Home sheep home

sheep with bridge

Headed home after two nights at Baltic Wharfe and immediately got caught up in the traffic coming to Bristol for the balloon fiesta at the weekend. It was partly my own fault taking the minor roads to the Clifton Suspension bridge. There were cars queuing to get into the various balloon carparks around the Clifton area. We found somewhere to park and walked over the bridge, for the first time in years, spotting a couple of Shauns nearby of course.

the last one outside the Mall

Then we drove back through the university area where Mark was at Uni studying maths for his degree. Passed another couple of sheep in the outskirts, but could not stop, until we arrived at the enormous Mall shopping centre by the M5.  We found the last 3 Shauns around the mall, had a KFC and bought a poster from the Shaun the Sheep shop. The Mall has a permanent Shaun shop and sells a lot of merchandise. The city trail in London and Bristol raised over £4m last year for childrens charities and Bristol certainly enters into the spirit of the event.

We stopped one more time at the new Gloucester services on the M5. This is a privately built and operated service station unlike any of the others. No McD, KFC or BK (or sheep!), but a big farm shop and crafts using local produce and suppliers. Not cheap - but good quality produce and services supporting the local economy.
     
We spotted 24 of the 70 Shauns around Bristol and the Sheep Spotter Apps tells me that we spent 6.7 hours using it and covered 11 kilometers on our trail. An unusual and most enjoyable little break in Bristol.