ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
As I'd not been over the River Clyde via the Renfrew Ferry for a couple of years I thought I'd take the opportunity to see what has changed in that time.
The first surprise was a little DIY garden, constructed from throwaway objects, donated items, or discarded stuff on the banks left by people or high tides.
Fairy Garden and Trim Trail. Not only amusing for children but adults as well if you find a passing beetle for the slide. Things to do while ferry waiting.
Not just thrown together either but done with skill, time and effort. Flotsam and Jetsam twins here.
Happy Lion table. Not something you see every day.
Something to look at while you wait for the ferry which is roughly every 10 to 15 minutes Mon to fri. 6:30am til 6:30 pm and Sat and Sun 10:00am to 6:30pm. Except 12:00 to 12:30 which is skippers break for lunch. This is the old model from around ten years ago. Passenger/ cyclist only but with room for one ambulance.
The modern Renfrew Ferry. No ambulance space required now so a lot smaller and lighter but probably more economical to run. This is the last ferry operating on the upper River Clyde. 50 to 100 years ago many different types of ferry crossed the river at various points in the city, linking workers to shipyards, factories, and busy docks. Govan, Finnieston and Erskine all had one.) This last remaining crossing has been threatened with closure several times but it is still an essential service and the easiest, fastest way for workers or visitors linking Braehead, Xscape, Renfrew, Paisley (or to reach parts of west Glasgow in reverse journey), travelling by public transport. £2:50 adult passenger one way- bikes free of charge. Concessions £1:50.
There is now a new section of walkway along the river from the Renfrew Ferry to Braehead whereas before there was always this missing section. This has now been filled in with new housing and a waterfront path. Up until the 1950s this river boasted a long line of metal cranes, as thick as any forest, lining both banks, with rows of completed or half built steel ships of every size and shape jostling for space, and a number of tall, smoke belching chimneys scattered here and there. Glasgow and this part of the River Clyde, in my memory of it then as a child, was a very dark city- any Victorian era tenements and buildings covered in 100 year old deposits of soot and grime, river polluted and dead of life below yet thriving on the surface with humanity and activity of every kind. Boom and bust economy during recessions but before cheaper labour costs pulled work permanently overseas a river packed with ships from the city centre down to Gourock on one bank and running down to Clydebank and Dumbarton on the other. The River Clyde responsible then for building one fifth of the world's ships and a huge chunk of it's railway locomotives as well. The City of Glasgow itself, at a 1930s-1960s high of one million residents, jam packed with shoppers every weekend, in an age before retail parks and new towns on the outskirts developed, pavements always black with pedestrians, and at night, in winter, a heaving mass of noisy starlings perched above, enjoying the warmth from all the street lights.
You can see that half forgotten age even today on the new promenade walk, which has to take several short detours inland to avoid old abandoned docks, slipways, and embankments.
I was pleased to see the housing here has a lot of variety to it, in a range of different styles as one of the mistakes Glasgow District Council made in building the massive 1950s council housing estates like Drumchapel, Castlemilk and Easterhouse, apart from the size of them, was the identical, depression inducing, sameness- long rows of three and four storey tenements, drab grey or light brown/pale orange in colour, stretching unbroken to the far horizon- prison block style- only with metal and concrete, often weather sheltered verandas, twice the length and depth of these small exposed ones. Every era it seems has its own pros and cons.
Another different style, no doubt reflected in the price range. No verandas here- or 'personal sun terrace.' as some estate agents like to label them.
My favourite ones in this vicinity with walk around spacious (and sheltered from rain) glass verandas, river views included, but probably more expensive. No real gardens to speak of though so I'll stick where I am with back and front personal green sun plazas, trees and plants under my windows. Old slipway and dock in front.
Which brings us neatly to Clyde View Park, seen here a couple of years after it opened in 2005. It was the first purpose built new park in the West of Scotland for many decades, laid out almost like a zen garden with a pond and fountain at one end of a postage stamp square then a small pebble lined stream bed flowing very gently, as it was flat, through the park to reach another fountain and pond at the other end.
I was very impressed by it. When it was first created it was delightful in its brand new zen like perfection to detail. An artwork. The water gurgled softly over a Chelsea Flower Show type garden display on a mattress of clean bare pebbles. The whole route, pond to pond, was mostly vegetation free so you could follow and see the entire stream layout in great detail like a living map without any obstacles in the way. In spring/ early summer the flat grass/ meadow area came to startling life with a carpet of truly gorgeous and glorious white clover serviced by dozens of fat, friendly bumble and honey bees. Hoverflies, butterflies, and wildflower strips dotted the edges of the stream and both ponds. Any trees were head high and for its size, a mere seven acres square, it seemed to pack a lot into it. To give you an idea of what I am taking about, scenery wise, here's a good photo link to its opening/conception in 2005.
http://www.rampantscotland.com/visit/blvisit_clyde_view.htm
These photos were taken a few years after that initial opening when vegetation had started to grow. Still beautiful to look at but no wildlife in sight, apart from insects, since the beginning and the original bare look of the ponds and stream starting to be obscured by greenery... as was the plan.
Fast forward almost 20 years later to today and it appears as if the pond/ stream system has gone to seed somewhat, packed with bull rushes and brown winter vegetation with the original features, and water surface almost totally obscured. Could not tell if the fountain was broken, switched off, or working as I couldn't even see it. This overgrown jungle along the length of the stream and 20 foot of height added to all the trees nearby made the park seem much smaller somehow. I was disappointed with that aspect of it.
Yet in another sense it was thriving. A moorhen here. One of a dozen spotted along with several ducks. Before, in the bare zen garden, there was not any place to hide from danger so no birds or mammals ever visited it, as far as I could see on visits. The reeds are so dense now that otters and water voles could easily be in there and you would never know the difference.
So it's a catch 22 situation for me in many ways. A choked stream bed of boulders, above. An area where wild life is mostly hidden from view now but positively thriving.... yet visually and aesthetically unappealing to the eye as a human.... as you can't see very much... of anything.
Same with both ponds. Better looking and rather enticing when it had clear, short edges of bare grass and fountains going, yet undeniably more attractive to wildlife now... when, as a human, you can't see much at all. :o)
As a keen wildlife/ landscape/ nature photographer I prefer to see the subject in question as here on the Renfrew Ferry slipway. Pied Wagtail, Juvenile Black Headed Gull and twa dabbling ducks here.
The view across the river showing another old slipway and pier. Dozens of these relics on both banks yet only one working shipyard left on the Upper Clyde- two if you include Port Glasgow.
An interesting day out. The walkway/cycletrack at Clyde View Park in Renfrew Village. I'm lucky in the sense that I have been here in this same area to observe all the different changes occurring over 20 years in this ever evolving small park. And I'm still enchanted by the 'miracle of the seasons' happening all around me.
