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A photo gallery of two different days along the River Clyde and the Clyde Estuary. The first is the Ambition Cruise ship from March, berthed at Glasgow's Govan docks for displaced Ukrainian refugees to live on until they wanted to return home or get settled elsewhere. I think there was one moored in Edinburgh as well for the same purpose by Scottish government arrangement.
I missed getting photos of all three cruise ships berthed in Glasgow during covid lockdown when no one was taking holidays so this was me finally getting the chance to capture one, close up, departing the River Clyde. ( when I mentioned in my outdoor book Autohighography, that Christine and Ian took cruises in the 1980s it was not this type of cruise, although Christine would have been keen. As usual lack of money meant they did some basic research first, got to Europe's biggest rivers, then sailed down or up them by the cheapest means available. No fancy dinners or lunches for them. Often no beds on board either. Sleeping bags on deck sometimes, if lucky. On the plus side no smart phone booking ahead grabbing places weeks in advance so often they just turned up on the day and picked what was on offer from the locals once over there. Hopping different boats in stages. Different times but more of an adventure that way. Unpredictable, which really suited Ian. Christine... not so much.)
A very different type of refugee ship is currently berthed in an English port at the moment in a trial run and it's worth pointing out that the recent influx of refugees crossing the channel or through Europe in droves is greatly facilitated by smart phone use, which translates any language barriers instantly, informs how to make claims once here, gives details of where to find people smugglers, small boats etc,....and shows the poor and hungry elsewhere a very different enviable lifestyle enjoyed by many other, richer, countries and in general takes a lot of the uncertainty out of travelling into the unknown, even if you live in a mud hut. So for that reason alone I cannot see the influx diminishing any time soon even though we are fast running out of hotels to put them all in. Another disadvantage of smart phones. And Brexit, so far, has made the UK poorer, not richer.
A last view of it departing past Clydebank and the blue Titan Crane. There are a lot of drawbacks to having a cashless society as well... as we will soon find out if we go down that road in the near future. Big business is all for it of course as they can save loads of money shedding millions of jobs that used to be done by humans. Don't think I've posted these before as I only had a few photos of this ship.
A recent different walk is this one undertaken from Dumbarton and Levengrove Park, which always has nice flower displays in Spring, Summer and Autumn.
July and August 2023 display as we passed. Alan had his Dad along this time.
Low tide so we were able to walk across the mud flats in places.
A large prominent villa. Dumbarton district.
In places it was ankle deep in water, mud, and sand but the views were good out here. Huge skies and flat horizons, very unusual for Scotland. Not a place for expensive boots though as salt water eats away at them unless washed in fresh water afterwards.
A fishery protection vessel.
The Waverley paddle steamer on a day cruise down the River Clyde, passing Langbank. ( this is more in keeping with Christine and Ian's type of 1980s European cruise holiday set up... but still a good trip. The last ocean going paddle steamer in the world apparently.. yet I've never been on it yet. You have to book in advance so it's pot luck what weather you get.
Port Glasgow from the mudflats. Also shows where we set off from in Alan's small boat several posts ago.
Greenock docks and another cruise ship. Greenock is a regular stop in spring, summer and autumn cruise lists, having deep water berth facilities, although as our recent small boat trip proved you need to be very careful and have local knowledge to avoid the numerous sandbanks in this estuary, especially in a massive cruise ship.
A good sunny day out.
9 comments:
We are going on the Waverley on Sunday - just one section from Greenock to Largs. It’s part of my aunt’s 90th birthday celebrations. Looks like rain!
Lovely to see Waverley! I've been on her a few times - mainly across to the Isle of Man. And her sister ship (which is steam but not a paddle steamer - can't remember the name - something Royal - Queen someone-or-other?) My Dad was a member and supporter of the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society.
As to the illegal immies - I just hope our dire weather makes them regret their invasion of our country. I'd go and live in a mud hut with lovely-all-year-round weather rather than here given the choice! Well, the desert anyway (love deserts).
Best of luck Anabel,
another thing that puts me off is that it always looks busy on deck and I don't mind crowds as long as I can escape them if I desire to do so. Which is why I also watched the excellent Edinburgh to Glasgow road cycling race on TV two days ago. Enjoyed seeing the Glasgow street crowds- did not want to be in them though. If bumping unexpectedly into Scarlett Johannson and Brad Pitt a few years ago, both making films in Glasgow, didn't raise my pulse any there's not much point seeing unknown to me but world class cyclists in the flesh, close up. Far better on TV.
Hope you all enjoy your trip.
Hi Carol,
I really like our beautiful climate. Not too extreme. I liked deserts when I was younger but I could not handle 40c now for weeks on end. If it's all year round the same that's not really weather is it? After a few months I'd be bored and ready for some rain, waterfalls and green scenery again. I found I had that feeling on Australian trips after a while, especially as it hadn't rained properly in some parts for several years. We take abundant fresh water falling from the skies at regular intervals too much for granted here.
Many years ago I also travelled on the Waverley. However, not in Scotland, I went from Penarth in Wales across the Bristol Channel to Minehead and back. I hadn't realised that she did so many different journeys around so many different areas of the country before.
I have enjoyed watching some of the cycling in and around Glasgow - one day it was pouring with rain whilst we were bathed in sunshine, but the next day it was the other way round. What a mercurial little island we are.
I'd have very happily relocated to Jordan - I was even looking for jobs in Amman at one point. The scenery, although not green, is superb and there's plenty of colour as the deserts there are 3 colours of sand. There are spectacular but quite easy large mountains in the south of the country near Aqaba with zig-zag horizontal bands of green peridotite and some black rock. They have inselbergs all over the place (like Sutherland but more of 'em).
I also didn't mind the heat at all as it was dry heat so very comfortable - and, of course, it gets very cold at night.
And you learn to cope with and ignore the anti-women bias of the town populations there (although Amnan was more progressive and so fine - and the Beduin were too).
Hi Rosemary,
I used to think the Waverley was just a River Clyde boat as for many years it arrives here during the summer months to run trips but apparently the rest of the time it travels around the UK, spending the winter running trips along the English south coast where it's usually calmer seas and warmer than Scotland at that time of year.
The cycling coast to coast race was excellent with steep hills, tight bends, and very good helicopter and drone work to really capture the city and Scottish landscape at it's finest.
A few hill-walking friends have been walking and climbing in Jordan and it does look impressive.
It's a truly lovely country. Out of all the places I've visited, it's the one I consistently miss!
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