Bristol’s top 5 lunchtime walks to beat the Monday blues.

 Beat the Monday blues…

It’s no secret that walking can greatly improve your physical and mental health. Walking helps to ease anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and overall well-being, but often, that first step – getting outside, can be the hardest.

The UK’s No1 CBD brand TRIP has collected and analysed public opinion on the most popular 5-km walks (roughly one hour) in London to find the best lunchtime walks in your area to help beat the Monday blues.

They did this by scraping alltrails.com for every UK city, adding parameters of <5km, >1500 km elevation, easy difficulty, and light to moderate trail traffic.

Wellness expert and TRIP co-founder Olivia Ferdi says: “Movement always helps whenever I’m feeling low – be it stretching, taking walking meetings or cardio, it works every time to clear my mind. Try taking breaks to go on a walk, shifting your environment will give your mind a reset and reinvigorate your perspective.”

Walking is the perfect free activity that can help calm your mind. Walking has been found to release feel-good hormones known as endorphins into the bloodstream. This natural high helps to brighten your mood even on the dullest of days.

As it’s still dark in the mornings, TRIP compiled a list of the best lunchtime walks to squeeze in during the middle of your work day to help overcome Blue Monday and other challenging days of the year.

Below are the five best lunchtime walks in Bristol:

1. The Upton Inn and Upton Cheyney Circular

This 3.2-km circular trail is south east of Bristol, near Bitton in Somerset, so you’ll have to factor in travel time there if you are not a local. It’s considered an easy route and takes an average of 1 hour to complete. This trail is popular for birding, hiking, and running, but you can still enjoy some solitude in the least busy times of the day. In total, 177 people have left a review saying it’s a “lovely, short and easy trail”.

2. Nightingale Valley to St. Anne’s Wood Circular

This 4.3-km circular walk takes a little over 1 hour to complete and it includes a variety of landscapes such as woodland, a small meadow and a river. This easy trail is perfect for a change of scenery and is home to a goat, geese and chickens to spot along the route. This trail is great for hiking and walking, is family-friendly and while it is open all year round, take your wellies if it’s remotely wet.

3. Dundridge Park and Hanham River Loop

This route is most loved by dog owners and is well signposted. While the whole 3.2-km route takes an average of 51 minutes to complete, usuals to the route say you can easily cut it shorter if you do not have enough time. This lovely loop begins at Dundridge Park Recreation Ground and explores the banks of the River Avon. It is relatively flat and suitable for a wide range of ages and fitness levels, however people discourage people walking with a pram as there are steps and on a wet day the path gets muddy.

4. Greyfield Wood Circular

This 4.2-km walk through Greyfield wood is easily accessible from Bristol. As a designated County Wildlife Site the woods are home to foxes, badgers, rabbits, squirrels, voles, wood mice, shrews and wild deer, so keep your eyes wide open! On average this trail takes 1 hour and 6 minutes to complete and is open to the public all year round. People reviewing this trail commented “easy to explore”, “dog friendly” and “amazing place [I’ve] been there loads of times, no doubt I’ll be there again soon”.

5. Lords Wood Circular

Wander through this circular 2.9-km trail in Lords wood, which takes just under an hour to complete. This route is relatively flat, making it suitable for all ages and four legged friends. This trail is great for hiking, running, and walking, and as it is not widely known of, it is unlikely you’ll encounter many other people. There’s plenty of scenery, from the wildflowers and quiet forest to the serene river views, this walk will be sure to take your mind away from any sad thoughts this Blue Monday.