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Given the popularity of this "Random thread" in the BHX forum in particular I thought it would be a good idea to start one on the Bristol forum.

Anyway, I hear an unexploded second world war bomb has been found down the road in Bath? Notedly many of the locals decided to remain at home considering the bomb had remained intact for so long they didn't feel it necessary to leave.

I'm not so sure I'd want to stick around, especially as the bomb was going to be moved to a different location prior to making it safe.
 
As we have this thread now I wonder if any locals could recommend a hotel or guest house fairly close to Bristol Zoo? Walking distance (with a 3 year old) would be great but a short taxi ride is fine?

We have a wedding at the Bristol Zoo Pavilion in September.

I've looked at the Ibis but they only accept one child per booking so the favourite at the moment is the Travelodge on Anchor Road. The website suggests that it's only 1.2 miles from Bristol Zoo and it has the added advantage of being fairly close to the SS Great Britain, which we may visit on the Sunday.

Any suggestions gladly welcome.

Many thanks in advance :)
 
The Travelodge at Anchor Road would be a good bet for the Harbourside which is literally across the road. The SS Great Britain is across the harbour from the Travelodge but can be accessed via a cross harbour ferry that runs continuously during the day, seven days a week. There are also ferry companies that operate to regular timetables around the harbour from the Cumberland Basin (Suspension Bridge end) to Temple Meads station about three miles away. There are numerous ferry stops and you can use them like a get on and get off tour bus. There are also other companies that provide harbour tours with commentaries including the replica of John Cabot's ship the Matthew that replicated Cabot's 1497 trip to Newfoundland 500 years after the event. Steam trains also operate along the Harbourside most weekends in summer. There is always plenty going on along the Harbourside especially at summer weekends. Your visit may coincide with one of Bristol festivals.

We sometimes use a Travelodge when travelling in Australia and find them very acceptable - basic but clean and comfortable. There are some hotels in Clifton which is nearer the zoo but on a Sunday the notorious Bristol traffic gridlock is not as bad as in the week so there is no real advantage staying in Clifton. Clifton Village is very much a Bath on the hill with beautiful old buildings including spectacular crescents. One warning though - the central area near the Harbourside is one gigantic building site as roads etc are being altered in preparation for the MetroBus routes. The work has been going on since last summer and won't finish until 2017.

The zoo is about two miles from the Travelodge by road and although there is a good bus service that travels from Temple Meads station on a circular route (the 8 and 9 services) and includes the zoo in its route Bristol buses tend to be more sporadic on Sundays with weekday 'every few minutes' schedules often reduced to every half hour on Sundays. Plenty of taxis though and on a Sunday it would be no more than a ten-minute ride from the Travelodge to the zoo in normal circumstances.
 
Many thanks for your help, I appreciate it.

We use Travelodge fairly regularly (I've one booked in Liverpool soon) and they're exactly what we need, a clean room, a shower and a cup of tea. We're usually out and about and only use the room as a base so anything more would be a waste. Ten minutes in a cab is fine.

Harbourside sounds great and the kids love a boat trip so we may jump on to one of the ferries.

I'm really looking forward to it. The last time I was in Bristol we had a two night stay at the Hilton for Mrs Finkle's birthday. We did a visit to Bristol Zoo and the Clifton Bridge followed by a meal on a floating barge, I think it was called 'Shoots'? I wonder if it's still there as I remember the food being excellent?

Thanks again (y)
 
I think that Shoots is now called The Grain Barge. So far as i know it still does meals as well as drinks of course. It was moved during the winter for an overhaul but was back in operation the last time I walked past. It's no more than a quarter of a mile from the Travelodge in Anchor Road. Another floating restaurant is the Glass Boat at Bristol Bridge - a mile or so from the Travelodge but that's a bit pricey. Another is Under The Stars but I don't know whether that stays open in the evening. There are lots of cafes and restaurants around the Harbourside.
 
Given the popularity of this "Random thread" in the BHX forum in particular I thought it would be a good idea to start one on the Bristol forum.

Anyway, I hear an unexploded second world war bomb has been found down the road in Bath? Notedly many of the locals decided to remain at home considering the bomb had remained intact for so long they didn't feel it necessary to leave.

I'm not so sure I'd want to stick around, especially as the bomb was going to be moved to a different location prior to making it safe.

Bath was one of the recipients of Hitler's fury following the near destruction of Lubeck by the RAF in early 1942. The late Herr Schicklgruber was so incensed that such a historic city had been attacked in this way that he ordered retaliatory attacks on similar historic English cities, including Bath, York, Exeter and Norwich. They became known as the Baedeker Raids from the Baedeker travel guides in which these cities appeared.

There were three raids on Bath spread over three days in April 1942 in which over 400 civilians in the city lost their lives.

Bath had become used to German bombers but until April 1942 they had always overflown the city to attack nearby Bristol which was the target of numerous air raids. It was one hell of a shock when Bathonians realised that they were the target and not Bristol.

It's a sobering thought but there must still be German bombs in other areas of the country. A few years ago work on the Cabot Circus shopping complex in Bristol, then under construction, had to be stopped following the discovery of a German bomb.

My wife and I did an escorted tour of the First World War battlefields around Ypres in Belgium a few years back and learned that ordnance is still being discovered almost weekly by farmers in the area. They put it to one side and eventually the Belgian Army comes along to deal with it.
 
At last?

Bristol Rugby beat Doncaster Knights 28-13 in the first leg of the Rugby Championship play-off final this evening. The second leg is at Ashton Gate, Bristol next Wednesday when a sell-out 16,000 crowd is assured. It would be 27,000 if the revamped ground was ready but that will have to wait until August.

Bristol have finished top of the league at the end of the regular season in five of the past seven seasons but each time they have failed to win the play-offs. There is no automatic promotion to the Rugby Premiership and the top four clubs in the Championship league table at the end of the season play off to decide who goes up.

It would be like Burnley not being automatically promoted to the Premier League this season despite finishing top of the Championship.

Bristol, one of the top clubs in England for much of the 20th Century, have been out of the Premiership since 2009.

Bristol being Bristol could still chuck it all away in the second leg though but I have a feeling that this will be their year. With derbies against Bath, Gloucester, Exeter and Worcester in prospect fans will be 'over the Moon' to steal a round-ball expression.
 
Many congratulations to Bristol Rugby for at last achieving promotion back into the Premiership after a seven-year absence and several play-off heart aches in recent years.

They weren't at their best last night - those nerves again no doubt and Doncaster deserved their narrow win on the night - but the lead built up in Yorkshire in the first leg was enough to see them through.

There seems little doubt that they will be one of the best supported Premiership teams next season with local derbies against the likes Bath, Gloucester, Exeter and Worcester likely to fill Ashton Gate which will see its seating capacity rise to 27,000 before the start of the new season.

Thanks must go to Steve Lansdown the de facto owner of Bristol Sport that owns/supports Bristol City FC, Bristol Rugby, Bristol City Women FC, Bristol Flyers basketball, a local racing driver and other local sporting enterprises.

Some criticise billionaire Lansdown for moving to Guernsey from Bristol when his eponymous financial group, Hargreaves Lansdown, floated on the LSE (now a FTSE 100 company) in order to enjoy a more favourable tax regime.

He may save on some UK tax but has poured tens of millions of pounds into sport in Bristol, apparently preferring to see his money used for local causes close to his heart rather than see a government take his money and squander some of it.

He is following in the footsteps of previous Bristol benefactors down the centuries such as Colston (a controversial figure given his arm's length connections with slavery), the Wills family (again controversial because they made their fortunes through tobacco) and John James.
 
On a slightly random subject (fitting for this thread!) Did I see an advert for "100% fertile, guaranteed to hatch many different species" of parrot eggs this morning on this thread? Suppose it is a thread on aviation but just not quite the feathered living, breathing variety :D
 
I missed that one so I must be sick as a ......
 
did not realise that Staverton Airport at Gloucestershire is probably the busiest general aviation (GA) airports in the country. The sheer number of private flights, helicopter flights, flying schools etc is incredible. Plus they have scheduled flights to Isle of Mann, Jersey, Guernsey etc. vast numbers of hangars on teh site too. A very popular destination for spotters too it appears as the pub carpark at the entrance has a very good view of the runway.
 
Has anyone had the Bellringer Ale. Brewed in Bath so quite local to the airport. dont think they sell it in the airport bars. but it is worth going a few hundred miles to sample it. Just brilliant.
 
did not realise that Staverton Airport at Gloucestershire is probably the busiest general aviation (GA) airports in the country. The sheer number of private flights, helicopter flights, flying schools etc is incredible. Plus they have scheduled flights to Isle of Mann, Jersey, Guernsey etc. vast numbers of hangars on teh site too. A very popular destination for spotters too it appears as the pub carpark at the entrance has a very good view of the runway.

I remember a report in the Bristol Post a year or two ago that Staverton Airport - or Gloucestershire Airport as it now styles itself - was busier than Bristol Airport measured by the number of aircraft movements. It's handily placed near the M5 and between Gloucester and Cheltenham.

Citywing operates scheduled flights to Isle of Man and Belfast City, and to Jersey in summer, although its main strength is in general aviation.

Its scheduled passenger traffic has been dropping of late with the CAA stats for March showing a 12-month rolling total of11,622, down 22.7% on a year ago.

Has anyone had the Bellringer Ale. Brewed in Bath so quite local to the airport. dont think they sell it in the airport bars. but it is worth going a few hundred miles to sample it. Just brilliant.

I don't think I've tried Bellringer. I usually go for Butcombe if I want a beer when I'm out for a meal, assuming that it's available. It's now brewed at Wrington of course in whose parish Bristol Airport is situated.
 
oh i LOVE Bellringer Ale! Haven't had that for years and could really do with a pint now! I am also a bellringer and can remember my 1st taste of it was during a ringing tour and I had a pint in the Bath area and remember it was very tasty! But like you Krakatoa, even in pubs who are Free Houses, I cant remember or say I have noticed it, on Draught outside of Bath. Shame, I want a pint now but usually settle for Butcombe!
 
In another question I have, I was wandering how easy it was to apply to the CAA for a personalised registration marks? easyjet all start with G-EZ and seeing SierraFoxtrot's excellent photos of the Catalina PBY 5A has a reg of G-PBYA which is the aircraft type. You also notice it on balloons, such as G-SUCK for Halls Soothers and G-IKEA for the well known flat-pack furniture company. Is it a simple case of applying and saying 'I would like this registration please?' Or like private car number plates, they would have to pay a premium for the privilege?
 
https://www.caa.co.uk/Aircraft-register/Registration-marks/Registration-marks/

I can't answer your specific question because I don't know but the above link gives the general information - it's necessary to click on the sub pages within the main page for further detail although none seems to address your main query.

The BA Concordes were G-BOAC (the flagship) and the others G-BO (A-G) with G-BOAF of course the last Concorde built and the last to fly and is now at Filton awaiting the new museum there.

Thomson B 757s were mostly G-BYA plus another letter from the days when Britannia Airways' IATA code was BY. Looking at Jethros only 14 757s remain in the fleet with only two being original Britannia/Thomson (BYAW and BYAY). The rest are mainly former First Choice aircraft with the G-OO** registrations.

The OO came about of course when First Choice was Air 2000. I always smiled when their A320, G-OOAR, was at BRS for a long time.
 
with todays european vote to come out of europe,i wonder what changes the airport could expect,apart from the change in duty free sales.
 
with todays european vote to come out of europe,i wonder what changes the airport could expect,apart from the change in duty free sales.

Airport gave out a press release today saying in summary that liberalisation of air transport across the EU has delivered greater choice and cheaper fares for people across the South West and that it is imperative that the government makes maintaining 'open skies' a priority in negotiations with the EU.

Robert Sinclair, BRS CEO, said that the UK economy is strong and that the BRS catchment is especially so leading to the situation where the airport currently has direct flights to more than 100 destinations and many more via the major European regional hub airports.

He acknowledges that the referendum outcome may cause some uncertainty in the short term but there are very strong incentives for European governments, airlines, airports and others to come together to preserve the 'open skies' market.

He is confident that Bristol Airport will continue to prosper and today's decision does not affect the airport's 'exciting development plans'.
 
i parked on the road above the old pier in weston yesterday saturday. looking across the water towards wales with binoculers i came across penarth pier.what was tied up was the balmoral.would think she had no work for the day.she is back from southampton.thought i would say something as we were thread drifting the other day about the old steamers.
 

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9 trips in 9 days done 70 miles walked and over 23-00 photos taken with a large number taken at 20mph or above. Heavy rain on 1 day only
5 trips done and 45 miles walked,. Also the RAF has had 4 F35B Lightning follow me yesterday and today....
My plans got altered slightly as one of the minibus companies had to cancel 3 trips and refunded me but will be getting nice discount when I rebook them.
wondering why on my "holidays" I choose to get up 2 hours earlier than when going to work. 6 trips in 6 days soon coming up with 3 more days to sort out

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