Swineford Circular Walk

This circular walk explores the area surrounding the village of Swineford between Bristol and Bath.
The route uses the towpath of the canalised River Avon and a section of the Bristol and Bath Railway Path to create circular walk through the area to the south of the village.... You can start off from the public car park in Swineford and head south to meet up with the riverside path. Follow it west and it will link up with the old rail trail which you can follow south towards Saltford. Here you follow a trail east past a lock and a weir to Saltford Mead where you pick up the waterside path again. Follow it round to the viaduct and old railway line and you can cross the river to return to Swineford.
The village itself is a historic hamlet known for its nineteenth-century copper mill, which once operated powered by the fast-flowing waters of the Boyd and Avon rivers. Heading south to the river towpath, you walk along an ancient navigation channel that was heavily modified in the early 1700s to enable commercial barge traffic between Bath and the Bristol docks. Joining the multi-use Bristol and Bath Railway Path takes you along the flat trackbed of the old Midland Railway line, which closed to passengers in the late 1960s. As you approach Saltford, the trail leads past Saltford Lock and its impressive adjacent weir, a focal point for historic industrial activity. This stretch guides you through Saltford Mead, a broad expanse of low-lying floodplains that offers panoramic views of Kelston Round Hill rising in the distance, before reaching the imposing stone arches of the Victorian railway viaduct where you cross back over the water.
The intertidal river margins and mature bankside trees along this loop provide an ideal sanctuary for regional wildlife and seasonal flora. The slow-moving waters and adjacent marshes support a steady population of kingfishers, grey herons, and little egrets hunting along the mudflats. During the summer months, the river banks are thickly lined with wild water mint, purple loosestrife, and reed canary grass, which attract numerous dragonflies and damselflies, while bats can frequently be seen flying beneath the shelter of the old stone viaduct arches at dusk.

Ordnance Survey Map OpenStreetMap OS Map (Mobile GPS) OpenStreetMap (Mobile GPS)

Interactive Map

Route Video

Nearby Routes

Saltford Keynsham Bristol and Bath Railway Path Bath to Bristol Canal Walk Keynsham to Bath Canal Walk Bitton Circular Railway Walk

Photos

Swineford Lock

Swineford Lock near Bitton

The River Avon below Saltford View down the River Avon between Kelston and Saltford Locks. The clump of trees on the horizon to the right of centre is Kelston Round Hill. The hills in the background mark the southern endv of the Cotswold Hill, the River Avon providing a boundary between the Cotswold and Mendip Hills.

The Swan, Swineford

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Swineford Circular Walk.gpx