Over the Channel to Weston

The Bristol Queen at the Pier Head

I loved a trip to Weston-Super-Mare crossing on the old paddle steamers that plied the Bristol Channel. They still do but nothing like back in my childhood when they sailed from the Pier Head, Cardiff.

There was always a big queue for the trip with most people heading for Weston but there were other ports of call along the Bristol Channel. It was always a bit of potluck on the weather. The two trips I can remember making one was dry the other wet but it was still a great day out.

Sometimes there would be two ships docked on the dockside, which was a flowing pontoon with a joining gangway, and maybe another waiting to dock that was how busy it was back then. The boats would be full of day-trippers from as far as the valleys, many of which would travel to Cardiff via train or on special buses. I am almost sure it was the Bristol Queen, which took us over to Weston once.

Being tied to the tide, you would leave mostly in the morning making the trip back in the early evening before the new high tide had turned. What you didn’t want to happen was to miss the trip back because you’re be stranded or god forbid miss the tide at the Pier Head meaning you could be stuck in the mud over night until the tide comes in again. The entry to the Pier Head moorings at Cardiff were controlled by signals very similar to those used on railways.

There was a restaurant on the Bristol Queen which would fill quickly even with the trip being so short. They was also a buffet counter where we youngsters could buy sweets and the like and there were benches along the deck to sit on.

Everyone especially the youngsters wanted to checkout up the engines and the paddles but would have to make do with the paddles crashing into the water. We would steam past Steep Holm Island on the way to Weston Pier. I can’t remember how long we would spend over there but enough time to visit family and have some seaside fun.