
DeleteYes that's the thing isn't it - travelling solo makes your experience very much in the moment. I enjoy it for its own reasons. Mr SDS was glad of the break from me too ;-)