ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
A walk from July. We parked at Auchenstarry Quarry again, seen above, and walked from there past Barr to Woodend along a green path on the southern edge of Kilsyth. At Woodend , using the Glasgow OS Landranger map sheet 64, a path ran north through the woods in the direction of Colzium Lennox Estate. (We could have parked there instead but that would mean missing out these extra paths, neither of which we had done before.)
We being Alan and I. Although it does not look it from the map both these paths are pleasant country tracks with few signs visible of Kilsyth's urban sprawl.
A painted stone seal in a nearby farm/building yard.
The horse meadows and Croy Hill from the country track.
A view of Bar Hill on The Antonine Way and the John Muir Way just before we turned inland through the woods.
This is the view we had on the open hillside heading north to Colzium Lennox Estate. At this point several paths go in different directions but we just kept heading north and apart from a minor wrong turn into a new housing estate we found the right trail.
Several new housing estates have sprung up over the years here but this was the one we headed for, still travelling north. A lane led rightwards at the edge of this estate and that in turn gave us access to Colzium Lennox Estate, which is a local park for the good folk of Kilsyth.
As I say you can drive and park here in this estate but that would have meant missing out interesting paths we'd never walked before.
It's a lovely park I have been to before, years ago, with the car park and pond, seen above.
This sign explains what's available.
The estate grounds with good views and wide range of tree types. Looking down the slope.
Looking up the slope.
A famous battle took place near here. This is the battle commemoration stone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kilsyth
We also had a walk around the walled garden in the estate. It must be 15 or so years since I explored here and it looked different, the various trees and shrubs in the garden gaining in height 10 to 20 feet taller. It was a miniature garden the last time by comparison.
Yellow glory.
Unusual plants.
We came back via the Mill Girls walk, which is a path through the park from Banton Mill to Kilsyth that the workers used. This took us out onto the busy A803 main road and a pavement through the town but it also held rewards in the town maps we stopped at to examine.
One showed the Kelvin Valley path network and a lot of routes not immediately apparent from the OS map or easily available from searching online.
The other was a Kilsyth town walk we would never have thought of doing. It's the same with any new area visited. Sometimes you really have to go there to find out all that's available. Several new walks suggested themselves on these info boards.
We walked back through Kilsyth's main shopping street, pedestrianized and pleasant, with many local independent shops.
As small town shopping streets go we were both impressed by this one which had retained its original market town character, certainly to outsider eyes like ours.
A shop mural on the B802 back to Auchenstarry Quarry, again on a good pavement.
The main house. Colzium Lennox Estate.
The tranquil beauty of Auchenstarry Quarry.
And another scenic gem. This is probably the nicest 5 minute video you will ever see on You Tube. Child and adult friendly and a complete joy to watch. Please don't miss it. What any parent may wish, understandably, for their children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3u8stDTwZY&list=RDt3u8stDTwZY&start_radio=1
