ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
Renfrew Ferry slipway. A walk I did a few weeks ago just after Storm Eowyn and 80 to 100 mile an hour winds that brought down over 500 trees in Glasgow, many thousands across the Central Belt of Scotland. The Isle of Man and Ireland and countless power/telephone lines and garden fences. The Renfrew Ferry is still operating between Yoker and Renfrew ( £3:00 each for adults. £1:50 for concessions each trip. Mon to fri plus Sat Sun.) so this walk is a good option for me to reach Renfrew and Paisley easily. A traffic/ pedestrian bridge between Yoker and Renfrew should also be completed by April 2025, all going well.
This is the small passenger ferry here, halfway across the river, which also takes cycles (free) and runs every 10 minutes, or thereabouts from 6:30am to 18:30pm Mon to Fri and 10:00am to 18:30pm Sat Sun. I used to use it every summer for enjoyable circular bike tours round Glasgow and Paisley in a loop over Bells Bridge and past Partick and Govan via several city parks. Hopefully it will still operate after the bridge is open. Two interesting walks on the Renfrew side are available here. One runs up Meadowside Street and Fishers Row, slightly inland through a brief industrial landscape of factories and small works then cuts back after a wooded section to the River Clyde (downstream) and follows a pleasant path around the edge of Renfrew Golf Course then up the White Cart Water as far as Porterfield where you can circle round inland back to the ferry via Robertson Park. ( this walk may be disrupted at the moment due to the new bridge travelling through this area but should be ok again after April 2025.)
In the other direction, walking upstream along the River Clyde walkway, this path contours round several old jetties and watery in-shots used by boats and river traffic in previous eras of industry and shipbuilding. It's an interesting walk to Braehead Shopping Centre from here, passing Clyde View Park on the way.
You could hardly see any water at all the last time so either they have improved it (tidied it up) or winter rains have made their own landscaping alterations here.
The grass has definitely been cut in the park as it was knee to waist high here last time and I talked to some locals this time around. It looks much improved but the same situation remains with uncertainty over who is responsible for future maintenance and upkeep. I've visited this small park every couple of years since it opened decades ago and it is a cracking asset for both the surrounding locals and visitors, with a trickling stream and pool feature (it used to have two working fountains in two deep pools to move the water flow around.) It also has sculptures, one of which shows the airships/ dirigibles that used to be built in Renfrew/Inchinnan. I loved Bioshock Infinite (a game that can also be watched and enjoyed as a film in 30 minute segments on You Tube for it's colourful immersive world and imagination as it features a floating city/community in the sky. And now I'm just after reading that with net zero targets to meet... the bygone age of airship travel of the early 1900s is being revived with several companies investing in future airship factories. For lifting heavy materials across country, or for upmarket holidays, or for military purposes, or hard to reach places, it makes sense as with new materials and design innovations making it safer it may well be an alternative to airplane travel in certain ways. For a start you do not need a conventional airport or runway just a portable docking facility ( a long tethering pole) that can be moved to any location via ship or truck. With the severe winds we get in Scotland though, around 20 named storms per year, maybe not the best country to set up operations in.
Looking down the River Clyde towards Glasgow. From Clyde View Park. Once at Braehead I jumped on the number 26 bus to Roberston Park on the opposite side of Renfrew. This bus runs from Glasgow to Paisley along King's Inch (road) and is a frequent service so very handy. You can get it back to Renfrew Ferry or Paisley or in this instance, Renfrew's other park. Best to avoid between 3:00pm and 4:00pm weekdays when the number 26 is packed with schoolchildren going home. No need to ask me how I know as I made that mistake on this outing and it took me 3 stops past Robertson Park before I managed to get off it again. Everyone packed tight together like sardines in a can.
Not much visible tree damage in Clyde View Park, as the trees are smaller and newer, but Robertson Park took a direct hit. I've read in other reports that over 500 trees were toppled during that one record breaking January 2025 storm in Glasgow alone, with thousands down countrywide. Certainly in Robertson Park a row of five mature beech trees got toppled, all in a line, and more smaller ones fell over as well. About 10 in total here. If wind speeds and storms continue to increase in Scotland many more trees will disappear in the coming years. I counted over 50 mature large trees down in my district, many bringing down internet/ telephone/power lines as well when they toppled over.
From the size of these trees they are around 80 to 100 feet tall and over 100 years old. Multiply that by several thousand and you get an incredible number... of growth history wiped out in one single storm. I was also saddened to learn that the historic Darnley Tree near Nitshill, reputedly around 500 years old, was badly damaged and also several old giants in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens.
.....and yet through it all nature attempts to revert to normal, despite human interference and indifference... and that gentleman in the White House. Snowdrops appear.
Bike hub mural. Robertson Park.
UK war ships being built in 2025. River Clyde. A good flat walk of several hours duration.
