Avon New Cut

The River Avon, after it runs underneath that dramatic sight, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, splits in two as it reaches Bristol. It feeds into the Floating Harbour, the large body of water at the heart of the city, kept in place by a series of lockgates and ingeniously engineered pumps. Houseboats, sailing boats, rowing boats, ferries, paddleboards and canoes keep the waters busy, while pubs, restaurants, cafes, blocks of flats skirt its edge. But the other day, tired of the crowds, I decided to follow the river's other route. Caught between two main roads, with the footpath itself between the river and a disused railway line, it's not necessarily the most obvious route to walk. Few people do. It's perfectly safe, I should say. You're in full view of the road and it's not far from one end to the other. But on a grey day, at low tide with the mud thick and glistening, the trees thick and dark on the opposite bank, it feels like a lost place. I spotted a yellow bicycle half-submerged in the mud in one place, a shopping trolley in another. Seagulls stood on the river banks. There were no boats. I've never seen any boats on this stretch. It's strangely deep and steep-sided for, what I had assumed, was the original river course. Turns out that isn't the case: this is in fact the Avon New Cut, made in the first decade of the 19th-century as part of the Floating Harbour scheme in a bid to divert the tidal river. And if humans seem to ignore its muted appeal nowadays, the wildlife hasn't. There are over 30 species of bird seen here, over 20 species of butterfly and day moth, over 30 species of trees and 120 of flowers.