Woolly says – We’d had an early morning change of plan to the day which needed us to head towards the Bristol area on a work related mission, knowing that it wouldn’t take long I grabbed my Mammoth Book of Facts whilst Jo and Jack prepared for an unexpected day out. My paws led me to the small seaside town of Clevedon, two miles from our quest, it seemed as though fate was on my side as we headed south crossing the Severn Bridge linking Wales to Bristol which I have to say was an impressive sight, sadly as the human was driving we couldn’t capture a picture. With the business part of the day complete we headed towards the coast managing to park right on the Marina.

Clevedon is a seaside town and civil parish in North Somerset, which lies along the Severn Estuary with the beach being designated as a Geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. Clevedon grew in the Victorian period as a seaside resort like many other seaside places, writers linked with the town include Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who spent his honeymoon there and William Makepeace Thackeray, a frequent guest of the Elton family at Clevedon Court.

The town has also appeared in film on many occasions including The Remains of the Day, starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Christopher Reeve, and the television movie Cider with Rosie (1998).

Climbing out of the car my first vision was of lots of people in swimming costumes and trunks which was a bit alarming given the chill of the day, we wandered towards the water to see why the folks of Clevedon were nearly naked whilst we had hats, coats and gloves on.

Over the sea wall we peered and stood watching people swimming in the Marina Lake, Jo and I looked at each other and shock our heads, they must be very hardy to do that in the chilled conditions. Once known as Stinking Corner (due to the accumulated estuary debris) the Marine lake was originally proposed in 1900 but was largely ridiculed at that time. Due to the residents of the town continuing to use the area for wild swimming in 1920 plans were finally made to provide a solution for ‘stinking corner’ and the Marina was finally opened in 1929.

We left the cold loving people and headed past the Salthouse which had been converted from a gentleman’s residence to a hotel and pub in 1927 and named after the salt panning that took place in the area at that time. Steps led us up to a small look out point which gave us a better view of the coastline and the pier.

With pictures taken I trotted back down the steps and set off into the town itself which proved to be a longer walk than expected, we did however pass some lovely homes which gave an idea of how affluent the area had been in the Victorian era.

Passing the Curzon cinema which dated from 1912, being  one of the world’s oldest purpose-built, continuously operated cinemas in the country we found the town to be small and other than the town clock with its Elton ware decoration which had been completed in 1898 and donated by Sir Edmund Elton to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the was little to see.

With the Pier next on our list we headed uphill which seemed strange given that we were going higher than sea level this seemed a bit strange as the pier was in the sea. Up the hill we puffed with Handsome Jack leading the way at a much faster pace than the human or I could manage.

Just as we were about to run out of puff completely we arrived at a roundabout with a Victorian chariot in the middle of it and a covered area dedicated to the artist Doris Hatt, a pioneer of Modernism in Britain, who had moved to the town at the end of the first World War.

Finally heading down hill we could see the pier in the distance, passing a memorial to some of the towns men who had fought in South Africa between 1889 and 1902. The human spied a café and heading straight to a table we took a well earned break from walking and sat watching the gull’s circling overhead and the lovely looking pier.

Thirst quenched we made our way to the Piers Toll House and having paid for our right to walk on the pier we trotted outside and onto the wooden planks.

Clevedon Pier opened on Easter Monday 1869 and is now one of the earliest UK examples of a Victorian pier still in existence. After a set of legs collapsed during an insurance load check on 17th October 1970, it fell into disrepair until 1985, when it was dismantled, taken to Portishead dock for restoration, and rebuilt in 1986. In 2001, it was upgraded to a Grade I listed building. It was a delight and obviously incredibly well looked after; to raise funds to continue its upkeep they sell plagues to have fixed to the seating and the walkway.

This caused us to lose track of the views across the bay as we kept finding interesting plagues to read, memorials to those lost, congratulations on those born and getting married and just general happy messages about life itself.

We also found a number of metal fish attached to the benches, as we reached the end we stood looking back at the rocky coastline.

Across the estuary was Cardiff which we could just about make out through the lower clouds. The end of the pier had a small café and two shelters all beautifully kept, photos on display boards gave us an idea of how damaged the pier had been in 1970, I was so glad that work had been undertaken to rebuild it as it was a wonderful place.

Coming off the pier we followed the pathway back towards the Marina passing a Victorian water fountain, the towns bandstand and a strange looking memorial dedicated to the millennium.

Back at the car we loaded the tired pooch in and set off for our journey back well satisfied with our day and time in Clevedon, the only think missing was an ice cream at the seaside but given the chill factor I managed without.