Exploring North West Glasgow. A Cross Country Ski Tour. Part One.

                                               ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
This is part one of a long cross country- well... across Glasgow at any rate... ski tour on a pair of borrowed cross country skis. As four to six inches of snow has fallen in the last month over the Central Belt- on two separate occasions a couple of weeks apart- I made the most of them by planning ahead.

Looking at the Glasgow map and my own detailed knowledge of the area I knew a circular ski tour starting from Anniesland then taking in Bearsden (seen here, above) Dawsholm Park (skirting the edge of Maryhill) then the Forth and Clyde canal running down through Knightswood then the park there- plus the golf course then back to Anniesland via a different route should be possible.

Most of it would be travelling through green open spaces but occasionally using quiet back streets between the green areas--- travelling down roads or pavements when necessary. As it was a weekend outing the roads (most of the back streets almost blocked out by snow anyway) were very quiet. Apart from essential services- buses, trains, taxis -police etc  most folk had opted to stay home and not use their cars. (I heard later a six mile tail back traffic jam had occurred in Glencoe- caused by keen skiers flocking to the ski resort there then getting stuck and trapped for hours when they were already full up with visitors.
None of that hassle here though - even the pavements were empty as no-one seems to walk much in Bearsden over car driving age and it's the same as any other upmarket area I've noticed on previous cycling or walking trips around the various city suburbs- which is great from my point of view. The Kilpatrick  Hills in the distance here.

Some of the back streets had so much snow covering them it was hard to see where the road was underneath. There are two roads here.

I deliberately picked a route over several small hills for the views and a spot of downhill interest although truth be told I was only going at walking pace- deliberately so where I had to use pavements between green spaces and parks out of consideration. Not that I spotted anyone else around.

I also knew of a woodland trail that avoided most of built up Bearsden by linking Dawsholm Park with the Forth and Clyde canal.

A view of Anniesland, Jordanhill in the distance, and Anniesland Tower.

Anniesland Train Station and Glasgow's new super hospital at Govan, one of the largest in Europe, with a helipad on the roof. Dawsholm Park sits on a hilltop with good views over the city and a great network of trails.

Westerton Train Station. I had to take the skis off here to cross from Bearsden over into Anniesland to reach the Forth and Clyde canal via this pedestrian bridge.

A view over Anniesland from the other side of the bridge. You can see the gas towers I started off close to in the distance.

To reach the canal on the other side.

A few km of skiing along here followed, where I had some very easy downhill runs. Having skied so infrequently in the last ten years I was still finding my balance and technique and I never did get good enough to master the graceful but tricky telemark turns on anything other than a perfect gentle and wide slope so any turning involved was a clumsy bunny hop on planks. Not much room for snowplough turns either but useful for stopping or slowing down. I was improving though and was now bombing along- at a fast glide- sightly faster than fast walking pace but only just....



The real deal here. I need a lot more practice. Tricky when you only get low level snow so infrequently in Scotland. Some years none at all.

It was good fun though and felt great. A lone maverick nutter in a pristine, almost empty, world.

Apart from bird life of course. A moorhen here- a bird of wet moors, marshes, ponds and rivers. There used to be plenty of coots on the canal as well but moorhens have the distinct advantage of being able to leave the water and forage on the land for food whereas you don't see coots doing that much.
Very few coots on this canal now compared to 20 years ago but bird, insect,and animal numbers have all crashed dramatically world wide overall in that time. Some by 70 percent- some by 30 percent. I like to think of myself as a realist rather than a pessimist but the continuous downward trend of wildlife everywhere is obvious to anyone looking at the numbers.

So you might get a false picture here of this honeypot pond with its plentiful range of species. Gulls, tufted ducks, swans, mallards and geese- the numbers just enough to keep the pond from freezing over completely. Instead, it was a slushy thick porridge affair but very draining to swim or wade through I'd imagine.

Tufted ducks.

Swans and pigeons.

End of part one... in part two I tackle some mighty city hills....on Santa's magic planks!

A different kind of white. The chalk cliffs of the iconic Needles and an incredible climb up a caster sugar looking arete in this amazing video. I've never rock climbed on chalk before so I've no idea how good the protection is in the event of a fall off this thrilling knife edge. Probably best not to fall at all when relying on such crumbing crack lines or old metal pegs with a few hopeful nuts and hexes wedged in as a back up.  Well worth a full screen look in this link. Spectacular camerawork and effort. A real and very different adventure. Ah, to be young again.