Greenock and The Cut. Central Scotland's Best Balcony Trail?

                                               ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
At Alan's suggestion we decided to go to Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park in Inverclyde, above Greenock, to walk 'The Cut', a flat balcony trail offering magnificent views over the sparkling Firth of Clyde. Above is a photograph of the soaring Victoria Tower, a small part of the larger municipal building underneath, and at a height of 245 feet, 75 metres tall, slightly higher than the tower on Glasgow City Chambers, both buildings completed within two years of each other in the late 1880s. As the largest of the three Inverclyde seaside towns clustered together in this vicinity, consisting of Gourock, Greenock and Port Glasgow it was a very wealthy place once as seen in it's wonderful architecture, church spires, and grand mansions rising up the hillsides from the coastline.

Another view from Well Park, a flat three football pitch sized oasis offering great close up views over the town reached from the central district by an interesting and steep flight of stairs. Although a small park it's worth a visit if in the area as it has a few unusual features and sculptures to admire. It can also be reached by car from the streets above giving a perfectly flat walk without inclines, although parking near the higher entrance is limited.

Where we started our walk however was from the main visitor centre car park at Cornalees Bridge next to Loch Thom, a massive reservoir, and the reason for the Cut's existence. The Cut starts from here and flows in a narrow open channel, slightly descending although it looks flat, from the higher moorlands above, carefully using this contour line at roughly 560 feet, 170 metres, round the side of the hills to end up above Greenock's factories and warehouses, giving the town a much needed and reliable steady supply of clean water for industry.

Robert Thom was an intrepid civil engineer from Bute in the early 1800s who had already pioneered a successful aqueduct system for the town of Rothesay and it's cotton mills and was invited to the mainland to work on this larger project, namely providing year round fresh water for the numerous mills, people and rapidly growing industry in this part of Inverclyde. The finished waterworks did the job nicely and Loch Thom was named in his honour. 'The Cut' is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument and an extremely popular walk these days. I'm in two minds about creating National Parks and putting labels on natural features and landscapes. On the one hand it does save certain areas from development but on the other it dramatically increases the number of visitors into small areas that are now deemed 'fashionable' and the 'acceptable' thing to do, which in turn can erode the very essence of 'wilderness' they are meant to be protecting. As I've noticed with Loch Lomond National Park over the years not all visitors can be trusted to behave themselves correctly with such large numbers appearing, resulting in far more regulations and restrictions, so naturally, to me anyway, the archipelago of marvellous islands in the middle of Loch Lomond do not have the same quality of freedom and remote isolation they used to have 30 years ago. Mind you, few popular places do.

The first half of the Cut has views over rural farmland with mountains in the distance and we soon found we'd picked the right location as several sharp showers and much duller weather could be observed sweeping over the nearby peaks, which remained gloomy and overcast during our visit. This is a walk from a few weeks ago.

A zoom of what looks like the Cobbler, 2,900 feet, 884 metres, in the Arrochar Alps region seen from the Cut. Once again we were in sunshine all day whereas many regions experienced sharp sudden downpours of high intensity in very contained locations. With the humid summer temperatures still continuing we ran into several semi flooded roads on the way back yet we stayed dry and were only treated to a few rainbows over the surrounding hills.

A partial rainbow over the golf course.

A photo showing the aqueduct channel of the Cut. As we progressed further different urban views opened up across Gourock and Greenock.

One of Greenock Cemetery. This large wooded area is an interesting destination in its own right with many fine obelisks, tombs and gravestones on show as well as a network of lovely paths through a cornucopia of assorted tree types, including more monkey puzzle trees than any other location I've visited in Scotland. You also get fine views from the more modern part of this cemetery and it can be combined with other hilltops ( like Lyle Hill and adjacent small reservoirs ) to make a larger varied walking tour within the town.

Inverclyde Hospital and Central Greenock showing a small corner of the colourful modern school. One of the older, recently redundant, schools in this area was used as the location for Waterloo Road, a fictionalized BBC TV drama set in a modern comprehensive school with a mainly English cast of teachers and pupils. Not so far fetched as it sounds however as I've noticed an increasing number of English folk living and working in Scottish cities over the last decade.The Scottish Highlands have always been a magnet for rich incomers to kill the wildlife and play at big game hunters but now it seems there's a big switch into cities as well, and not just Edinburgh. The general consensus when asked seems to be that 'England has changed' and 'not for the better'... so they are all abandoning it to its fate and arriving up here in numbers. Mainly white and middle class it has to be said. Makes sense when you can sell a house in some areas down there and either retire on a large nest egg or start up a business with a sizable pot of money left over. Maybe the south of France is full up, too dangerous, or house prices are cheaper here now. From a strictly Scottish point of view though I have to say that 'Scotland has changed.'  My God! If this trend keeps up we may even start voting Conservative again in elections for the first time since the1950s! An unthinkable notion for any self respecting urban Scot even though Labour appears to be eating itself alive faster than a self catering cannibal. Immigrants out I say :o) Keep Scotland Scottish!
Obviously, New England is already taken but 'Albion' has also been suggested as a more forward thinking, less patriotic, future name for the country instead of Bonnie Scotland to reflect the recent demographic spread more accurately. New Poland also proved a popular choice and came in second.

A view of Greenock Docks with a cruise ship and a container ship moored at rest. Cruise ships are a regular sight here now in Albion, sorry Scotland, and this is a popular stop over to let visitors see the area. I've always said the Firth of Clyde and it's islands have world class scenery and the cruise ship owners seem to agree. As you can see a haggis is grazing in the field here above the town, unafraid and looking at the camera. Yum Yum.

A helicopter spotted on the way back.

Rain clouds building over the moors. A 12 km circular walk in total with one strenuous uphill section from Overtoun back over the hillside to the car park and the three reservoirs there. Allow 3 to 5 hours depending on pace and stops. Still a great varied walk.

And the usual glorious west coast seaboard sunset to end the day.

Here's another excellent film about a young deaf boy and his mother set in Gourock and filmed around the town and up on The Cut. Easily as good as Local Hero, The Full Monty, or Gregory's Girl but less well known. It gets a score of 70 to 90 out of 100 in most film reviews I've seen and is beautifully filmed and acted. A modern and clever fairy-tale of sorts and well worth watching. P.S. the mother is English of course (damn, they get everywhere) but it's still a great enjoyable film about childhood :o)