Nickey line
The Nickey line is a disused railway that once linked the towns of Hemel Hempstead and, Luton but Harpenden via Redbourn, in Hertfordshire, England. The course of most of the railway has been redeveloped as a cycle and walking path and it is approximately nine miles long. The origin of the nickname the Nickey line is shrouded in obscurity, suggestions include being named for the parish of St. Older generations in Hemel still refer to the line as the Puffing Annie, the “Nickey line” being a smaller version of its bigger brother. Their campaign was successful and the line was routed along the River Bulbourne instead of the River Gade. As a result, the station serving Hemel Hempstead was built one mile outside the town centre at Boxmoor, Boxmoor. The first proposal for a more convenient rail link for the townspeople of Hemel Hempstead was presented in 1862 by John Grover. His proposal was for a spur from the main line at Boxmoor. At the same meeting, another proposal was put forward by a Mr Stocken, Grovers design found a sponsor and following an Act of Parliament in 1863 the Hemel Hempsted and London & North Western Railway Company was formed to construct and operate the line.
By 1865, the Midland Railway was developing its route out of London St Pancras, a new railway scheme was put forward by engineers G. W. The tunnelling proposals proved to be expensive, and further opposition from landowners resulted in the scheme being rejected by Parliament in 1865. With the assistance of Grover, the plans were revised and resubmitted for Parliamentary approval which was obtained in 1866, the railway company had meanwhile already commenced construction work in anticipation of approval. Construction proceeded extremely slowly, the spur from Boxmoor to Hemel Hempstead only being completed by 1871. Eventually, the HH&L&NWR company ran into difficulties and it was the Midland Railway that came to the rescue, financing completion of the line. At this time the transporting of goods and coal was the driving factor in the development of railways rather than commuter rail. Passengers travelling on this route changed trains at Chiltern Green to reach London, the connection to the GNRs line at Harpenden East was never achieved.
The line was opened on 16 July 1877 to great fanfare with celebrations led by Berkhamsted Rifle Corps Band. A special train was laid on from Hemel to Luton and champagne receptions were held in Luton, church bells were rung and a banner hung across Alexandra Road in Hemel proclaimed Success to the Hemel Hemptead and Midland Railway Company
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is the county seat of Hennepin County, and the larger of the Twin Cities, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. As of 2015, Minneapolis is the largest city in the state of Minnesota and Saint Paul anchor the second-largest economic center in the Midwest, after Chicago. Minneapolis lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul. It was once the worlds flour milling capital and a hub for timber, the city and surrounding region is the primary business center between Chicago and Seattle, with Minneapolis proper containing Americas fifth-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies. As an integral link to the economy, Minneapolis is categorized as a global city. Noted for its music and performing arts scenes, Minneapolis is home to both the award-winning Guthrie Theater and the historic First Avenue nightclub. The name Minneapolis is attributed to Charles Hoag, the citys first schoolteacher, who combined mni, a Dakota Sioux word for water, and polis, Dakota Sioux had long been the regions sole residents when French explorers arrived around 1680.
For a time relations were based on fur trading, gradually more European-American settlers arrived, competing for game and other resources with the Dakota. In the early 19th century, the United States acquired this territory from France, fort Snelling was built in 1819 by the United States Army, and it attracted traders and merchants, spurring growth in the area. The United States government pressed the Mdewakanton band of the Dakota to sell their land, the Minnesota Territorial Legislature authorized present-day Minneapolis as a town in 1856 on the Mississippis west bank. Minneapolis incorporated as a city in 1867, the rail service began between Minneapolis and Chicago. It joined with the city of St. Anthony in 1872. Minneapolis developed around Saint Anthony Falls, the highest waterfall on the Mississippi River, forests in northern Minnesota were a valuable resource for the lumber industry, which operated seventeen sawmills on power from the waterfall. By 1871, the west river bank had twenty-three businesses, including mills, woolen mills, iron works, a railroad machine shop, and mills for cotton, sashes.
Due to the hazards of milling, six local sources of artificial limbs were competing in the prosthetics business by the 1890s. The farmers of the Great Plains grew grain that was shipped by rail to the citys thirty-four flour mills, a father of modern milling in America and founder of what became General Mills, Cadwallader C. Some ideas were developed by William Dixon Gray and some acquired through industrial espionage from the Hungarians by William de la Barre, pillsbury Company across the river were barely a step behind, hiring Washburn employees to immediately use the new methods. The hard red spring wheat that grows in Minnesota became valuable, not until did consumers discover the value in the bran that Minneapolis
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic and military powers.
Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001.
The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic.
The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
Salzach
The Salzach is a river in Austria and Germany. It is a tributary of the Inn and is 225 kilometres in length. Its drainage basin comprises large parts of the Northern Limestone and Central Eastern Alps, the rivers name is derived from the German word Salz, meaning salt. Until the 19th century, shipping of salt down the Salza was an important part of the local economy, the shipping ended when the parallel Salzburg-Tyrol Railway line replaced the old transport system. The Salzach is the river in the Austrian state of Salzburg. The source is located on the edge of the Kitzbühel Alps near Krimml in the western Pinzgau region, from here, it runs eastwards through a large valley via Bruck south of Lake Zell to Schwarzach im Pongau. It turns northwards, passes Sankt Johann im Pongau, flows in-between the Berchtesgaden Alps and the Tennen Mountains to Hallein, cities on the banks in this lower section include Laufen and its sister town Oberndorf bei Salzburg and Burghausen. All these towns have border crossings, the river finally joins the Inn in Haiming between Burghausen and Braunau.
Currently, there are 12 hydroelectric power plants on the Salzach, the power plants are listed beginning at the headwaters, Salza Österreichisches Bundesministerium für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft, Die Salzach - ein Fluss bewegt. Norbert Winding und Dieter Vogel, Die Salzach, verlag Kiebitz Buch, Vilsbiburg 2003, ISBN 3-9807800-1-5
Ecuador
Ecuador includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres west of the mainland. What is now Ecuador was home to a variety of Amerindian groups that were incorporated into the Inca Empire during the 15th century. The territory was colonized by Spain during the 16th century, achieving independence in 1820 as part of Gran Colombia, Spanish is the official language and is spoken by a majority of the population, though 13 Amerindian languages are recognized, including Quichua and Shuar. The capital city is Quito, while the largest city is Guayaquil, in reflection of the countrys rich cultural heritage, the historical center of Quito was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. Cuenca, the third-largest city, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999 as an outstanding example of a planned. Ecuador has an economy that is highly dependent on commodities, namely petroleum. The country is classified as a medium-income country, Ecuador is a democratic presidential republic. The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, Ecuador is known for its rich ecology, hosting many endemic plants and animals, such as those of the Galápagos Islands.
It is one of 17 megadiverse countries in the world, various peoples had settled in the area of the future Ecuador before the arrival of the Incas. They developed different languages while emerging as unique ethnic groups, even though their languages were unrelated, these groups developed similar groups of cultures, each based in different environments. Over time these groups began to interact and intermingle with each other so that groups of families in one area became one community or tribe, with a similar language and culture. Many civilizations arose in Ecuador, such as the Valdivia Culture and Machalilla Culture on the coast, the Quitus, each civilization developed its own distinctive architecture and religious interests. Eventually, through wars and marriage alliances of their leaders, a group of nations formed confederations, one region consolidated under a confederation called the Shyris, which exercised organized trading and bartering between the different regions. Its political and military came under the rule of the Duchicela blood-line.
The native confederations that gave them the most problems were deported to distant areas of Peru, similarly, a number of loyal Inca subjects from Peru and Bolivia were brought to Ecuador to prevent rebellion. Thus, the region of highland Ecuador became part of the Inca Empire in 1463 sharing the same language, in contrast, when the Incas made incursions into coastal Ecuador and the eastern Amazon jungles of Ecuador, they found both the environment and indigenous people more hostile. Moreover, when the Incas tried to subdue them, these indigenous people withdrew to the interior, as a result, Inca expansion into the Amazon basin and the Pacific coast of Ecuador was hampered. The indigenous people of the Amazon jungle and coastal Ecuador remained relatively autonomous until the Spanish soldiers, the Amazonian people and the Cayapas of Coastal Ecuador were the only groups to resist Inca and Spanish domination, maintaining their language and culture well into the 21st century
Quito
It is located in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains. With a population of 2,671,191 according to the last census, Quito is the second most populous city in Ecuador and it is the capital of the Pichincha province and the seat of the Metropolitan District of Quito. The canton recorded a population of 2,239,191 residents in the 2010 national census, in 2008, the city was designated as the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations. The historic center of Quito has one of the largest, least-altered and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas and Kraków, were the first World Cultural Heritage Sites declared by UNESCO, in 1978. The central square of Quito is located about 25 kilometres south of the equator, a monument and museum marking the general location of the equator is known locally as la mitad del mundo, to avoid confusion, as the word ecuador is Spanish for equator. Quitos origins date back to the first millennium, when the Quitu tribe occupied the area, according to Juan de Velascos 1767 book Historia del Reino de Quito, the Quitu were conquered by the Caras tribe, who founded the Kingdom of Quito about 980 AD.
For more than four centuries, Quito was ruled under the kings and their allies were narrowly defeated in the epic battles of Tiocajas and Tixán in 1462, by an army of 250,000 led by Túpac Inca, the son of the Emperor of the Incas. After several decades of consolidation, the Kingdom of Quito became integrated into the Incan Empire, in 1534, the Caras/Quitu people were conquered by the Spanish. Rumiñahui was executed on January 10,1535, on March 14,1541, Quito was declared a city and on February 14,1556, was given the title Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de San Francisco de Quito, starting at this point its urban evolution. In 1563, Quito became the seat of a Real Audiencia of Spain and became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru and its administration on both Viceroyalties remained to Quito. As with other places colonized by the Spanish, the colonizers promptly established Roman Catholicism in Quito, the first church was in fact built even before the city had been officially founded. In January 1535, the San Francisco Convent was constructed, the first of about 20 churches, the Spanish converted the indigenous population to Christianity and used them as labor for construction.
In 1743, after nearly 300 years of Spanish colonization, Quito was a city of about 10,000 inhabitants, on August 10,1809, an independence movement from Spanish domination started in Quito. On that date, a plan for government was established that placed Juan Pío Montúfar as president with various prominent figures in other positions of government. However, this movement was ultimately defeated on August 2,1810. A chain of conflicts concluded on May 24,1822, when Antonio José de Sucre, under the command of Simón Bolívar and their victory marked the independence of Quito and the surrounding areas. In 1833, members of the Society of Free Inhabitants of Quito were assassinated by the government after they conspired against it, and on March 6,1845, later, in 1875, the countrys president, Gabriel García Moreno, was assassinated in Quito. Two years later, in 1877, Archbishop José Ignacio Checa y Barba was killed by poisoning while he was celebrating Mass, in 1882, insurgents arose against the regime of dictator Ignacio de Veintimilla
Recife
The population of the city proper was 1,625,583 in 2016. The city is located at the confluence of the Beberibe and Capibaribe rivers before they flow into the Atlantic Ocean and it is a major port on the Atlantic Ocean. Its name is an allusion to the reefs that are present by the citys shores. The many rivers, small islands and over 50 bridges found in Recife city centre characterise its geography, as of 2010, it is the capital city with the highest HDI in Northeast Brazil and second highest HDI in the entire North and Northeast Brazil. The Metropolitan Region of Recife is the industrial zone of the State of Pernambuco, major products are those derived from cane, oil platforms, software. With fiscal incentives by the government, many companies were started in the 1970s and 1980s. Recife stands out as a major tourist attraction of the Northeast, the beach of Porto de Galinhas,60 kilometers south of the city, has been repeatedly awarded the title of best beach in Brazil and has drawn many tourists.
The Historic Centre of Olinda,7 kilometers north of the city, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982, the city is an education hub, and home to the Federal University of Pernambuco, the largest university in Pernambuco. Several Brazilian historical figures, such as the poet and abolitionist Castro Alves and Natal are the only Brazilian cities with direct flights to the islands of Fernando de Noronha, a World Heritage Site. The city was one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Recife hosted the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 1950 FIFA World Cup. It was a settlement of fishermen and way station for Portuguese sailors. Olinda had been settled in 1536 by captain General Duarte Coelho, the city is named for the long reef recife running parallel to the shoreline which encloses its harbour. The reef is not as sometimes stated, a coral reef, at that time the banks of the Capibaribe River were covered by sugarcane. Recife was capital of the 17th century Dutch Brazil and was called Mauritsstad, the Mascate War of 1710-1711 pitted merchants of Recife against those of nearby Olinda.
Due to the proximity to the equator, Recife weather is generally warm. Recife has a number of islands, rivers and bridges that crisscross the city, Recife is located amidst tropical forests which are distinguished by high rainfall levels resulting in poor soil quality as the rainfall washes away the nutrients. There is an absence of extreme temperatures and a cool breeze due to the winds from the Atlantic Ocean. Recife has a climate, with warm to hot temperatures
Chicago
Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, film, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language.
The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S.
The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
Canal du Centre (France)
The Canal du Centre, originally known as the Canal du Charollais, is a French canal running from Digoin, where it now joins the Canal latéral à la Loire, to the River Saône in Chalon-sur-Saône. It was opened in 1792 and made it possible for the first time for traffic to pass from the north of France to the south. It is 112.1 km long and has 61 locks, most of its traffic came from the coal mines at Montceau-les-Mines. The canal was first suggested during the 16th century, under King Francis I, but nothing more happened until the Chief Engineer of Burgundy, Émiland Gauthey, obtained building powers in 1783. He selected a route which joined the valleys of the Loire and Saône, the canal brought new life to the Charollais and within 20 years of opening, many villages had sprung up along its banks. This happened in 1838, five years after the establishment of mines at Montceau-les-Mines. But the coal traffic declined during the 1980s, and the mines were closed in 2000. Originally 80 locks took the canal up by 77.64 m from the Loire and these were enlarged in 1880-1900 when they were all rebuilt whilst bringing them up to the Freycinet gauge and the number of locks reduced.
During the 1950s about 5 km of canal in the centre of Chalon was replaced by a new cut upstream of the town with a single 10.76 m deep lock replacing 3 locks
Cycling in Denmark
Cycling in Denmark is both a common and popular recreational and utilitarian activity. Often bicycling and bicycle-culture in Denmark is compared to the Netherlands as a bicycle-nation, massive infrastructure investments are taking place to create more cycle ways and thus increase safety. At intersections, the continuation of the way or lane is often highlighted by a broad blue band to increase its visibility. In general both paths and lanes are designed for the slow pace of utility cycling as opposed to more speedy designs in other countries. The Danish Roads Directorate acknowledges that the Danish cycle track system functions best when cyclists travel at low speeds. In Copenhagen a system of interconnected green cycle routes, greenways, is under development, with the aim of facilitating fast, the network will cover more than 100 kilometres and consist of 22 routes. As of 2011, there were 40 kilometres of greenways in Copenhagen, the 11 Danish National Cycle Routes form a network of cycling routes throughout the country.
They are important routes enabling bicycle tourism and showing off Denmarks natural beauty as well as its regional towns, Cycling is integrated into both the national, the regional and the local train services in Denmark. Cycles are permitted on trains to facilitate mixed-mode commuting and this is most visible in the urban and suburban rail network of Metropolitan Copenhagen, the S-trains, where cycles can be transported in specified carriages found at the front and rear of each train. As of 2011 there is no charge for taking cycles on any S-train, in general public transport bus services in Denmark do not permit the carriage of cycles, but the Copenhagen Harbour Buses are an exception and allow for up to four cycles to be carried. Although there appear to be a number of cycle parking facilities in Denmark. Those that do exist are often poorly positioned, particularly in the bigger cities, in 2008, with a view to remedying the situation, the Danish Cyclists Federation published a Bicycle Parking Manual with a number of guidelines.
They aim to be of practical use to users but offer advice for city planners wishing to improve facilities in the future. Most Danish public schools educate 10–12 years in traffic rules, utility bicycles which require little maintenance and are suited to load carrying are very popular. However, all types of cycles are accommodated on the bicycle paths/ways. Two- and three-wheeled cargo bicycles are becoming increasingly popular, with the trend starting in Copenhagen. The common use of cycles and the support infrastructure for utility cycling, has encouraged Denmark to brand itself as a leading nation in everyday cycling. Danish postal workers have been using cycles for transport in towns, likewise small shop delivery services used cycles until the mid-1960s
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 30th-most populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being the states second-largest city of Lexington, Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County. Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis XVI of France, making Louisville one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachian Mountains. Sited beside the Falls of the Ohio, the major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Its main airport is the site of United Parcel Services worldwide air hub, since 2003, Louisvilles borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County because of a city-county merger. The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, the citys total consolidated population as of the 2014 census estimate was 760,026.
However, the total of 612,780 excludes other incorporated places and semiautonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources. As of 2014, the MSA had a population of 1,269,702, the history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the areas geography and location. The rapids at the Falls of the Ohio created a barrier to river travel, the first European settlement in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him, two years later, in 1780, the Virginia General Assembly approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, early residents lived in forts to protect themselves from Indian raids, but moved out by the late 1780s. In 1803, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition across America in the town of Clarksville, Indiana at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky.
The citys early growth was influenced by the fact river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had swelled to 7,000, the city grew rapidly in its formative years. Louisville was a shipping port and slaves worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for slaves to the north, during the Civil War, Louisville was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies and transportation for numerous campaigns, by the end of the war, Louisville had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon, took place nearby
Bristol and Bath Railway Path
The Bristol and Bath Railway Path is a 15-mile off-road cycleway, part of National Cycle Network National Cycle Route 4. It has a 3-metre wide tarmacked surface, and was used for 2.4 million trips in 2007 and it passes through the suburbs of Easton and Staple Hill, the villages of Mangotsfield, Warmley and Saltford, before ending at Newbridge. The path starts at Trinity Street, Lawrence Hill and these houses would be in the way of any future use of this section as a guided busway or rail use. 3.2 miles from the Bristol end, the path reaches Staple Hill station, on the remaining platform there is a modern sculptured seat. The path rises up level with the platform, and back down to the track bed. A short distance from the station is the entrance to the 0. 3-mile-long Staple Hill Tunnel under Staple Hill. The west end of the tunnel is at 51. 4792°N2. 51126°W /51.4792, -2.51126, the path takes up less than half the width of the tunnel, with the rest of the floor uneven rocks. The tunnel is lit all year-round, and despite the warning signs,24 hours a day, the roof leaks in places, giving the appearance of rain, often when outside it is dry.
The disused Bristol and Gloucester route to Yate now provides a spur from the railway path northwest to the Bristol ring road cycle path, the remaining island platforms have railway-related sculptures between them, some depicting waiting passengers. One notable sculpture was that of a suitcase, supposedly belonging to one of the passengers, however, it disappeared in the summer of 2008. From 1999 to July 2001 South Gloucestershire Council built a new section of the A4174 Avon ring road along part of the path. While the work was being undertaken the path was diverted away from the old railway line, the new section includes two bridges, several tight corners, a hill, and two cattle grids. The station platform at Warmley contains a cafe, serving seven days a week year-round. Between Avon Riverside and Oldland Common the path shares its route with the heritage Avon Valley Railway, along this two-mile shared section the path crosses the railway line at two level crossings. There has been opposition to the Avon Valley Railway expanding their line, the railways cafe at Bitton railway station is open all year round.
The end of the path is at the Brassmill Lane trading estate in Bath,51. 385498°N2. 400456°W /51.385498, -2.400456 The west Bath river side path continues to the city centre. In January 2008, a plan was revealed by the West of England Partnership to turn sections of the path between Emersons Green and Bristol City Centre into a Guided Busway. Sustrans have announced that they will oppose these plans, claiming that they are the right idea, a petition against this proposal on Bristol City Councils website gained over 7900 signatures within the first month
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