Burnham to Brean Down 10th March 2023
Taking a spring break to do the next mini-expedition, we decide that it is a little early in the year and certainly a little too chilly to roll out the caravan. An AirBnB therefore seems like a suitable alternative. For the first time since we got them, we are taking our e-bikes with us on one of our coastal legging journeys. They have been lying dormant in the garage for most of the last 4 months, so we need to give them an airing, especially since we are hoping to cycle to visit my son in Germany in just over a month’s time. The leg muscles need limbering up and the sit bones will need to come to terms with saddle sores at some stage.
The plan is to start at Highbridge and Burnham Rail Station and cycle to Burnham sea front before continuing up the coast from the mouth of the River Parrett as far as Brean Down. Perhaps we are being a tad optimistic but we hope to make it to Clevedon before returning by train to Highbridge.
When we arrive at the area around Highbridge Station, it looks a little dodgy but at least there is parking space available and it’s free! In many ways I prefer street parking in a residential area since opportunist thieves know full-well that cars in car parks are unattended, whilst this is not necessarily the case in a residential street. Parking in rougher areas of-course brings other risks!
Committed to getting our bikes off their rack and cycling through the adjacent cycle-friendly park fills us with anticipation and we are off by 10.00 am. In my haste I overshoot the turn-off for Burnham seafront and Betty has to lead me back to it, where the cycle path takes us alongside the River Brue, which rises at the western edge of Cranborne Chase and winds its way across the Somerset Levels, before emptying into Bridgwater Bay at the mouth of the River Parrett.
It is a falling tide, with very little water in the river channel and lots of tidal mud and salt marsh to gaze across towards the dark presence of the Quantock Hills, which will dominate the skyline for much of our walking and cycling over the next 3 days. At the confluence of the Brue and the Parrett their combined channels will cross over the mud flats of Bridgewater Bay until the returning tide pushes salt water them many miles back upstream. A few boats sit at moorings where at low tide they will inevitably sink into the mud, until they are refloated with the flood tide.
The cycle path soon joins the concrete structure which carries the promenade next to The Esplanade north along Burnham-on-Sea’s sea front. This makes for easy, no-traffic cycling, which pleases us no-end since we are battling a headwind whose wind chill cuts us to the bone. We are also glad to be on the prom, because for some reason people in ‘muscle’ cars prowl up the adjacent Esplanade venting their anger at the 30mph speed limit by driving in first gear. Why don’t they just piss-off up the M5 where they can legally do 70mph?
Sadly we encounter a sign which demands that cyclists get off the prom and onto The Esplanade. Considering it is a freezing day in early March, this seems a bit uncharitable towards us. A similar sign advises dogs are not allowed on the beach between April and September, so why not apply the same restriction for cycling on the prom. There’s no bugger else about, other then the two old dip-sticks on e-bikes.
Gazing across the sands and mudflats of Bridgewater Bay we are able to make out the spidery forms of dozens of cranes in the process of building Hinkley Point C – the UK’s latest nuclear power station. This building site lights up the skies at night, close to where our B&B is located some 10 miles from it.
From here at Burnham it looks like Toy Town, but its projected costs are eye-watering, currently exceeding £30 billion, with the completion date now slipping from 2023 to 2028. Both of these appear as out of control as a Fukushima power plant meltdown.
A few hardy souls are walking their dogs on the sands, as we pan northward towards Berrow Sand Dunes, Brean Down and the island of Steepholm sitting gleaming white cliffed in the middle of the Bristol Channel.
We wonder if the Google map claim that we can cycle through the sand dunes north of Burnham is false since there is no obvious sign of a cycle track. We certainly don’t want to cycle through salty windblown sand with our e-bikes. It looks like we will have to cycle along the road to Brean Down. So we decide to return to the public toilets we passed earlier (Betty is always up for a wild wee in the countryside, but less so alongside a busy road).
At the toilets I ask the attendant if there is a cycle track through the dunes and get a look suggesting that I have three heads. Eventually he gives me a monosyllabic response in the negative and returns to his cleaning. Since he is obviously a ‘local knowledge’ on such matters we decide to take the road. In fact Mr Goole is partially correct, in that you can probably cycle along the firm sands, but it is less appealing in winter, whilst the salt and sand combination is still a no-no for an e-bike. We did try the beach on our unpowered bikes about 7 years ago, so at least we’ve ticked that particular box.
Rather than returning north again along the Esplanade and its prowling Top Gear watchers, I decide to lead us north through the centre of Burnham, since one can often miss-out on some interesting townscapes at seaside towns when you stick strictly to the coastline. However, Burnham’s High Street offers little of interest, except a welcome respite from the chilling sea wind.
The next 8 miles along busy roads is a blur, with us taking to the pavement several times. In fact all I can recall is miles and miles of static caravans. Hindsight is a wondrous thing, but I wish we had walked it instead.
However, arriving at Brean Down makes the trip worthwhile. Rising majestically out of the Somerset Levels like an aquatic dinosaur emerging from the sea, this long, tall monster invites us to leave our bikes and walk along its back, which juts out into the grey turbid waters of the Bristol Channel.
Brean Down is a Carboniferous Limestone ridge, being an extension of the Mendip Hills. There are similar, smaller limestone projections at Sand Point and Weston. All around these limestone upland areas is a sea of more recent deposits which underlie the Somerset Levels.
The first challenge at Brean Down is to climb what seems like several hundred steep steps to the top of the ridge. In reality I suspect there are far less steps, but after cycling into a headwind using one set of leg muscles, we need to engage a different set to climb on foot.
From our elevated vantage point we can now see all the way to Glastonbury Tor when we look East, The Quantock Hills to the South, the Brecon Beacons to the West and the Mendip Hills to the North. The rest of our walk along the ridge of Brean Down offers few physical challenges but lots of visual ones. It is pretty well breathtaking.
At the tip of Brean Down is a fort built in 1864 – 1871. You can see why. It commands excellent views of the approaches to the ports of Cardiff and Bristol. At the outbreak of World War Two the fort was rearmed with modern guns.
The islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm out in the Bristol Channel are both nature reserves. For many years people have toyed with the idea of building a tidal barrage at this point joining Brean Down to Lavernock Point on the Welsh side, and including Steep Holm and Flat Holm. Back in 1982 my boss John Crothers at Nettlecombe Court Field Studies Centre was engaged to write a report about the potential impact of such a venture upon marine life. Over 40 years later people are still talking about it.
We elect to call it a day. It is a lovely sunny day, but exposure to the cold wind chills us to the bone. Returning to the National Trust cafe we celebrate with a cup of tea before the return cycle trip to Burnham. I love cycling with a tail wind and we make it back in record time.
“The Quantocks Hills from the tidal River Brue – an abandoned cabin cruiser sits high and dry in the salt marsh.”
“The junction of the Rivers Brue and Parrett at Bridgewater Bay.“
“A few hardy dog walkers appear to dwarf the distance cranes of Hinkley Point C.”
“Looking north towards Berrow Dunes, Brean Down and Steepholm.”