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THE CITY
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BRISTOL Meet local hot air balloonist Nigel Appleton There’s family fun at Ashton Court and across the city next month
horse-drawn sleighs and fabulous scenery.
Let’s Walk, Bristol A new walking festival is taking place in Bristol next month, encouraging city dwellers to shake off the Covid blues, get outdoors, enjoy nature, explore and party. Let’s Walk Bristol takes place from 1 – 3 October, with lots of free walks, evening entertainment and something for everyone – whatever their fitness level. It kicks off on the Friday afternoon with a stroll around Bristol’s lively harbourside, finishing at a local pub for drinks. On Saturday there’s a wide range of events and walks, from easy to challenging, including popular city ambles and beautiful countryside trails, all led by experienced, insured guides. Free in-town walks include the Kings Weston Trail, the South Bristol Skyline Walk and the Snuff Mills Wellbeing Walk. Plus there’s a ferry and Underfall Yard harbour experience on offer, a Steve England Stoke Park nature trail, a Dudes and Dogs walk and a Banksy and street art tour. Further afield, you can experience the picturesque Cotswolds from Castle Combe or Dyrham Park, discover a glorious circular walk around Clevedon, hike the famous Bath Skyline or challenge yourself by trekking through the Mendips up above magnificent Cheddar Gorge. Walkers can round the day off and share experiences at a choice of two Bristol venues with food and music. On the Sunday the hub will be Ashton Court, where families can enjoy an adventure trail through the estate, take on the Bristol Bridges Challenge, or head across Clifton Suspension Bridge on one of three different distance routes. Visitors can also sign up for a free Nordic walking workshop and discover how to make walking into a whole body workout, improve posture, support joints and release neck and back tension.
You might spot Nigel in the Thatchers or Tribute balloons
Sailing is actually my first love! That’s how I got into ballooning, as it was deemed by my employer at the time that I would be the best person to go and learn to fly the new company balloon with my experience of ropes, wind and weather. I’m always racing dinghies or yachts but lately spending more time on the water, cruising in the sunshine. Another sign I’m not getting any younger! Maybe it’s time to revisit my early years’ passion for fishing. I spent my childhood just south of the Mendips in Cheddar, my early work years living in Clifton and the last 25 years living in Langford. I’m a country lad at heart. A typical day in summer is very different to winter. It’s full on in summer, despite the usual passenger question, ‘what do you do when you aren’t flying?’ There’s a lot more to it than the flying bit. The phone starts ringing first thing and is pretty constant, mixed in with the usual office stuff, until the answerphone’s on and we’re in the car, ready to go flying. Weekends are busy if the weather is good, with early morning flights to add to the mix. Summer means a 4am start and 11.30pm finish! Winters are much more chilled – excuse the pun. We are planning a winter Alpine balloon meet. Alpine flying is great but very challenging – not for the faint hearted. It’s a little more relaxed at Château-d’Oex in Switzerland – a large open valley with plenty of scope to drift along in lots of space – and much more exciting when we visit Filzmoos in Austria. As soon as we’re off, we are up over the peaks into the unknown: big mountains, long flights, steep descents and fast upper winds, sometimes 50-60mph! Then valleys full of fog and – even in the clear ones – all the obstacles, are thrown in. Railways, rivers, roads and powerlines are always just where you don’t want them. Saying that, they are the prettiest of Alpine villages, with skiing,
• letswalkbristol.co.uk
12 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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SEPTEMBER 2021
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No 202
The Fiesta was a very different event this year – in many respects, certainly from a ballooning perspective, much better as we had far more room on the launch sites. The decision to fly from various sites across the city worked well, giving more people the chance to see the balloons close up. So it had a different feel but hopefully the skies above Bristol being full of balloons again was a welcome sight and perhaps a sign of some normality returning. (On that pandemic-related note I’d like to give a big shout out to all the hospital staff that have held it together over the last year or so.) The Clifton Sausage is a favourite watering hole; always very sociable. It seems to have taken over from the old Royal Oak haunt but I’m harking back to the old days of my twenties... The food is always excellent at the Spiny Lobster. As a change, I like the vibrant options at the Cargo containers. For a traditional Bristol pub you can’t beat the Nova Scotia at the Cumberland Basin and, close by, the best breakfasts in town can be found at The Lockside. Always our first port of call after an early morning flight. My ambitions for the rest of this year include trying to slow down a bit (it’s unlikely!), lose a bit of weight and perhaps get out on the bike. If I was in charge of Bristol I’d sort the traffic mess out. I’ve been around the city for over 40 years and it seems to be getting worse despite all the recent radical ideas. We need more parking. It’s a big problem in the areas I know: Clifton, Hotwells, Bedminster etc. Go up, or better still, go down to find space. I’m always impressed by beautiful European cities with hidden underground parking in the centre. • firstflight.co.uk What’s next? Alpine flying, of course
