Somerset, England

Battery Point put-in (Portishead)

Launch — A slipway landing onto Woodhill Bay, on the south side of Battery Point.

Parking — The council-run Lake Grounds Sea Front car park on Esplanade Road runs along the shore, with around 200 spaces including 14 disabled bays. North Somerset Council charges for parking here.

Access — No members-only or private-land barrier restricts access to the slipway.

Season — No seasonal restriction applies to launching from this shoreline. The Bristol Port Company publishes Notices to Mariners for one-off changes affecting the harbour area; check those rather than assume a fixed season.

Regulations — North Somerset Council, which owns this shoreline, publishes no launch fee, permit or byelaw for unpowered craft here; the Bristol Port Company's compulsory pilotage rules concern larger commercial vessels, not craft this size. The whole estuary is designated a Ramsar site, Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation, and the North Somerset coast is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Association of Severn Estuary Relevant Authorities' good-practice guidance asks water users to keep clear of feeding and roosting birds, saltmarsh and honeycomb-worm reefs.

A slipway near Battery Point on the Severn Estuary shore at Portishead, close to Woodhill Bay and the Lake Grounds park, reached along Esplanade Road past the town's open-air pool.

The estuary's tide, and a working shipping lane

The Severn Estuary is one of the largest coastal-plain estuaries in Britain, funnelling from around nine miles wide between Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare down to about two miles at Aust. From Battery Point the view is across to the Welsh coast, with Cardiff and Newport on the far shore.

Two structures still stand on the headland above the launch. Battery Point (Portishead Point) Lighthouse, a nine-metre black metal skeletal tower on a concrete base built in 1931, is maintained by the Bristol Port Company. Behind it are the remains of Point Battery, a scheduled monument made up of King Edward's Tower and a square tower, built to help defend the approach to Bristol.

Nearby

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Café Lido

Within the Portishead Open Air Pool complex; opens seasonally.

Website

Conditions to check

Tidal flow

One of the largest tidal ranges in the world: the mean spring range at nearby Avonmouth is around 12.3 metres, which drains long stretches of the shore to mud and sand at low water.

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Tidal flow

Wind against tide raises a short, steep sea in King Road; the harbour authority also warns that north-westerly, northerly and north-easterly winds bring difficult conditions here.

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Boat traffic

Commercial vessels serving the Bristol Channel regularly pass within about 200 metres of Battery Point in the marked deep-water channel.

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Limited exit

Extensive mudflats and sandflats dry out between tides, so how far you can get back to dry land depends on how far the water has retreated.

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