Cycling stops in Bristol

36 places · United Kingdom

Bristol is a city you leave by climbing. The ground rises the moment you cross the Avon, and within half an hour the roads are running over the Mendips toward Cheddar and the Somerset Levels, or north onto the Cotswold edge above the Severn.

In between sit the Chew Valley lakes, which is where most of the city's riding happens: quiet lanes, a reservoir on either side and a café at the far end.

Cafés

Salt & MaltCaféSalt & Malt sits on the shore of Chew Valley Lake, serving breakfast, lunch and a fish and chip menu from a dining room with a nautical theme.The PelicanCaféThe Pelican is a pub in the centre of Chew Magna, established in 1615 and reopened in 2024 under The Pony Group's Josh and Holly Eggleton.Warmley Waiting Room CaféCaféWarmley Waiting Room occupies the original waiting room of the former Warmley railway station, on the Bristol to Bath Railway Path.

Climbs, views & nature

Brandon HillPeak · 76 mBrandon Hill is Bristol's oldest public park, granted to the city in 1174 and opened to the public in 1625.Dundry HillPeak · 233 mDundry Hill is an oolite ridge nearly four miles long, topped by the tower of St Michael's church, built around 1482 and still used as a landmark across the …Leigh WoodsNature reserveLeigh Woods covers about two square kilometres of ancient woodland on the south-west side of the Avon Gorge, opposite Clifton Suspension Bridge, the largest …Mendip Hills National LandscapeProtected areaThe Mendip Hills National Landscape, formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, covers 198 square kilometres of Carboniferous limestone rising sharply f…Swildon's Hole CavernCaveSwildon's Hole is the longest cave on the Mendip Hills, running over 9,000 metres through crawlways, chambers and active streamways.The Clifton ObservatoryObservation tower · BristolClifton Observatory started as a windmill in 1766, later ground snuff, then burned out after a gale set its sails alight in 1777.

History & landmarks

Aerospace BristolMuseum · BristolAerospace museum with the final Concorde ever built.Ashton Court Mansion HouseManor · BristolAshton Court's manor house dates back to the 11th century and appears in the Domesday Book; the current building took shape in the 1630s, when Thomas Smyth a…Blaise HamletMuseumBlaise Hamlet is a group of nine thatched cottages John Nash designed in 1810-11 for retired staff of the Blaise Castle Estate.Blaise Museum - Kingsweston Roman VillaArchaeological siteThis late-third-century Roman villa was uncovered in 1947 when workers building the Lawrence Weston estate cut through its walls, and excavation ran until 1950.Bristol CastleArchaeological siteBristol Castle stood here from the 11th century, first a motte-and-bailey castle recorded in 1088, then rebuilt in stone with a keep and new walls in the 12t…Bristol CathedralCathedral · BristolBristol Cathedral began as an Augustinian abbey founded around 1140 by Robert Fitzharding, consecrated in 1148.Bristol Zoo ProjectZoo · BristolBristol Zoo Project, at Cribbs Causeway, is the successor to Bristol Zoo Gardens, whose Clifton site closed in 2022 after 185 years.Cadbury CampArchaeological siteCadbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort in Somerset, England, near the village of Tickenham.Cheddar Gorge & CavesAttraction · CheddarEngland's largest gorge, over 130 metres deep and three miles long, cuts through the Mendip Hills here.Church of St JamesChurchSt James' Church at Cameley dates from the late 12th century, with a 15th-century tower and a porch added in 1620.Clevedon CourtManorManor house with 14th-century great hall and chapel block on Court Hill in Clevedon.Clifton Suspension BridgeAttractionClifton Suspension Bridge spans the Avon Gorge over 300 feet above the river, designed by a 24-year-old Isambard Kingdom Brunel after he won an 1831 competit…Cox's Cave and The Crystal QuestAttractionCox's Cave was found by mill owner George Cox in 1837 while quarrying limestone, and opened as a show cave the following year.Gough's CaveAttractionGough's Cave has been dissolving out of Cheddar Gorge's limestone for half a million years.Kings Weston HouseManor · BristolKings Weston House is an English Baroque manor built between 1712 and 1719 by Sir John Vanbrugh, architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, on the site …Leigh CourtManorLeigh Court is a Greek Revival mansion Thomas Hopper built in 1814 for Bristol merchant Philip John Miles, on the site of an Elizabethan house whose owner sh…Maes KnollArchaeological siteIron Age hill fort with a prominent earthwork rampart on Dundry Down ridge.Priddy CirclesArchaeological sitePriddy Circles are four Neolithic earthwork enclosures set in a line across the Mendip plateau, each nearly 200 metres across and spread over about 1.2 kilom…Royal York CrescentAttractionRoyal York Crescent is a Georgian terrace above Clifton, built between 1791 and 1820 after money troubles from the war with France stalled the work for years.Saint Mary-le-Port ChurchRuinsSaint Mary-le-Port's origins trace to the late Saxon or early Norman era, near Bristol's original quayside on the Avon before the harbour moved to the Frome.Site of Nailsea GlassworksMonumentSt Peter's ChurchRuinsSt Peter's Church dates to 1106, one of Bristol's oldest churches, with a Norman tower base and a 15th-century nave.St Thomas a Beckets ChurchPlace of worshipSt Thomas à Becket Church in Pensford dates from the 14th century, with only its tower surviving from a building recorded active in 1341; the rest was rebuil…St. Mary the VirginChurch · BristolSt Mary the Virgin's site may have held a church since a Christian grant to the Bishop of Worcester around AD 691.Stanton Drew Circles And CoveArchaeological siteStanton Drew holds England's third-largest complex of prehistoric standing stones, far less visited than Stonehenge or Avebury.Sutton CourtManor · BristolSutton Court began in 1310 as a fortified manor house, its peel-like tower and castellated wall dating from that build.Tyntesfield HouseManorCountry house with Victorian Gothic Revival architecture and a 19th-century chapel.
NATURE
Mendip Hills National Landscape
George Evans, CC BY-SA 2.0
Mendip Hills National Landscape
Wilson44691 at English Wikipedia, Public domain· Wikimedia Commons
Mendip Hills National Landscape
Francesco Veronesi from Italy, CC BY-SA 2.0· Wikimedia Commons
Mendip Hills National Landscape
gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K, CC BY 2.0· Wikimedia Commons
Mendip Hills National Landscape
F. C. Robiller / naturlichter.de, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Mendip Hills National Landscape

Bristol

The Mendip Hills National Landscape, formerly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, covers 198 square kilometres of Carboniferous limestone rising sharply from the Somerset Levels. Its karst terrain holds gorges, dry valleys, sinkholes and underground cave and river systems, alongside species-rich scarp woodlands and limestone grassland, with dry stone walls marking out the open plateau above.

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From riders

mendiphillsaonb.org.uk

From Wikipedia

The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Chew Valley and other tributaries of the Avon to the north. The highest point, at 325 metres (1,066 ft) above sea level, is Beacon Batch which is the summit area atop Black Down. The hills gave their name to the former local government district of Mendip, which administered most of the local area until April 2023. The higher, western part of the hills, covering 198 km2 (76 sq mi) has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which gives it a level of protection comparable to a national park. The hills are largely formed from Carboniferous Limestone, which is quarried at several sites. Ash–maple woodland, calcareous grassland and mesotrophic grassland which can be found across the Mendip Hills provide nationally important semi-natural habitats. With their temperate climate these support a range of flora and fauna including birds, butterflies and small mammals. The dry stone walls... Wikivoyage: The Mendips are a range of hills in northern Somerset in the south-west of the United Kingdom. The area is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Checked 13 August 2026

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Photo: George Evans, CC BY-SA 2.0 · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Sources: OpenStreetMap