Bristol and Bath by bike: a (two-wheeled) tale of two cities

Published on 15/01/2023

Bristol and Bath can be easily combined by bike, as Ben Lerwill discovers.

If you go by their reputations alone, Bristol and Bath are poles apart. One’s synonymous with street art, docklands and the underground music scene; the other conjures up images of afternoon tea, Roman history and Georgian townhouses. It’s Banksy versus Emperor Claudius, Long John Silver versus Jane Austen, the industrial heft of harbourside cranes versus the elegant sweep of the Royal Crescent.

Beyond the cliches, of course, these two West Country cities are as multi-layered as any other large UK destinations. And given how close together they are on the map, it’s also a doddle to combine the pair into one trip. Both have YHA hostels, both have top-tier cultural attractions and — perhaps best of all — there’s a 13-mile off-road cycle path leading from one city centre to the other.

So it was that I found myself on a Brompton hire bike on a winter’s morning, pulling on my gloves and preparing to cycle from Bristol to Bath. A fold-up bike might not seem the most obvious choice for a city-to-city ride, but here it’s a savvy one. Bristol has a Brompton hire scheme in place (as do Manchester, London, Canterbury and various other cities), meaning you can take ownership of a bike for £5 a day.

Once you’ve downloaded an app, registered your details and located the bike lockers (if you’re doing the Bath trip, the most convenient ones are just outside Bristol Temple Meads Station), you’re good to go. The path is — with the exception of a couple of steady, shallow climbs — almost entirely flat, so even the Brompton’s 16-inch wheels can scoot along at speed. And once you’re ready to return from Bath, it’s a matter of folding up the bike (or, if you’re like me, contorting it into bizarre shapes before finally resorting to looking at the instructions) and catching the train back to Bristol. Or indeed just cycle back.

But let’s rewind. Following the signage from Temple Meads Station, it takes me about five minutes to pedal to the official start of the cycle path. The day is cold, with frost caking the city and the surface of Bristol Harbour frozen solid, but the skies overhead are crisp and clear. The first section of the path itself leads past play parks and craft breweries and is already busy with other users: toddlers on scooters, locals with dogs, commuters whizzing by on bikes.

A quick bit of history. The Bristol & Bath Railway Path was built by the charity Sustrans between 1979 and 1986, on the bed of what was formerly a stretch of the Midland Railway network. In the line’s earliest days, back in the 1830s, the rail tracks were used to bring horsedrawn wagons of coal into Bristol Harbour. Its fortunes had diminished badly by the 1960s, however, when it was abandoned as part of the notorious Beeching cuts.

Arguably, its best days were to come. It’s fair to say that the tree-lined, traffic-free cycle path brought with it a vigorous new lease of life. By 2007, some 2.4 million trips were being made along it each year by bikers, walkers, joggers and other users. That’s not to say it feels crowded. By the time I’m 15 minutes along the path and moving out of Bristol proper, with views of the city opening out behind me, I’ve largely got the route to myself. The winter sun is gleaming through the branches, graffitied bridges file past in splashes of primary colours, and the path is spooling into the distance.

Every mile or so I pass a trackside sculpture. More than a dozen artworks are studded along the path, ranging from a diving fish made from house bricks to a colossal giant doubling as a water fountain. The platforms for the original train line are still in situ, and there’s a particularly happy discovery when I reach what was once Warmley Station, where there’s the Warmley Waiting Room cafe, complete with good coffee and homemade cakes.

Well refuelled, I hop back in the saddle and continue, pedalling on as the countryside unfurls to reveal an icy spread of distant steeples and waterside meadows. Canal boats are moored on wild riverbanks, squirrels scuttle around in the canopy and blackbirds arrow across the path. It’s one of those weekday moments when you feel smug that you’re out and about.

When Bath arrives, about two-and-a-half hours after I set off, I’m actually a little miffed that the journey’s over. There’s a small road section to negotiate before I’m able to follow a path along the banks of the River Avon into the centre. It’s not often that you come across such an enjoyable way of getting from one city to another, particularly one that proves that the distance between cider-swilling Bristol and tea-sipping Bath really isn’t so great after all.

3 things to do in Bath

Roman Baths

Delve into the distant past at this spectacular ancient bath complex, complete with a vast open-air pool and a museum of fascinating archaeological finds.

Pump Room

“Every creature in Bath […] was to be seen in the room at different periods of the fashionable hours”, wrote Jane Austen, and it’s still a fine place for a grand afternoon tea.

Thermae Bath Spa

Take to the waters yourself with a visit to this modern rooftop spa complex, which combines steaming warm waters with a skyline view of the city.

3 things to do in Bristol

M Shed

Learn about Bristol’s long past at this free harbourside museum, which doesn’t shy away from the city’s dark links to the slave trade.

Street Art Tour

There’s more to Bristol’s hugely impressive street art scene than Banksy, as you’ll learn by joining an expert-guided tour of the city’s highlights.

Thekla

Combine Bristol’s maritime past with its musical legacy by going to a gig at Thekla, a 1950s cargo ship now permanently docked here as a concert venue.