ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
Having just checked the blog I last did a variation of this walk in August 2022 with my friend Anne. We did it starting from Gartnavel Hospital walking through several districts that were largely unknown to us both and thoroughly enjoyed it. Anne not being available this time I did a solo greener variation of the same walk starting from Anniesland. As Glasgow, the UK's 4th largest city, is ever changing, year by year, I thought I would see if anything had changed this time around. And it had. New apartments in Anniesland next to the Forth and Clyde Canal where it goes under Bearsden Road. This is where the walk starts or ends, depending on direction of travel. Bus or train available to Anniesland Cross.
It was a beautiful sunny morning of the type I adore and always strive to live my life within. No wind or just a gentle breeze on hill tops, Not too warm or humid though. A hot day of 24 c by afternoon but a crisp perfect morning. Canal reflections all the way along the route chosen. This is my idea of heaven on earth. Hence the blog title. New buildings here as well.
Late summer and the canal looks at its best. A beautiful walking route that avoids the urban sprawl around it. I've been watching Robbie Cumming's Canal Boat Diaries on TV ( also available on You Tube.) where he travels the English Midlands Canal network. I did notice a few canal boats in summer on this stretch of the Forth and Clyde canal when it first opened years ago but very few or none at all observed the last few years. And too many locks around this stretch for decent kayaking... which can be dangerous for kayaks anyway. Deep high, uncertain banks for getting in and out easily. Over the decades I've recused several kayakers who fell in and found it unexpectedly hard to get back out again, depending where it occurs. Being young and fit certainly helps to pull yourself out unaided.
You can tell the lack of boat traffic by the amount of summer weed in the canal this year.
You may recognise this tower block from the TV series Still Game. The fictional Craiglang was mostly shot in and around Maryhill although other locations were used as well. For instance South Nitshill featured in the pilot and first series before they moved to Osprey Heights. ( there used to be two or several white tower blocks here if I remember correctly and they used one getting demolished in the TV episode.) The pub they drank in was in nearby Ruchill. Navid's local newspaper shop was in Townhead so they definitely got their 10,000 steps a day when buying papers, milk and tobacco. Victoria Park was where the Park bench episode occurred. Knightswood Golf Course and surrounding high Knightswood hill views also featured regularly and Saltcoats/ Ardrossan district was where Winston lived briefly. If you get around the Central Belt a lot, like I have over the years, Scottish film and TV series like Taggart, Rebus, Trainspotting, and Outlander take on a new dimension of entertainment. For instance you can watch Taggart run after a bad guy through an Easterhouse tenement close then come out seconds later chasing him through a Drumchapel back court. Or Renton and Diane having a night out in Edinburgh when in reality most of the film was shot throughout Glasgow... Same with Edinburgh based detective Rebus. Or Outlander set in France... mostly shot still in Scotland at various east coast locations. Fife often standing in for France. ( much cheaper- less hassle.)
The great worm of Stockingfield Junction came next, where two canals meet and are spanned by a new pedestrian/ cycle bridge. I didn't think much of this giant serpentine sculpture if I'm honest when it was just bare grey plaster all over but now it's slowly getting its iridescent skin put on that has made all the difference. A stunning creation that will take years to complete. Best of luck with keeping people off it though as the day I was there an entire family was standing/ walking on its head despite numerous keep off signs. Almost gave up waiting for them to move off for this photo to be taken.
Thanks to Anabel's blog I also knew to peer between the teeth for the hidden surprise within it's mouth.
The ceramic egg within. Like all creatures of this ilk it gives birth to live young by burping them out through the mouth. I wait patiently.....for this to happen.... to adopt my own baby worm/serpent.
Wyndford district Hi Rise blocks from the as yet unadorned section of the great slithery beast of Stockingfield Junction.
Next on the walk is Firhill Basin, seen above, and Claypits.
Extensive views over the city from the high point at clay pits nature reserve. When they were building the canal clay was scooped out here to waterproof the base of the dug out trench. They could do with re-lining the nature reserve ponds however as anytime I've been here they are always bone dry. It's been an unusually dry spring and summer in Glasgow with not much rain this year but even after heavy rainfall they seem to remain dry. Maybe it's a health and safety issue? No new ponds to be built?
At the top of the claypits area I wandered down through Hamiltonhill. Last time I was here with Anne we were amazed at the large area of open ground where streets of houses/schools/ buildings used to be but are now gone. A few makeshift DIY football pitches and goals were visible then but now it's been done officially with a brand new playground area and proper sports pitch put in. Still a lot of empty grassland through ... which is what this walk is all about and what makes it enjoyable. Wilderness within a city.
Appleby Street to Monar Street location wise... with Cowlairs Park visible in the distance.
Another less well known Glasgow mural. Butterfly Girl. Hamiltonhill row of shops near Appleby Street.
New housing near Saracen Street was encountered then back into the wilderness again.
Cowlairs Park came next but that is the one area of this walk I would be very wary of entering. It stopped being a park decades ago and is now an overgrown wasteland only frequented by young men with large dogs on the two occasions I've been here. Much better to walk along Keppochhill Road instead, especially if you are a female... or of a nervous disposition in any way.
I did go through Cowlairs Park as it's high up with good views but I stayed wary at all times. Probably the last time I go through it as it has burnt out cars and vans, heavy tree growth which means you come on other people suddenly without a chance to avoid them and I'm always wary of strange large dogs off the lead and getting bitten. Different if you know the area and the locals.
On this occasion I did spot two other guys with fighting type large dogs running off the lead but it was luckily in a more open section like this one so I managed to keep my distance. I'm normally pretty good reading dog body language from afar but large varieties can be a real unpredictable threat on walks and I've had my share of close encounters of the furry kind over the years. With dogs and owners. This is not a park in any normal sense... more the wild wild west.
Next up was a hard won mural but one of my favourites. A Rouge One/Art Pistol mural. I'm not far off 70 years of age now so it's 10 years or more since I last climbed a snow covered Scottish Highland mountain like this one. Traversing Cowlairs Park is enough adventure for me these days. This mural is found on Endrick Street, Cowlairs beside the fenced in community play area. It's easy to walk straight past it.
And a view looking back at Cowlairs Park from Sighthill/Fountainwell district. In olden times cattle used to be driven down from northern farms and pastures then rested here, in lairs, before being herded into city slaughterhouses as stressed tired animals taint the meat. Then later on it was a park consisting mainly of football pitches ( now overgrown grasslands) and recreation grounds for railway workers as Cowlairs and nearby Springburn employed thousands during the heavy industry era building steam locomotives sent around the globe. Some engines, 60 to 100 years later, still in use today.
I now entered Sighthill... which used to look like this until recently. 10 years or so ago in this photo.
High Rise tower block land.
It now looks like this. A beautiful new park. I really like this place now. No tower blocks. Very open and green... and surprisingly extensive in acres.
If you live in Glasgow and haven't been to North Bridge district it's well worth seeing... and exploring. Sighthill Cemetery here. above. A green oasis now.
I had lunch here on a stone bench and a large dragonfly immediately arrived to check me out. Changed days. It used to be human locals doing that here if you sat down anywhere.
The new park experience. Sighthill/North Bridge.
Good cycling here as well. North Bridge runs into another new district being remodelled. Dundas Hill/ Port Dundas. Which is where I walked to next.
To photograph another new mural. Old converted warehouses and new apartment flats going up here.
Reverse view.
The view from Dundas Hill. Monklands Canal and Townhead High Rise.
Dundas Hill plaza view.
The Watersports Centre at Pinkston.
Water-skier at Pinkston.
Then it was down into Glasgow City Centre via the rear of Caledonian University and Cowcaddens, see above. ( them Highland cattle again. poor buggers. the end is near now.)
And finally the bus home for me. No slaughterhouse just yet for poor old Bobby. Yippee. Around 3 to 4 hours steady pace. One 15 minute lunch stop. Two bacon and chicken sandwiches munched. One orange drink.
Treated myself when I got back in the house. The end.
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