By Chris Guy posted on 22 Apr 2017 in Urban

A trip out to the tip (or Household Waste Recycling Centre, to give it its proper title) at Avonmouth was enough to arouse my interest at the surreal no man’s land that surrounds the Kings Weston Lane site.

This is where the M49 and M5 motorways intersect, it is also home to the Lawrence Weston Solar Farm, numerous wind turbines, the St Anthony’s Park traveller site and a Sewage Pumping Station owned by Wessex Water. All in all it is a strange non-place and one that I wanted to explore further. So a couple of days later I jumped on my bike and headed over there, this is what I found…

Sewage pumping station with graffiti-covered walls and a closed roller door, overgrown vegetation around the edges and an empty tarmac yard beneath a pale blue sky.

Sewage pumping station owned by Wessex Water

Corner of a brick building covered in colourful graffiti, with cracked concrete ground, scattered weeds and signs of urban decay.

Graffiti on the rear of the sewage pumping station

A narrow grassy path winding through dense green scrub beneath a blue sky streaked with white clouds.

Scrubland adjacent to the motorway

Black-and-white view through a graffiti-lined underpass beneath a road bridge, with a car transporter passing overhead and a large cable drum silhouetted in the tunnel.

What’s going on here?

A solitary streetlamp beside overgrown bushes and a metal fence, gravel ground and distant electricity pylons under a bright blue sky.

Nothing to see here

Concrete underpass with graffiti on the walls, metal railings above, a lamppost, grassy verge and trees under a blue sky.

Beneath the motorway

Two elevated motorway flyovers arch apart over overgrown land, flanked by tall streetlights beneath a pale blue sky.

M5 / M49 Intersection

Fenced solar array on grassy land, with wind turbines and power lines visible in the distance under a clear blue sky.

Lawrence Weston Solar Farm

Graffiti-covered concrete underpass with a large wooden cable spool blocking the path, mural of a woman's face on the right wall and daylight visible at the far exit.

Inviting

A sandy track curves through green scrub and low dunes beneath a bright blue sky, with an electricity pylon and overhead power lines visible in the distance.

Pathway to nowhere

Industrial pump station with large teal pipes and metal platforms on a concrete forecourt, fenced and set against a clear sky and distant trees.

Industrial Installation

A metal electricity pylon and overhead power lines rise above a green hedgerow and flowering shrubs beneath a blue sky.

Pylon and spring blossom

Concrete road bridge spanning scrubland, supported by cylindrical pillars, with street lamps and a clear blue sky above.

M49 Flyover

Low rectangular brick building with small square windows, set behind overgrown bushes and trees beneath a bright blue sky.

Sewage Pumping Station

A gated path blocked by large boulders and a graffiti-covered concrete pipe, with a metal barrier, greenery either side and houses with two red cars visible under a blue sky.

Cycleway Entrance

Red car beside a fence under towering white wind turbines on a clear blue day, with grassy banks and a quiet road in the foreground.

Small Red Car

A silver car on a rural track beneath tall white wind turbines standing on a grassy embankment under a clear blue sky.

Wind Turbines and Hill

Empty roadside with a solitary traffic light casting a long shadow, wild grasses and trees before industrial gantries and a distant wind turbine beneath a bright sky.

Intersection with traffic lights

Red Royal Mail pillar box on a pavement beside a wire fence, with grass and parked cars behind.

Submerged Postbox

Red-and-brick tyre garage with three white roller doors, signage for Shaddick Tyres and Bridgestone, empty tarmac forecourt under a clear blue sky.

Shaddick Tyres

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