Celebrating the very best of Bristol’s historic Harbourside

Discovering the Floating Harbour by canoe opens up a wealth of possibilities for the nosy explorer, as Tom Burnett found

As absurd as it may now sound, for a time in the early 70s there were plans to fill in part of the harbour – from Baltic Wharf (the Cottage pub) to where the Lloyds Amphitheatre now stands – in order to make new road plans easier to complete. The 80 acres of tidal river that the Floating Harbour impounded from 1809 would have lost one of its most significant sections of open water. Thankfully, a combination of local opposition and a lack of money meant the harbour remained intact.

Although Bristol was closed as a commercial harbour in 1975, you can’t help but be struck by how busy the waterway still is. The ferries, sailing dinghies, rowing boats, houseboats, visiting sailing ships, not to mention the majestic Matthew and other historic vessels, make this one of the most well-used stretches of urban water in Britain.
So it was after many an hour spent sitting on the Harbourside that I set my heart on joining this watery playground, and, in a Bristol version of the Ferrari-buying male’s midlife crisis, bought myself a second-hand, three-man canoe.

‘Big Green’, as she has become known, has provided my family and friends with hours of fun, exploring the harbour’s many nooks and crannies that you miss when restricted to land or a craft that’s travelling from A to B. Big Green’s trips tend to be from A to P, via G and a pint or two.

For starters, there’s the huge empty expanse of Cumberland Basin, yours to go round in circles or drift with a picnic. Stopping by the massive new lock that joins the Floating Harbour to the Avon and the Severn estuary beyond, you can gaze up at the Suspension Bridge and Clifton’s elegant terraces.

The houseboats at Bristol Marina give you the chance to go alongside some friendly locals, and seeing the ss Great Britain tower above you from the water gives you a real sense of the importance of this ship when constructed in this very dock in the 1840s.

The many bridges you pass under offer nesting places for pigeons, as well as engravings marking high water marks and echoes to excite any younger passengers you may be carrying.

Paddling up towards St Augustine’s Reach and under Pero’s Bridge, dedicated to an enslaved African boy brought to Bristol as a servant in the 1740s, you can imagine the scene as countless sailing ships made Bristol the kingdom’s second city for a time.

After Prince Street Bridge you find yourself in a quieter stretch of water – the Inner Harbour – with plenty of time to wave at those relaxing at the Riverstation or Severnshed. Pulling up next to Thekla, you share the water with Banksy’s Grim Reaper, still silently paddling after many years.

The permanent houseboats and floating bars and restaurants moored down Welsh Back face some of Bristol’s few remaining waterfront warehouses, now either flats or offices, and passing under Bristol Bridge, the original of which is the reason a settlement was built here a thousand years ago, the new development of Finzel’s Reach opens up on your right. Note the giant fig tree, defying gravity on the harbour wall beneath Castle Park. You can also see the windows to the cellars of the terrace of shops that Hitler’s Luftwaffe obliterated in 1940. Slightly further along, you can make out the Castle Ditch, remains of the moat that once surrounded Bristol Castle.

From this point, the advantage of exploring by canoe really comes into its own. Few venture this far; the river is virtually empty save the odd barge, peaty smoke rising from their woodburners. Then you’re in the cool darkness beneath Temple Meads station, only disturbed by the occasional rumble of trains overhead. Not far from here, you can join the Feeder Canal and keep going through locks all the way to Bath, or you can slowly drift back to the city centre.

If you’d like to explore the harbour by canoe, a good starting point is to have a go with one of the city’s clubs. Contact www.bristolcanoeclub.org.uk, www.adventurousactivitycompany.co.uk or www.youngbristolactivities.co.uk for more.