5 days ago
Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge is a soaring spectacle
It doesn't matter how many times I see it, the Clifton Suspension Bridge does something to my heart and belly.
There are few places in Britain where the natural and man-made fuse to such awe-inspiring, stomach-fluttering effect.
Built from designs by the legendary Isambard Kingdom Brunel, this feat of 19th century engineering soars 75 metres above a gorge of the River Avon, a portal to the Bristol Channel, a gateway to the Atlantic.
I first clapped eyes on this incredible structure early one northern summer's morning, about a decade ago. My partner and I were then living in London, but were keen to scout out alternative (slightly more affordable, but still lively and cosmopolitan) places to live in Britain.
On paper, and from what we'd heard, Bristol seemed like a possibility — and we also fancied attending the city's famous annual hot air balloon festival — so we took a night coach from London Victoria and arrived in Bristol before the crack of dawn, when the balloonists would be readying for their flights.
The best vantage point, we were told, was Clifton, a lofty, chic village in Bristol's inner-west. As we stood overlooking the gorge at the vast green space of Clifton Down, Brunel's bridge stole our attention. And soon the balloons would be soaring up from the Ashton Court estate, historic deer parkland about a kilometre across the gorge as the crow flies.
There was a problem, however. Word got around among the dozens of spectators in Clifton that the wind wasn't right for pilots to take off, and the situation was unlikely to change for a while.
So off we went and, after a day of Bristolian walking, brunching, drinking and napping in the parks, we returned to Clifton later that afternoon, just before dusk, as the balloons began floating through the sky.
With the bridge in the foreground, it was a sight to behold and I'm picturing the balloons again in my mind today as I stand in a similar spot to a decade ago.
It's much cooler now — I'm here in the northern winter — and a few days earlier, a storm had closed the bridge to traffic and pedestrians. It's open again now, though, and I gingerly walk across, my legs trembling slightly because of the occasional gusts, as I survey the scenery.
Despite its urbanity, nature hasn't been completely eradicated from Bristol, with verdant hills crinkling the outskirts and the gorge flanked by National Trust-managed woodland. Birds, including redshanks, lapwings and rooks, are regularly spotted here.
Just across the bridge from Clifton, I reach the suburb of Leigh Woods, technically outside Bristol's city limits in the county of Somerset.
There's a volunteer-run visitor centre here, free to enter, but with donations gratefully received. Exhibits reveal the technical and financial conundrums that planners faced to build the bridge and the efforts (and money) that go into maintaining it.
Construction began in 1831, but the project was delayed several times, and actually abandoned in 1843 with only the abutment towers standing.
That same year, Brunel's trailblazing iron ocean-going steamship, SS Great Britain, was launched (and now sits as a visitor attraction in Bristol's floating harbour). But he died in 1859, so never got to see the Clifton bridge completed. Two other master Victorian engineers, William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw, revised Brunel's plans and finished the bridge in 1864.
Originally meant for light horse-drawn traffic, it is still a key component in Bristol's transport network, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It's free for pedestrians and cyclists and incurs a £1 contactless toll for motorists (about 12,000 vehicles cross daily).
The visitor centre also offers free tours on the bridge itself — taking place every Saturday, Sunday and bank holiday all year round — while paid-for 'hard hat' and lantern tours offer the chance to explore some of the secluded vaulted cavernous chambers in the Leigh Woods tower.
If you'd like to time your visit with some balloon-spotting, the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta 2025 is due to take place between August 8-10, when the skies will be coloured with more than 100 hot air balloons in mass ascents at dawn and dusk — weather permitting, of course.
+ Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit Britain and Visit Bristol. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication.
+ The Clifton Suspension Bridge visitor centre is open 10am to 5pm daily. For more details and information on tours, see
+ For details on the 2025 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, see
+ Bristol is 90 minutes from London and 15 minutes from Bath by rail. To help plan a trip to Bristol and Britain, see
and
