Best walks to or from Stapleton Road

Stapleton Road Station to Bristol Temple Meads Station

A short urban walk from Stapleton Road to Bristol Temple Meads, much of it following the trackbed of the former Bristol and Gloucester Railway and the Bristol and Bath Railway Path. Leaving Stapleton Road near the Sugarloaf pub, the route passes St Mark's Church, now sheltered housing but still crowned by distinctive carved grotesques, then crosses the Albion Green amenity area in the diverse Easton district, passing a Sikh temple, the Bristol Central Mosque and the Easton Community Centre. It continues past Lawrence Hill station, visible from a bridge, and over St Philips Causeway into Newtown Park, near the site of the former Avonside Engine Works. The walk passes the Barley Mow pub and an old Jewish burial ground before reaching the River Avon, which it crosses on a striking pedestrian and cycle bridge known locally as 'the cheese grater'. It ends at Brunel's original Bristol terminus alongside the present Temple Meads station. With two pubs en route, this is an easy and characterful city walk.

3km. 30m.

Lunch: The Sugarloaf at the start and the Barley Mow along the route both offer refreshment.

Documented by Bristol Rail Campaign.

Clifton Down Station to Stapleton Road Station

A linear walk across Bristol's inner suburbs from Clifton Down to Stapleton Road, tracing the city's social and railway history through changing neighbourhoods. From Clifton Down the route ascends Cotham Hill and crosses Warwick Road into Redland, passing the lime-tree avenue known as Lover's Walk and the historic Redland station of 1897, then crossing the railway by a cast-iron bridge near Redland Court, a house rebuilt in the 1730s. It descends through Zetland Road into Montpelier, passing beneath the railway arches, and continues along a quieter stretch where the Severn Beach line runs in a tunnel underfoot. Dropping down Ashley Hill past Horfield Brook's culvert and a line of historic gas lamps, the walk enters St Werburgh's, where a Victorian church relocated from Corn Street in 1877 now houses a climbing centre, and threads through St Werburgh's Park. It then follows Norman, Warminster and Saxon Roads, crosses the M32 by footbridge, and finishes near the Grade II listed turreted tower at Stapleton Road, thought to be an old gazebo. Trains run on the Severn Beach line.

5km. 1h.

Documented by Bristol Rail Campaign.