On my second visit to Baltic Wharf, my conclusion remains as before; namely that this is a site of two extremes. One: a cramped, claustrophobic, ageing site shoe-horned into a small piece of prime urban real estate. The other: go through the gate at the top of the site and you emerge into a whole different world. The busy, captivating, floating harbour is before you and across the bustling water the gentrified and colourful houses appear to cling to the hillside and clamber their way up to Clifton, Cabot’s tower and the suspension bridge at the top. Catch the ferry into the city centre, or take the harbour side walk past the SS Great Britain and the M Shed instead; it does not take long and there is so much to take in. Bristol has much to offer in the Cathedral, Park Street, St Mary Redcliffe church, the museums, the Hippodrome theatre, lovely shops and much more. I experienced more of the food this time too. The Cottage Inn, next door, is simple pub fayre but adequate for the odd meal (and good Butcombe Brewery ale for those into that). The Olive Shed – about 15 minutes walk by the M Shed - is excellent Tapas if you like that kind of thing but a tad pricey if you want to leave replete. The Bordeaux Quay at the Waterfront was excellent, but I would avoid MacKenzies in the same row; this was a true disaster. The Arnolfini is a great place for an outdoor drink as well as a place to visit. There is noise here, from the road, the pub, the rowing and sailing club, the harbour itself and more. I relish this kind of hubbub, but some may be irritated by it. It is a city centre site. The wardens were absolutely lovely, probably the loveliest I have met, and they made very well of a most difficult site. Only 6 pitches are defined with grass between; for the rest I found that pitch discipline was non-existent and even worse than on my last visit. Many caravan owners parked their car on the nearside; I thought they were supposed to be on the offside but, even if my assumption is wrong, there were some shocking cases where owner’s cars were only about one metre from neighbouring motorhomes (I confirmed ownerships) yet a 3 to 4 metre gap existed between the owner’s caravan door and their car – with tables, chairs and BBQs being spread liberally in between. Surely that can’t be right. It is fortunate for these people that their neighbours were apparently indifferent to this abuse. Such a situation makes me feel very uncomfortable and had I been subjected to this I would have felt justified in lodging a complaint with the warden. If all cars had been on the offside then owners would have their own car on top of them, instead of offending others, and there would be no issue. It shows a remarkable lack of respect for others. Notwithstanding these shortcomings, this place is all about the location and everything about that simply renders irrelevant the confined nature of the site itself and the inability of many members to understand basic pitch etiquette.
