Thursday 3 October 2024

North West Passage. An Enjoyable Green Walk From Anniesland to Glasgow City Centre.

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Having just checked the blog I last did a variation of this walk in August 2022 with my friend Anne. We did it starting from Gartnavel Hospital walking through several districts that were largely unknown to us both and thoroughly enjoyed it. Anne not being available this time I did a solo greener variation of the same walk starting from Anniesland. As Glasgow, the UK's 4th largest city, is ever changing, year by year, I thought I would see if anything had changed this time around. And it had. New apartments in Anniesland next to the Forth and Clyde Canal where it goes under Bearsden Road. This is where the walk starts or ends, depending on direction of travel. Bus or train available to Anniesland Cross.


It was a beautiful sunny morning of the type I adore and always strive to live my life within. No wind or just a gentle breeze on hill tops, Not too warm or humid though. A hot day of 24 c by afternoon but a crisp perfect morning. Canal reflections all the way along the route chosen. This is my idea of heaven on earth. Hence the main blog title. New buildings here as well.


Late summer and the canal looks at its best. A beautiful walking route that avoids the urban sprawl around it. I've been watching Robbie Cumming's Canal Boat Diaries on TV ( also available on You Tube.) where he travels the English Midlands Canal network. I did notice a few canal boats in summer on this stretch of the Forth and Clyde canal when it first opened years ago but very few or none at all observed the last few years. And too many locks around this stretch for decent kayaking... which can be dangerous for kayaks anyway. Deep, high, uncertain banks for getting in and out easily. Over the decades I've recused several kayakers who fell in and found it unexpectedly hard to get back out again, depending where it occurs. Being young and fit certainly helps to pull yourself out unaided.


You can tell the lack of boat traffic by the amount of summer weed in the canal this year.


 Beautiful to look at but it gets tangled in the propellers all the time, slowing forward movement right down.  It was solid bank to bank weed cover in several places. We also do not have the infrastructure facilities that the English network has although the central and eastern section, from Cadder/ Auchenstarry to Edinburgh, fares better. So it's mainly bikes and walkers using the canal now rather than boats. Not always the motto... ' build it and they will come.'


You may recognize this tower block from the TV series Still Game. The fictional Craiglang was mostly shot in and around Maryhill although other locations were used as well. For instance South Nitshill featured in the pilot and first series before they moved to Osprey Heights. ( there used to be two or several white tower blocks here if I remember correctly and they used one getting demolished in the TV episode.) The pub they drank in was in nearby Ruchill. Navid's local newspaper shop was in Townhead so they definitely got their 10,000 steps a day when buying papers, milk and tobacco. Victoria Park was where the Park bench episode occurred. Knightswood Golf Course and surrounding high Knightswood hill views also featured regularly and Saltcoats/ Ardrossan district was where Winston lived briefly. If you get around the Central Belt a lot, like I have over the years, Scottish film and TV series like Taggart, Rebus, Trainspotting, and Outlander take on a new dimension of entertainment. For instance you can watch Taggart run after a bad guy through an Easterhouse tenement close then come out seconds later chasing him through a Drumchapel back court. Or Renton and Diane having a night out in Edinburgh when in reality most of the film was shot throughout Glasgow... Same with Edinburgh based detective Rebus. Or Outlander set in France... mostly shot still in Scotland at various east coast locations. Fife   or Lothian often standing in for France. ( much cheaper- less hassle.)


The great worm of Stockingfield Junction came next, where two canals meet and are spanned by a new pedestrian/ cycle bridge. I didn't think much of this giant serpentine sculpture if I'm honest when it was just bare grey plaster all over but now it's slowly getting its iridescent skin put on that has made all the difference. A stunning creation that will take years to complete. Best of luck with keeping people off it though as the day I was there an entire family was standing/ walking on its head despite numerous keep off signs. Almost gave up waiting for them to move off for this photo to be taken.


 Eventually they did. The other side.


Thanks to Anabel's blog I also knew to peer between the teeth for the hidden surprise within it's mouth. 

The ceramic egg within. Like all creatures of this ilk it gives birth to live young by burping them out through the mouth. I wait patiently.....for this to happen.... to adopt my own baby worm/serpent.... and then train it usefully.


Wyndford district Hi Rise blocks from the as yet unadorned section of the great slithery beast of Stockingfield Junction.


Next on the walk is Firhill Basin, seen above, and Claypits.


 Extensive views over the city from the high point at clay pits nature reserve. When they were building the canal suitable clay was scooped out here to waterproof the base of the dug out trench. They could do with re-lining the nature reserve ponds however as anytime I've been here they are always bone dry. It's been an unusually dry spring and summer in Glasgow with not much rain this year but even after heavy rainfall they seem to remain dry. Maybe it's a health and safety issue? No new ponds to be built?

At the top of the claypits area I wandered down through Hamiltonhill. Last time I was here with Anne we were amazed at the large area of open ground where streets of houses/schools/ buildings used to be but are now gone. A few makeshift DIY football pitches and goals were visible then but now it's been done officially with a brand new playground area and proper sports pitch put in. Still a lot of empty grassland through ... which is what this walk is all about and what makes it enjoyable. Wilderness within a city.


Appleby Street to Monar Street location wise... with Cowlairs Park visible in the distance.


 Another less well known Glasgow mural. Butterfly Girl. Hamiltonhill row of shops near Appleby Street.


New housing near Saracen Street was encountered then back into the wilderness again.


Cowlairs Park came next but that is the one area of this walk I would be very wary of entering. It stopped being a park decades ago and is now an overgrown wasteland only frequented by young men with large dogs on the two occasions I've been here.  Much better to walk along Keppochhill Road instead,  especially if you are a female... or of a nervous disposition in any way.


I did go through Cowlairs Park as it's high up with good views but I stayed wary at all times. Probably the last time I go through it as it has burnt out cars and vans, heavy tree growth which means you come on other people suddenly without a chance to avoid them and I'm always wary of strange large dogs off the lead and getting bitten. Different if you know the area and the locals.  


On this occasion I did spot two other guys with fighting type large dogs running off the lead but it was luckily in a more open section like this one so I managed to keep my distance. I'm normally pretty good reading dog body language from afar but large varieties can be a real unpredictable threat on walks and I've had my share of close encounters of the furry kind over the years. With dogs and owners. This is not a park in any normal sense... more the wild wild west.


Next up was a hard won mural but one of my favourites. A Rogue One/Art Pistol mural. I'm not far off 70 years of age now so it's 10 years or more since I last climbed a snow covered Scottish Highland mountain like this one. Traversing Cowlairs Park is enough adventure for me these days. This mural is found on Endrick Street, Cowlairs beside the fenced in community play area. It's easy to walk straight past it.


And a view looking back at Cowlairs Park from Sighthill/Fountainwell district. In olden times cattle used to be driven down from northern farms and pastures then rested here, in lairs, before being herded into city slaughterhouses as stressed tired animals taint the meat. Then later on it was a park consisting mainly of football pitches ( now overgrown grasslands) and recreation grounds for railway workers as Cowlairs and nearby Springburn employed thousands during the heavy industry era building steam locomotives sent around the globe. Some engines, 60 to 100 years later, still in use today.


I now entered Sighthill... which used to look like this until recently. 10 years or so ago in this photo. 



High Rise tower block land.


It now looks like this. A beautiful new park. I really like this place now. No tower blocks. Very open and green... and surprisingly extensive in acres.


If you live in Glasgow and haven't been to North Bridge district it's well worth seeing... and exploring. Sighthill Cemetery here. above. A green oasis now.


I had lunch here on a stone bench and a large dragonfly immediately arrived to check me out. Changed days. It used to be human locals doing that here if you sat down anywhere.


The new park experience. Sighthill/North Bridge.


Good cycling here as well. North Bridge runs into another new district being remodelled. Dundas Hill/ Port Dundas. Which is where I walked to next.


To photograph another new mural. Old converted warehouses and new apartment flats going up here.


Reverse view.

The view from Dundas Hill. Monklands Canal and Townhead High Rise.


 Dundas Hill plaza view.


The Watersports Centre at Pinkston.


Water-skier at Pinkston.


Then it was down into Glasgow City Centre via the rear of Caledonian University and  Cowcaddens, see above. ( them Highland cattle again. poor buggers. the end is near now.)
 And finally the bus home for me. No slaughterhouse just yet for poor old Bobby. Yippee. Around 3 to 4 hours steady pace. One 15 minute lunch stop. Two bacon and chicken sandwiches munched. One orange drink.


Treated myself when I got back in the house. The end.

 

Saturday 21 September 2024

Glasgow's New Swing Bridge. Riverside Museum. Govan Stones. Murals.

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In the last post I said I was going to Partick but ended up at Anderston, walking back along the River Clyde Walkway to Partick. By the time I got to Partick it was approaching rush hour so I just went home ... saving Partick for another day. A week later I took the correct bus down to Partick getting off at the transport hub where the subway/bus station/train station all meet under the three giant full gable murals looking down on them. I've already posted photos of them but this is one between West Village and Yorkhill that I missed. It's over 1 km or 2 km as the crow flies from Partick bus station to the Riverside Museum, the Tall Ship, and the new swing bridge but you can get really soaked on that shelter-less walk if it's raining heavily, tourists turning up like drowned rats outside the museum doors, even with waterproofs on. I like to use Yorkhill Park to get there sometimes, a green leafy area that surrounds Yorkhill Hospital and brings you out at Kelvinhaugh Street next to the mural arches at SWG3. Slightly longer but more interesting.


It's not that big a park but it does have a nice green walkway running through it, seen above, and is a pleasant route down to the mural arches. 


Kelvinhaugh Street. above.


I went up the back lane first, Eastvale Place, to see some of the murals I missed out the last time I was here. They do change from year to year.



Same building on a previous visit. Gone now. Last years model apparently. I liked that one with the nod to Cleopatra winning a bet with Mark Antony. A very early example of extreme extravagant wealth. Wonder if she got all her clothes and entertainment for free back in those days. Probably. Some things never change.


Angry guy.


The Listener.


SWG3 Gate Art.

Skull.

Close up of the Fox Mural.


I then crossed the elevated pedestrian bridge over the Clydeside Expressway to capture the railway arch murals from a distance. This is also the route to the Riverside Museum, hence the extra km distance difference.

More arches.


Big pigeon and highland cow.


And this walkway leads you out to the Riverside Museum, The Tall Ship and Glasgow's new swing bridge, just opened last week.


The Riverside Museum, seen here, contains all forms of transport past to present and also an old period street plus some of Glasgow's original rolling stock from the subway. 


And Glasgow's tall ship, the Glenlee, sits right beside it. Both of which are free entry to locals and tourists. ( Tall ship now around £5 entry since July 2024 I am informed. see comments.)


The new addition to the landscape is the swing bridge, which is pedestrian/ cycle only but opens to allow ships through if required. Not many large ships come up this far though but that option is available. A ferry used to run here up until the 1960s connecting Govan to Partick but disappeared when the modern Clyde Tunnel was built for vehicle traffic. Apparently this new bridge was almost £30 million and is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in Europe at over 370 feet long.


 Just as well it wasn't built across here, at the other end of the Riverside Museum or it would be far too short. Crowne Plaza Hotel. BBC Scotland HQ and Glasgow Tower here. Having just been on another walk into Glasgow City Centre a few days ago, and having walked from Anderston to Partick recently in the last post I came to the conclusion that maybe tourists coming to Glasgow might prefer a hotel here, around Anderston or Finnieston districts where there are half a dozen good ones. Crowne Plaza, Courtyard, Radisson etc... rather than the City Centre. The reason being I walked along the waterfront in the city centre ( messy, covered in graffiti) then along Argyle Street from Glasgow Cross to Central Station ( grubby, down at heel, past its best, beggars lying in the street, food delivery cyclists zooming everywhere in numbers) and noticed half the streets there had road works in them. A very different experience from my enjoyable Anderston to Partick walk. So I think tourists would prefer this area more.... and they can still visit the city centre easily for day trips as it's only a short ten minute bus or train ride away.


Glasgow Harbour. Then I thought of all the things tourists or locals could do here instead. Partick, a vibrant shopping area bucking the trend with loads of independent shops and unlike Glasgow city centre very few empty units or street beggars or bikes on pavements, far less graffiti as well. Botanic Gardens. Kelvingrove Museum and Park. Govan old church and stones. Good transport links. Great local walks up the River Kelvin or along the River Clyde in both directions. Dozens of murals that change year by year. University of Glasgow and Hunterian Museum. Glasgow Science Centre, Glasgow Tower, Imax Cinema, Exhibition Centre, Byres Road Lanes District. OVO Hydro. Clyde Arc Bridge and surrounding modern architecture. I could go on. And I found myself thinking this area is much better than Glasgow City Centre. A better image of the city for visiting tourists. More modern. More positive visual vibes. Less hectic. I'll post my city centre visit later on. So you can see the difference between the two areas.


And with this new bridge in place tourists visiting the Riverside Museum and Tall Ship have very easy access to Govan old church as well. A mere five minutes flat walk away across the bridge.


Tour RIBs and Govan Old Church from the Riverside Museum.


West Village Student apartments at Partick.


Govan Walkway. Govan is a very old district, far older than young upstart Glasgow, with roots dating right back to the 5th century, Viking grave burials ( the Govan Stones), and the seat of the ancient rulers of Strathclyde, a political and spiritual hub when Glasgow was just a couple of cottages and a munching cow beside a stream. Likewise Govan old Church and graveyard with many different reincarnations of churches on this site since that time.


Govan Stones info. Visiting Viking chieftains used hogback carved stones to cover the dead and this church has a fine collection. Later the Vikings became Christian but still kept some pagan customs. The ancient Strathclyde stronghold of Dumbarton Rock ( Fort of the Britons) eventually succumbed to Viking siege tactics and fell so the survivors moved upriver to Govan as the River Clyde at that time was shallow with twisting sandbanks but eventually the Vikings came here as well.


Although tourists could always reach this place by bus or subway it is or was slightly out of the way requiring an extra trip. Not now though. Only five minutes walk from the main tourist draw of the Riverside Museum and Tall Ship... and well worth a visit.


On the day I visited an archaeological team were busy excavating some gravestones and this churchyard has already been under the spotlight several times due to its ancient past throwing up surprises with Tony Robinsons time team arriving in Govan for a dig around a couple of decades ago for television. ( 1997 broadcast.)



Govan Old Church interior.


One of many stained glass windows.


The famous hogback stones. Govan Old Church.


Side view of church.
 
 And a link to the Govan Stones site with more info and pictures.
 
 
 


Govan also has some fine period buildings a stones throw from the church. Pearce Institute here on the Main Street. Built around 1906.


And brand new buildings as well. Govan apartments.


Govan walkway to church.


I got the subway back. Govan to Partick then a bus home from there.


Another good walk and a homemade tasty dinner. Yum yum. Beefburger and fried spuds, egg, onion and peas. 3 of your 5 a day on one plate :o)