Walk to Pilning and return by train - 3rd May 2025

[whole diary]

[grahame]

https://www.facebook.com/FoMont/posts/pfbid02KKwyuvUSqvxdSFeGxsADVP8SjoFrLQ2aUDJopswLVgujRhmnwUc74CsaX7i4tSPJl

Walk from Severn Beach to Pilning - Lunch at the Plough - then getting the parliamentary train service back  from Pilning station Saturday 3rd May 2025

Ann invites you to join her on Saturday 3rd May for a walk from Severn Beach station to Pilning, followed by lunch at the Plough and then catching the afternoon ‘parliamentary train service’ from Pilning Railway station back to Temple Meads.

(A parliamentary train service nowadays means a token service to a given station, thus maintaining a legal fiction that the station is open, whereas in reality the train operating company in question has almost completely abandoned the station. These services only run at all because it is much cheaper for a train operating company to run a parliamentary service than it is to go through the full legal process of applying for a station to be permanently closed).

       *Catch the 09.46 from Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach, arriving at 10.24.  (This train is from Weston Super Mare)
       *Walk is along quiet roads with only one busy road to cross – it should take about 1.5 hours.
       *Lunch is at the Plough in Pilning  (Pilning Street, Pilning, BS35 4JJ) – the pub opens at 12 noon and does food from 12 noon to 2 pm
       *Then the short walk to Pilning station for the 15.32 departure to Bristol Temple Meads.  There are no facilities at Pilning apart from a shelter
. 
      * The cost for this journey (Pilning to Temple Meads) is £5.80 without a railcard or £3.85 with a railcard - either buy tickets in advance or take a chance of buying them on the day.

For For those who do not wish or are unable to do the walk but would like to meet up for the social at the Plough – catch the number 12, Stagecoach bus from either Bristol Parkway or Severn   Beach.  It is an hourly service in each direction.  From Bristol Parkway direction, the best stop is Swanmoor Bridge which is about a 20 minute walk from the Plough.  This stop is also the best option if coming from Severn  Beach direction too.

To get a rough idea of number please e-mail me on ae.light - at - btinternet.com

This is run in conjunction with Bristol Rail Campaign - and it is open to everyone

A good trip - I did similar a while back.  Did you know that trains calling at Pilining are (or it was on that day) running under electric power with a 5 carriage train.

[grahame]

Walk from Severn Beach to Pilning - Lunch at the Plough - then getting the parliamentary train service back  from Pilning station Saturday 3rd May 2025

Ann invites you to join her on Saturday 3rd May for a walk from Severn Beach station to Pilning, followed by lunch at the Plough and then catching the afternoon ‘parliamentary train service’ from Pilning Railway station back to Temple Meads.

[snip]

       *Catch the 09.46 from Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach, arriving at 10.24.  (This train is from Weston Super Mare)
       *Walk is along quiet roads with only one busy road to cross – it should take about 1.5 hours.
       *Lunch is at the Plough in Pilning  (Pilning Street, Pilning, BS35 4JJ) – the pub opens at 12 noon and does food from 12 noon to 2 pm
       *Then the short walk to Pilning station for the 15.32 departure to Bristol Temple Meads.  There are no facilities at Pilning apart from a shelter
. 
      * The cost for this journey (Pilning to Temple Meads) is £5.80 without a railcard or £3.85 with a railcard - either buy tickets in advance or take a chance of buying them on the day.

For For those who do not wish or are unable to do the walk but would like to meet up for the social at the Plough – catch the number 12, Stagecoach bus from either Bristol Parkway or Severn   Beach.  It is an hourly service in each direction.  From Bristol Parkway direction, the best stop is Swanmoor Bridge which is about a 20 minute walk from the Plough.  This stop is also the best option if coming from Severn  Beach direction too.

To get a rough idea of number please e-mail me on ae.light - at - btinternet.com

This is run in conjunction with Bristol Rail Campaign - and it is open to everyone

I will be joining Ann - I love this walk.    Also "symbolic" of my ongoing commitment to public transport campaigning (and to walking around 20 miles every week to follow the Melksham Daily Mile from last month).  Look forward to seeing old friends and new.

[grahame]

Wonderful day out ...

[Chris from Nailsea]

Good wishes to all of you - many familiar characters featured there.

Including a red squirrel - as ever, I wonder how such a tall small animal can fit under those beams. 

[Mark A]

A sprinkling of yellow shirts beneath the second severn crossing, and a short while later, enjoying the pier at Redwick. Thanks to those responsible for organising that...

Mark

[Red Squirrel]

It was a good day out - thanks Ann!

My day started with the X6 from Failand - on one of the new Yutong electric buses. Very comfortable, quiet and smooth!

[Mark A]

Detail of a footpath gate - the product of blacksmithing - alongside the path that crossed the abandoned Bristol and South Wales Union railway, now in use as allotments, and rather feeling to be a relic of that railway. Unfortunately I didn't take a second photo that showed its precise location - on the walk yesterday this gate was not to be found.

A 25" map at the National Library of Scotland site records the area at a time when the Severn Tunnel was under construction.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.7&lat=51.56375&lon=-2.64078&layers=178&b=GoogleSat&o=100

Mark

[grahame]

A 25" map at the National Library of Scotland site records the area at a time when the Severn Tunnel was under construction.

Oh dear --- you get me distracted

The area around Pilning Station






The area around "Cross Hands" where it would appear the name "Pilning" has migrated






And the whole area out from Pilining (Station) to the River Severn, ravaged by railways and motorways