Somerset, England

Portishead put-in

Launch — An informal slipway rather than a marina facility, on the open foreshore close to where the watercourse called The Rhyne discharges into the estuary, alongside the remains of old dockside structures.

Parking — Pay-and-display parking is available in the marina car park at the end of Newfoundland Way; supermarket car parks on Harbour Road (Waitrose, Lidl, Home Bargains) allow shorter stays.

Access — Reached on foot along the public coastal path on the seaward side of The Barbican flats, continuing round from the Portishead Marina lock gates.

Season — North Somerset Council may close nearby Esplanade Road during periods of increased flood risk from the sea, and the Environment Agency issues flood alerts covering this stretch of the Severn Estuary.

Regulations — The estuary here carries international conservation designations (a Ramsar wetland, Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation), and the North Somerset shore is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Severn Estuary European Marine Site partnership asks water users to launch from recognised points and avoid disturbing roosting or feeding birds, particularly around high water. No licence or registration is levied for unpowered craft here; North Somerset Council's only launching restriction on its coast is for personal powered watercraft, and applies to a different site.

A slipway on the open Severn Estuary shore at Portishead, on North Somerset Council's public foreshore east of the marina and close to Battery Point.

The Severn Estuary is a funnel-shaped tidal system with one of the largest tidal ranges in the world, with a mean spring range of around 12.3 metres and a mean neap range of about 6.5 metres. This floods and drains a very wide intertidal zone of mud, sand and rock, and strong tidal flows keep an estimated 10 million tonnes of sediment in suspension, giving the water its characteristic brown colour.

Downstream of the launch, the shore runs past Battery Point, Woodhill Bay, Kilkenny Bay and Sugar Loaf Beach toward Black Nore lighthouse and Clevedon. Battery Point itself is noted locally as the point on the UK mainland where the largest ships pass closest to shore, and carries its own navigational light. Below the surface, the estuary here supports reefs of the honeycomb tubeworm Sabellaria alveolata, and the mudflats hold internationally important numbers of wintering waders, including curlew, redshank, dunlin and black-tailed godwit.

Nearby

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Costa Coffee

Chain coffee shop in the marina's Sixty8 development on Newfoundland Way, reached via the marina lock gates.

Mokoko

Independent coffee shop in the marina's Sixty8 development on Newfoundland Way, reached via the marina lock gates.

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Conditions to check

Tidal flow

Spring tidal streams here run to around 1.5 m/s, dropping to about 0.75 m/s at neaps.

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Tidal flow

A local tidal eddy sets west towards Portishead pier head during most of the flood tide.

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Shallow or rocky

The upper shore is sandstone and mudstone shingle, giving way to thick mud lower down.

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Limited exit

The shore close to The Rhyne outfall is sticky river mud, which bears on getting back to the slipway as the tide falls.

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Boat traffic

This reach carries commercial shipping between Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Docks, plus marina lock traffic close by.

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