ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN
Bearsden and neighbouring Milngavie are two upmarket suburbs just north of the Glasgow City Boundary. They are a fairly close drive from my house but even if they were located further away I'd still make the effort to get to them as they have a lot of scenic walking potential and a few surprising oddities. This is one. Kilmardinny Loch, situated beside Kilmardinny Avenue, just off the A81 Milngavie Road. A small car park for around five cars is located on Kilmardinny Avenue not far from Kilmardinny House, an arts centre that used to be the main house for this former landscaped grand estate. There is a good path around the loch, a green oasis in the middle of posh suburbia, and also further short green ribbon walks from this loch in both directions out eastwards to the Burnbrae Pub situated 10 mins walk away on Milngavie Road and north up to Seafield Avenue. This green ribbon is called The Wedge and although it only takes an hour or so to explore it all it is a scenic gem that's long been a favourite of mine.
The woodland walk around this small circular loch also has surprises... like this great carving of owls.
Or this ornate bench... I'd imagine local small children love this.
Inspired, I'd imagine, by the world of fantasy books. Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Winnie the Pooh maybe.
Further round the loch you have another bench....
Which has more to do with the natural world around you... Fantasy and nature....both are portals.
It's a pleasant spot.....on a hot afternoon.
Red Fox.
A lucky escape from a toppled tree here for some squirrels and a baby fox.
I then motored a short distance to St Germains Loch, still in Bearsden, on Rubislaw Drive, although for this one I stayed in the car as it's private property.
Next up was another short 5 min drive and another pond right next to Milngavie Library and community centre, this one boasting a fountain. And you can walk around this one. I discovered all these ponds decades ago on bike rides and still get pleasure from them now. Both Bearsden and Milngavie have a plethora of ponds but the only way to see them easily is by bike, car, or a long trek on foot from Milngavie or Bearsden train stations. Take your pick. And that's not even mentioning the other 30 or so ponds, dams and reservoirs in this wider area situated between Glasgow and the Campsie Fells. Some of them Kettle Lochs, formed by stranded football stadium sized blocks of ice left behind in hollows by retreating glaciers... the immense weight and the slowly melting block of ice leaving a dent in the landscape to the present day. In a miniature sense this is Glasgow's Lake District.
Same pond. Milngavie Library and Community Centre. Before the internet age, from around five years old up until the present day books, films, art and nature, have always been a portal for me. Both science fiction and fantasy books specialise in portals, gateways to other worlds/ realms that you can step or fall into... and from an early age I did just that. A lifelong constant source of pleasure. Which is a great gift.... along with imagination. Just as well as I've never had the money to travel the world to far flung exotic places and little inclination to do so but I've no regrets at all as I've had a good life/ work balance over the decades that has allowed me plenty of free time to explore. Pollok had/has a great library filled with young adult books and from Andre Norton to Isaac Asimov; Philip Jose Farmer to Frank Herbert; Desmond Bagley to JRR Tolkien, John Wyndham to Charlie Higson's The Enemy and Michael Grant's Gone series I've enjoyed them all. And had plenty of opportunities to do rock climbing, kayaking, hill walking, caving, cycling, island hopping and back packing home and abroad....in reality..... but it all starts with fantasy, imagination and a portal somewhere... In Nitshill and Pollok growing up I was very lucky in that I lived on the outer edge of a large city yet five minutes walk from my front door I entered a portal to another, far more pastoral, countryside realm..... of farms, fields, cows, horses, woods, streams, ponds and meadows. ' 'The Shire.' My shire...... and having read both the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by my early teens a shire landscape both in literal truth written on modern maps ( Renfrewshire, ten steps across Parkhouse Road, not Glasgow City any longer)....and in bookish fantasy.
It's the same here in Milngavie and Bearsden. Like Alice... like Bilbo Baggins.....or Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.... a simple walk down a suburban lane can lead straight into Wonderland.... or in this particular case 'The 100 Aker Wood. '
This is a portal. ( In reality it is a back entrance path to the large and varied Mugdock Country Park but only locals know about it so I was absolutely delighted to stumble across it many decades ago and it still seems magical today. Milngavie and to a lesser extent Bearsden is full of such oddities... suburban paths that lead somewhere unexpected.
At times it can feel like being in a fairy tale.... but wealth has shaped this particular kingdom so it is a privilege just to be allowed to enter it at all.
Clematis on a stone wall.
A colour splurge in May 2025.
Swan Family comes to see me.
Hans Christian Andersen's ugly ducking. Pretty cute in fact.
A large poppy. A dream flower in folk tales and fantasy.
Pleasant suburbia. Surprisingly, this area has a great deal in common with where I grew up. And I know where all the rabbit holes are in both.
And every kingdom needs a fairy tale castle.
