Wake up to low-lying grey cloud cover in our little orchard on Dowlais Farm, with the sound and thud of apples dropping on canvas.  It’s time to get up and enjoy our last walk of the holiday.

It’s a short drive into Clevedon to find street parking, along the elegant red bricks and wander back towards the pier.  The signpost says just 6 miles to Portishead.  Follow the ornate railings to the pier which today we are too early for opening time!

The coast path follows the road behind the houses with the sea view then swiftly down a path towards the sea, which is where we see the only other walkers of the day.  We are now below the houses, a high stone wall marking the end of their gardens.

In a very short distance, we are in open countryside with scrub and the occasional tree or small woodland.  The going is easy on level muddy paths with a couple of broken-down barriers to walk through.  We later find out that there were path closures and diversions not long ago, which we’re guessing these were from.  The flora is made up of very tall bracken, brambles with plentiful blackberries, scrubby sycamore draped with ivy and the dainty inflorescence of wild clematis.

As we near the perimeter of Waldon Bay, with its array of Park Homes straddling up the cliff there are large areas of Japanese Knotweed.  You can see why these were pretty garden plants before we realised quite how invasive they are – they are certainly smothering this area of cliffs.  There’s a little stony beach but a water outflow is dripping down from the estate and we see no way of accessing it.

We are back into open countryside for just three fields – newly cut and looking rather brown at this time of year.  We are now nearing the curious small circles on the map at Redcliffe Bay, which turn out to be grass topped mounds with vents and a square access point to each.  The whole area fenced off with barbed wire at an angle on top.  A vehicle drives round the inside perimeter road as if we’ve just been spotted on camera.  It turns out that what I thought might be a site of archaeological interest is in fact a fuel depot!

In my mind I feel like we are on the outskirts of Portishead now so are nearly at the end of our walk, but looking at the map, the town is very spread-out across the water frontage. The path skirts round the back gardens of some more sea front properties then into a housing street, some more woodlands before popping back out at the Black Nore Lighthouse.  Now decommissioned, this gorgeous white painted lighthouse on stilts sitting on the rocks, is thankfully looked after by a trust.

We rest on the bench nearby for a lunch stop and enjoy the view.  A man is training his dog on the field just behind us, when a lady comes up to enquire if he’s seen a sausage dog.  We’re reduced to giggles when his response is “what does it look like?”

Nestled in the woodlands behind us is a large, nautical looking building with a model of a ship perched atop a clocktower.  Research reveals it to be the former National Nautical School, set up in 1869 for “destitute and neglected boys of Bristol”. Alongside the HMS Formidable which was moored near the lighthouse, the boys were schooled to join the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy.

The path turns rocky then through more woodland and open field on the Mariners Path before popping out on a road which leads to the Marine Lake. Many cars are parked facing out to the river and the play areas and marine lake are a buzz with fun.  A group of six elderly gentleman are whizzing remote controlled boats around in circles.

Ahead we can make out an unusual looking building – bright orange and yellow in colour.  Which when we get up close reveals itself as Portishead Open Air Pool.  Again, our luck is in as the rain comes down, we head into the café lido for an ice cream.

Once the rain stops it’s a short walk passed the Portishead lighthouse and along a wooded road to the RNLI boathouse.  We stop for a look in the shop and a chat to the volunteers.  It’s drizzling again so we head passed the pier and into the dock area, stopping just briefly to watch the lock empty out to allow a boat in.

The Port area is much like many other ports we’ve visited – Portsmouth and Eastbourne come to mind.  Lots of new apartment blocks and restaurants.  We will return to peruse sometime soon when hopefully it’s not raining.

A bus stop appears as we near a road, sadly the bus appears maybe an hour later.  Although we pop into Waitrose just behind for dinner provisions.  It’s time to say farewell to Somerset and we look forward to returning for the New Year Holiday.