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The week after Alan showed me some places in Paisley I hadn't been before. mainly Stanely reservoir and castle, in the last post, I decided to return the favour as he hadn't visited Loch Ardinning or Kilmardinny Loch. Dumgoyne above with the snow covered pyramid of Ben Lomond in the distance.
It has been a full month of grey dismal weather recently, mild, around 8c to 10c degrees above freezing and very wet. Good news for people watching their heating bills and scraping car windscreens but not so good for general mood. This post is from early to mid November when we had a run of below freezing days and minus -5c below nights in the cities and towns. Snow over the mountains.
We parked on the A81 layby next to Loch Ardinning which is just east of Mugdock Country Park on the road between Milngavie and Strathblane. Campsie Fells view here with a white van on the B822 descending into Lennoxtown.
The western end of the Campsie Fells from Loch Ardinning. You can do a circular walk here on this attractive upland moor with good views. And it's close to Glasgow so an easy drive and no car destroying potholes on this particular run. ( I've already had expensive car damage just going to the local shops and back, bumping every few days over unavoidable and numerous ruts in the road- which have been there for at least the last 3 years. A first world country? I think not. And any trip on foot from the pedestrian bridge on the River Clyde through the graffiti mess that exists there, then Clydeside itself, then up through the 'four corners' Union Street and Argyle Street, to end along the hollowed out and crumbling Sauchiehall Street of Glasgow's once glorious 'Style Mile' of shops, (once the largest outside of London) only demonstrates how much online shopping and other advances in technology/ shopping tastes has hurt nearly every town and high street UK wide.
Don't believe me? This is a visitors view of the city. A reality check in 2025. I will remove this soon but it does show what many city centres are like these days. Having said that, I've not been shopping in Glasgow city centre for decades myself as I can get everything I need at a handy (and spotlessly clean) retail park five minutes away on the outskirts or local charity shops at a fraction of the price. Easy and safe parking as well. 5 minutes there and back from the house, (albeit rattling over numerous potholes) and no hour long crowded bus journey into town and one hour back, having usually failed to find what I went in for in the first place. Usual feeling afterwards? 'What a dump... and getting worse'. My honest opinion. I would also advise discerning tourists to stay at one of the hotels at Finnieston instead, for a much better experience of Glasgow. Museums, several large tourist attractions, few street beggars, proper mural walls, far less graffiti, and Partick/ Byres Road ( a still thriving west end shopping experience) are all in this vicinity 10 minutes walk away. Easy bus, subway, or train outlet from Finnieston 5 minutes later gets you into Glasgow city centre to see anything there....if you must.... then swiftly back out again! Before night falls! A couple of years ago I did wander along Glasgow's River Clyde walkway from the city centre in the dark on both banks and it did feel fairly edgy at times. A shame as the city lights reflecting on the water looked amazing ( why I was there, taking photographs) and it should and could be a tourist attraction. Something Edinburgh doesn't have. But at the moment it's too dodgy, especially on your own, as I was. No wonder people look fondly back at previous decades... and not just the elderly. In many ways... it was better than today. A simpler, more innocent time. And even upmarket Edinburgh is going the same way I noticed on recent trips there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSI1OhuRIAI
A frozen Loch Ardinning, above. Around a two hour walk here to do the full circuit across this upland plateau.
Campsie Fells view.
A house sized boulder stuck in a small stream. With no large cliffs for miles around a melting glacier drop is the obvious answer here. Many of the numerous small lochs in this area also formed like this from stadium sized blocks of ice, stragglers left behind, the melting bulk over centuries, already trapped in hollows, creating the network of attractive ponds still visible today in this vicinity.
Ice in the sun.
Kilmardinny Loch above. We then travelled down a short distance to Kilmardinny Loch in Bearsden. I've known about this place for decades as well. It only takes 10 minutes to walk around this small loch at a fast pace but we went slowly. All the way round various carved animals can be found.
Most of the creatures here come from Julia Donaldson's book series. Although London born and bred her family lived in Bearsden for many years- hence the carved figures. The Gruffalo here. I think. Stick Man. Room on the Broom. Tiddler. and The Gruffalo's Child are all short (20 to 30 minute long) animated films on TV based on the books. All are delightful. Meant for children but equally good for adults. Simple yet funny and clever. They are usually shown around Christmas/ New Year on UK TV. I've seen all of the above and they are on a par with Wallace and Gromit. If you get the chance watch them.
Young badger. A carved bench.
Owls and fox bench.
Blue and green headed male mallard ducks.
Hare and woodpecker.
Some are obviously inspired by Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the like.... Incidentally I just found out Julia Donaldson has overtaken J.K. Rowling as the UK's most read author. She has had a very varied, busy, and remarkable life... and you can read about it here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Donaldson This is worth reading in full.
The Gruffalo's Child. By a weird coincidence, yet one that happens a lot, I just got back from this walk, switched on the TV a short time later and this story was on. Magical. It is a belter, funny, charming... and with soft Scottish accents. It also manages to capture the beauty and wonder of winter at its very best. If you haven't seen any of the short films mentioned you are missing out.
It also explained , after seeing the film, why some of the creatures had a very stylized look to them, which works well in the film... but not so good here.
I prefer the more realistic older carving of a fox, above....
than this new version. It works well in the film. Not so much in static real life.
But it did explain the various characters dotted around the woods. The end.
5 comments:
Oh wow, I did read the full article about Julia Donaldson. What an interesting woman! I love that she has surpassed J.K. Rowling in book sales in the UK. Also, I got a DVD of "Stick Man" as a gift for a child recently, had no idea what it was about, I just loved the art on the front! LOL!
I thought you would like that Kay. She has certainly led an adventurous life as material for her books.
I really like that Loch Ardinning walk, done it a few times. Just been to Kilmardinny once I think.
Hi Anabel, I've only done that Loch Ardinning walk a few times myself over six decades of outdoor stuff- puzzling since it's so close to me, Probably because I was doing hill lists all that time. That Glasgow video was an eye opener, even for me.
I like the older fox better. But your post prompted me to wonder: what's the difference between graffiti and murals? (apart from possibly graffiti usually just consisting of someone's name)...
I'm the other way round with my weather tastes - although the amount of rain has been nuisance here, and the gales are messing with my loose leg, I much prefer the lovely warm days and the much warmer house - I hate being cold more than anything else. And the icy days here were always after a night of rain so potentially very dangerous!
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