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A walk Alan and I did around the Christmas period in Dumbarton that I'm just posting now, about two to three months behind on posts at present but that always leaves a few extra in the bag in case of a lull. Before I met up with Alan again I went five years without a walking companion, except for my cousin occasionally. mainly because I gave up serious hill-walking and hill-walking clubs at the start of Covid and never went back....as most of my friends from that time period are still totally addicted to it to the exclusion of anything else and I got fed up with that attitude as they had little time for any of my suggestions to do something different for a change. Hills or nothing else for the last 45 years. Every single weekend and holiday period. A proper life long addiction to my way of thinking and one I no longer had to the same extent. I was the mad one for wanting a change, at least now and again... Another reason for packing in or a switch was I was getting old and the hills were increasingly hard on knackered knees. My heart wasn't in it anymore.This is not a real snow person but it is a good one. Used mainly to hide an unsightly tree stump I think, Didn't want to get caught lifting up the snow person's attire to find out... so it remains a mystery...
Anyway, this walk starts from Dumbarton's main tourist car park beside Levengrove Park down river from Dalreoch Train Station and past the distinctive three orange hi rise blocks. The walk starts here by crossing the stone bridge onto the side with the shopping street then follows the River Leven along that bank downstream until it empties into the River Clyde. As you can see it was a beautiful cloudless morning. It always is in the world I live in... unlike the weather you experience up mountains 85 percent of the time.
Just in case there is no heaven awaiting us I like to get my thrills and paradise moments in early, down on earth first.. to save disappointment later on. Also, I didn't want to die having just climbed hills all my life, continually and increasingly following someone else's idea of a great day out rather than my own version. Having said that a sense of purpose or a hobby is one of life's great gifts. It's just they have their own bucket lists now and I have mine. One of which is photography.
The walk around the harbour, some of it on waste ground is always a pleasant experience and very varied.
A modern elephant bench. Dumbarton's long history with elephants will be mentioned later on.
The River Leven and Dumbarton Rock and Castle. The car park is just out of sight on the right on the Dumbarton rock side, (the river twists right in this photo to run beneath it in front so to reach it it's the left hand bank in this photo that you have to walk down to reach it. This river drains all of Loch Lomond so in times of heavy rainfall/floods it can be impressive for the sheer volumes of water it discharges into the Clyde Estuary.
The remains of the old docks when Dumbarton, like most UK towns, cities, and even small villages during the industrial revolution produced products shipped worldwide. Shipbuilding, whisky distilleries, and glass making to name but three industries here for a population of around 20,000 citizens. Maybe 30,000 at it's heavy industry jobs peak. For a lot of towns and districts; Dumbarton, Paisley, Barrhead, Clydebank, the Inverclyde towns and the Ayrshire towns spring to mind, the good times of earning a regular wage in a steady reliable job from year to year is mostly a thing of the past for a lot of people and there is a lot of deprivation, alcohol abuse, drugs and unemployment in these mentioned areas. Although maybe more so in recent past decades.
But it's an interesting town and walk with a long history. Sunken ships here in the River Leven. Good for local fish and other sea creatures as a home.
Which brought us round to Dumbarton Rock. One of the bouldering boulders here with rolling Renfrewshire in the distance.
The other bouldering boulders here and the main face where the hardest rock climbs are. I've been here dozens of times over the decades and never seen anyone climb any of the big E routes featured here. E being Extreme. You can just see a climber at the top of the obvious slanting crack climb, above. So he's obviously done the actual route up the crack itself.
This time a couple of climbers were attempting Chemin de Fer, ( French for Iron Path or Railroad) one of the best crack climbs in Scotland... if you can handle E3 basalt that is... not the most friction friendly rock around. And it was in December... Cold, damp and fairly miserable on fingers and toes I'd imagine. Going by the bolt the rope is attached to high up on the cliff it seemed as if they were attempting a direct finish to the route judging by chalk marks above the climber. But that's just my guess. The only guide I have left now is a 1980s Climber's Guide to Central Scotland and Southern Scotland featuring most of the low lying outcrops in that wide area by Jerry Handren. Still a classic today. So maybe a direct finish is an actual route now... or will be one someday. Being an HVS climber as my uppermost top grade outdoors on cliffs I made it a point never to go near this overhanging face as I'd be well out of my comfort zone so well done even getting up that far. In mid December of all months. This type of hard basalt is smooth and slippy even when bone dry.
Another photo abseiling down. (Note all the metal protection gear in the crack, hence the name of the route ?...) Even if you did finish the climbs the soaking vegetation exit at the top of these routes is off-putting as well in winter. Still a lot of visible wet weeps on the rock so cold frozen fingers almost guaranteed for climbers here.
This face is also overhanging in places so you have to cling onto the holds just to stay attached to the route all the way up. Strenuous stuff.
Anyway, we only stayed here for five minutes then moved on to see the castle itself around the front of the rock. A feature older than Cleopatra.. or Jesus....or the pyramids and the Spinx.... and apparently one with the longest recorded history of any fortress in Scotland. Dating back to the Iron Age... possibly even the Stone Age as an obvious natural defensive location. The ancient fort of the Britons that even the Vikings and the Romans knew all about. Obviously the present incarnation of this castle fortress is more recent than that. Somewhat ironic then that the last few years it always seems to be shut to visitors... although most of the repair scaffolding has been removed by now.
Next up was the shoreline walk from Dumbarton Castle to Milton direction although it does not go all the way to Milton but heads inland at the edge of Dumbarton by going under a railway line via a stooped concrete platform ( harder for anyone over six foot tall as you have to bend double or crawl along with a watery punishment if you get it wrong.) This is a nice wild stretch as you walk under these volcanic cliffs on easy flat grass paths.
It was at this point we spotted the Little Egret, a rarity in Scotland normally but with climate change and milder Scottish winters they seem to be spreading north.
A large bird similar to a heron they are more common in the south of England as they prefer warmer temperatures and you often see them in wildlife documentaries nesting in Australian mangrove swamps or skulking next to elephants in Africa... watching for disturbed insects or frogs displaced by big heavy feet. First time either of us has seen one though. A fairly rare occurrence up here. Must be only a handful this far north at any given time.
It was a cold raw day so hopefully it would not regret moving north for the winter. Luckily birds, given enough food for energy, can fly south again in under a week.
The back lane beside the bonding warehouses that used to be guarded by a flock of geese up until the late 1990s- early 2000s.
From there we headed back through the town itself on the history trail. Old town jail here. not much left of it but a doorway and a wall still standing.
Crown carving on the jail wall.
Elephant and castle signs are everywhere in Dumbarton as it's the town's Coat of Arms. Presumably dating to a time when tiger hunts used elephants with people on top.The original sight and idea of that must have been amazing when it was first discovered during the west's love affair with all things Indian Subcontinent. The colourful wildlife, the history, the flamboyant colours in the flowers, birds, and people. It was a popular craze... just like wild swimming is today. Elephant and castle signs are common in the UK with pubs, districts, cities, etc holding examples but maybe a natural affinity occurred here as the rock could well be the elephant beneath with the castle on top. Symbols of endurance, immovability and defensive strength. Or maybe inspired by a much earlier example of elephant power- Hannibal's extraordinary journey over The Alps into Italy to fight the Romans.
The wonderful Dumbarton Municipal Buildings.
Peter Denny Statue. One of the most important shipbuilders at that time. Don't know if he would appreciate the gull perched on his head though.
This gull was not bothered in the slightest by our approach. "I was here first. It's my head. It's my shit on this head! See it?. That's my claim right there. I ain't budging for the likes of you pal." it seemed to say.
Not even lining it up for a group close up photo of the head, the gull, and the coat of arms bothered it. "Their aw deid pal. I'm the only living thing here right now. And I'm no moving! This is my favourite lookout nut and it's staying ma favourite lookout nut long after you leave! I like to see what's going on in ma burgh. This is ma toon after all. No yours!"
Dumbarton Library.
A detail.
Some folk rock climb, some folk retail shop for pleasure... and some people try to help others...
A display to help sick children ended our walk. Another good day out. A walk of a few hours duration but with plenty of interest and variety.
