The Brean Down Way provides an 8-mile-long route from the pier at Weston super Mare to the tip of Brean Down. Greenways teamed up with North Somerset Council to deliver this complex cross-border route via the tidal sluices across the River Axe owned by the Environment Agency. Greenways held two camps here to construct the critical 3km long central section and the 100-metre-long timber Bird Screen of Brean to minimise disturbance to redshanks in the estuary.
Click the image to open the route in Komoot.
The path was opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Annie Maw, on July 7th 2017.
Please note: The section of the route between the National Trust cafe and the bottom of the road up onto Brean Down is a private road. The public have the right of way on foot – but not on bicycles. You are asked to dismount when using this section.
The numbered Mileposts, designed by Katy Hallett, are installed on the Brean Down Way, thanks to the generous funding of the Lions Club of Weston-super-Mare. Each has a sign giving a map of the route and key features. Katy also designed the Great Bird Screen of Brean.
100,000 people passed our counters on the Brean Down Way in the year after its opening in July 2017.
Greenways and Cycleroutes secured funding to complete the missing section of a walking and cycling route linking Weston-super-Mare and Brean Down, in Somerset. Work started in February 2017, our work camp between 22 April and 1 May 2017 saw most of the route constructed, and with the Environment Agency’s work on its own security fences on the sluices the route opened on 7 July.
For more information, download a leaflet for the route here.
We owe many thanks to the following for funding and support:
The Brean and Weston-super-Mare route via the Brean Cross Sluices over the River Axe is an example of a long-sought scheme that has been difficult because of its crossing from North Somerset to Somerset Councils.
People holidaying in the area can now plan trips, and indeed arrange their whole holiday, without the use of the car. For example, Weston-super-Mare is in easy reach of holidaymakers in Brean avoiding the drive of much longer distances including ‘junction-hopping’ on the M5 motorway. As well as reducing fuel use and emissions whilst on holiday, this route should inspire people who haven’t cycled before, or for a long time, to take up regular cycling once they get home from the holiday. We hope this project will have a wide influence beyond the holiday week itself. For walkers who tackle the local section of the national coastal path, there will be an interesting and complementary section of safe walking inland taking in the magnificent views from Brean Down and the natural charm of Uphill.
Greenways and Cycleroutes has taken the lead on the route between the River Axe and Brean – with North Somerset Council constructing the route between Weston and the River Axe.
Greenways and Cycleroutes 