ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
Not all my visits to Bowling, a small village on the River Clyde between Clydebank and Dumbarton, have been wonderful. Sometimes during the busy summer months I was glad to leave it. Too busy, too popular, no feeling of personal space or freedom on a walk... but in certain conditions. No wind. A sunny morning. Night time temperatures falling to zero degrees and ice all over the car. All signs of the stars moving into place for one rare enchanting day. I sent a message to Alan. He was keen as well.
In these conditions the Forth and Clyde Canal at Bowling is a magical place....for reflections. With the first freezing temperatures of this autumn arriving overnight house boilers and boat stoves are being used again. Wood smoke drifting up above the autumnal trees.
A backdrop of the Kilpatrick Hills makes Bowling a special place for a photographer. No need to go to Skye or Applecross to see a pretty Scottish harbour. Here's one only 15/30 minutes drive or bus or train from Glasgow City Centre.
Plenty in Bowling Harbour to see....
And plenty out on the River Clyde to enjoy. Erskine Bridge view here. But it could easily pass for the Mississippi River. It has that wild, huge untamed river aspect to it here with the sand bars and the forest edges.
A group of kayakers waiting in the shallows to go down the river. Deep water channel markers with the Renfrewshire Uplands behind. You still do not see that many kayakers out on the river these days. Yet another great adventure Alan and I did around ten years ago, by kayak, dingy, foot and bike exploring the River Clyde, it's many tributaries like the White and Black Cart, the River Gryfe and River Kelvin. And before that exploring Loch Lomond and the Scottish offshore islands by kayak and fast RIB boat, bagging the best of its 800 or so islands with various outdoor clubs in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and throughout the early 2000s. Fading memories of all of them. Places. people. cities. Many have never been on the blog before but are mentioned in my Autohighography book. Kayaking across Rannoch Moor west to east one very wet summer. Coast to coast. Dragging our kayaks overland to reach the next loch. And then again... and again.... and again. Every new trip back then... all are/were very special. A lifetime's worth of effort and joy.
The reason why they were waiting... a large ship heading upriver.
A gas ship.
Male Mallard duck with iridescent green head. Sometimes a dazzling dark blue one.
Different light. Early morning. Grey Heron.
The sandy beach at Erskine. Start of two fine walks mentioned/detailed in the last post. From Bowling Village we walked up the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Saltings and Erskine Bridge itself then doubled back close to the River Clyde waterfront.
Now and again you get a day that is truly sent from Heaven. And this was one.
The beauty of Bowling... in autumn.
The Customs House. Built in the days of shipping rum, sugar, tobacco, spices etc and still in operation today, recording departures and arrivals by sea or canal.
Swan Sculptures at Bowling.
No wind is essential for good reflections and it does not happen in Scotland very often.
Even had a couple of tugs make an appearance later on. What a difference a week makes though. Currently Scotland and the UK has just had two back to back big autumn storms with 85 mile an hour winds and over 100ml of rain falling overnight in places. Resulting in flooded main/high street shops in Dumbarton, Largs and Saltcoats as the sea moved inland for a day plus several sizable boats washed onto dry land or rocks and a few cars squashed by fallen trees. North Atlantic storms occur every year here but they are getting more powerful and more destructive. Bye bye rare reflection day.
And here's another person with magical fairy dust sprinkled all over them. An exceptional talent. A musical gift to the people of Santa Monica and LA. With the equally sparkling Daniele Vitale on Sax. A well known instrumental number.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8homwi
6 comments:
Great photos with all that calm water and good light - particularly love the heron - you should put it on your wall! Mind you, printed off rather than backlit sometimes doesn't give you the effect you would like.
I remember your post about your trip around the Clyde by various methods.
I hate mallard drakes personally - the biggest r@pists of the natural world! And sometimes en-masse.
I love a good 'wash' from a big boat when I'm in a small boat (e.g. rowing boats in my case) - great fun. Wouldn't be much fun in my little inflatable though!
Cheers Carol. After 60 plus years of exploring this corner of Scotland and taking many thousands of photographs of it... I should be an expert by now... yet it still delights and entertains me with its wonders and still has secret corners yet to be found. My personal 'shire'.as magical at times as any book dream world.
I haven’t been to Bowling for about 5 years but it was a similar day and we got some great pictures too. John, of course, passes through often on his bike.
Hi Anabel, It is a lovely spot and again only 15 minutes from my house. If you live a short distance from Renfrewshire and Inverclyde you potentially are in Heaven and I've always believed that. And on days like the one just posted it's true. It's amazing how time seems to pass and become elastic in blogland though. Huge parts of my life, alpine mountain range trips abroad, meeting people and travels throughout the UK and Europe all happened before the internet occurred so were never recorded properly except in memory and a few old style photographs so it's almost as if it never happened. Ancient history turned to dust when even the last 18 years of blog history faithfully recorded seems a long, long time ago now, reading them back again.
Your photos are absolutely stunning! I just love the beauty and calm!
Thank you Linda. And Happy Birthday.
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