Bath River and Canal Walk, Saturday 15th March 2025

We had 12 walkers booked for this Strollers walk, but unexpectedly had 21 assembled in Bath to begin the walk in chilly but often quite pleasant sunny periods as the morning warmed up. We started by crossing the Halfpenny Bridge, a historic toll bridge linking Widcombe to Bath across the River Avon. The original bridge was wooden, but unfortunately collapsed in 1877 when a crowd of people rushing to the Bath Show exceeded its load capacity, resulting in at least 10 deaths and 80 injuries. The replacement cast iron bridge looked sturdy.

We followed the riverside path, admiring the views towards Pulteney Bridge, one of only four bridges in the world to have shops across its full span on both sides. William Pulteney had grand plans to create a ‘new town’ to the east and wanted a spectacular bridge to access it. In fact, the further development never happened as expected.

We continued along Great Pulteney Street, admiring the classic facades and passing the Laura Place fountain, which replaced the original destroyed during Freshers Week in 1969.

At Holburne Museum, we stopped for a welcome coffee stop inside the warm café.

We continued our walk up through the Sidney Gardens, which are the only surviving example of an 18th century Pleasure Garden (or Vauxhall). During gala evenings the gardens were lit with thousands of lamps and guests took supper accompanied by music and fireworks.

Near the top of the Gardens we found the Canal towpath which we followed through tunnels towards the Bath Locks. These were originally a series of 6 Locks at the start of the Kennet and Avon Canal. We enjoyed a really beautiful towpath stroll in bright sunshine. At the Top Lock, we passed the first of two coal-fired pumping stations used to lift water to the storage ponds to replace water used during operation of the Locks. When the canal was in a state of disrepair, a new road was constructed over the original site of the lower Lock. Restoration of the canal required the construction of a new Deep Lock with a depth of nearly 6 metres, making it Britain’s second-deepest Lock. At the Bottom Lock where the canal meets the River Avon, we made our way into Widcombe village. 8 of us opted to enjoy lunch in the Halfpenny Café where we were given a private room, whilst others opted to return to Bath and buses home.

A very enjoyable river and canal walk of 2½ miles in pleasant company through lovely parts of Bath that many visitors might not get to see.