White Cart Water Walk and River Clyde.

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One from a couple of months ago that I forgot to post. With a new bridge being constructed across the River Clyde and ground works already visible on both banks I decided to use the Renfrew ferry to do a walk there I'd not done for four or five years. River Clyde at Yoker, Above.

 A west coast local waits for the ferry. I suspect he's just been informed the Conservatives might be in power for another two years.

 

The new warship HMS Glasgow has her maiden voyage down the river. Just pure luck I was there to see it as it was not planned in advance to meet it here.

 

HMS Glasgow passing Clydebank.

 

  Also managed to spot this rowing crew on a different occasion. The first time I've seen rowers like this on this section of the river as the only rowing club in the city I know about are based at Glasgow Green where you normally see them rowing above the Saltmarket barrage which stops boats at that point from going further downriver. Depending on the weight of the boat and numbers of people you could carry it past that or more likely move it to a different river entry further down by boat trailer and car/van. Passing Yoker here.

 

Rowing crew passing the Renfrew Ferry.

 

I had a nice lunch before I left consisting of two boiled eggs, tomatoes, cheese and salad cream. Very tasty.

Once across the ferry on the Renfrew side you walk up Ferry Road a short distance then turn right into Meadowside Street and follow that to its end. Walking left in the other direction takes you to Braehead Shopping Centre. At the end of Meadowside Street the path continues round  with woods on one side to reach here where it runs along the River Clyde again. Renfrew Golf Course is on the left in this photo and the path contours round the edge of that until it meets the White Cart Water where it has to turn left. This part is still scenic and quiet although they have already started bulldozing the new road to reach the projected bridge through the adjacent woods.

 

Further along the footpath beside the River Clyde with the White Cart Water just ahead in this photo.

 

The River Clyde is fairly wide at this point with Clydebank in the distance, making it ideal for building and launching large ships and ocean going liners from John Brown's yard where the Titan Crane sits today. The last heavy duty crane remaining here but 70 years ago there would be an entire forest of metal cranes dotted around this famous yard, constructing a variety of ships to travel the world's sea routes.

 The path bends round the golf course and follows the White Cart Water, seen here, with a couple of local sculptures at this point.

 A bird of prey on a pole....

 And a face holding a mobile phone or a mirror. Both reflections of self awareness. One ancient... one modern.

 

Glasgow Airport ( in reality in Paisley) is close by so planes coming down to land on the runway....... a frequent sight here.

 

Overhead plane.

Good views across to Clydebank from this point.

 

And pleasant scenery... which is why I was here. The joining of the White Cart and the Black Cart in this photo.

Sunlight effects on path with a dazzling low winter sun. Just up from here you come to a main road and the iconic swing bridge, a local landmark. You can either continue up the White Cart Water on the other side of this road (recommended) on a good path until you are forced away from it by several large industrial works, cutting inland to Robertson Park then back to the Renfrew Ferry again... or follow the road on pavements into Renfrew itself. You can also take in Braehead and Renfrew Ferry Park beside Intu/Ex-scape  which also boasts a pleasant riverside walkway leading back to the ferry along the River Clyde. A good varied walk of a few hours duration at an easy pace. Also suitable as a cycle route and mostly traffic free or on quiet back streets. Bikes travel free on this pedestrian ferry. Adults £2:50 for each crossing. Concessions/OAP's £1:25 in 2022. Under 5s free as well.

And a tasty meal to end the day with. I always enjoy most of the meals I make and this was no exception.

 

A Frozen River Clyde Walk in December 2022.

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A few days after my walk down the frozen River Kelvin I took a second walk along the River Clyde waterfront starting with a bus ride to George Square. Glasgow City Chambers, above.

 

It takes a lot for the River Clyde to freeze over, usually a week or more of consistent below zero daytime temperatures coupled with a minus 5 to minus 10 week long sustained freeze up with little or no daytime thawing. As you can see here the river is almost frozen over with only a few clear openings and a young seal appeared in one of them before diving under the ice again. Being tidal the river is brackish right into the city centre so you do sometimes find seals, cormorants, ocean living fish, and other sea creatures swimming in it, even up as far as here. It was having a great time exploring,  behaving just like seals do in the arctic on wildlife programmes, only within a large city environment. As long as it was finding stuff to eat it would be happy I'd imagine. And safe from larger predators, like adult seals or killer whales, an active pod of which were spotted last year, although not frequent visitors, in the Firth of Clyde off Helensburgh.
 

 

It was iced up as far as the bank to bank high level obstruction barrage at the Saltmarket which is as far as the high tide is allowed to travel up the river as well. Hard to see the ice in this photo clearly except for the numerous gulls sitting on it.

One looking towards the city centre district.

I've noticed before that even on narrow bridges spanning the canal that ice does not form under them unless it's really cold so frost must descend vertically onto the water surface.

 

Although it was frosty in places out the sun it was not that icy for most of the walk and footsteps usually crunched down rather than slid forwards.

 

I wandered upriver as far as Glasgow Green. Cabbage palm trees, (which can stand up to frosty weather to a point. A traditional favourite hardy exotic tree found around the Clyde Coastal Resorts, planted during the UK's long gone heyday of stay at home tourists.) with The Doulton fountain and the former Templeton's Carpet Factory in the distance.

It was a bright sunny day which really brought out the carving detail of the magnificent Doulton Fountain, reputedly the largest terracotta example of its kind in the world. India here.

Halfway up.

 

Queen Victoria on the top plinth of the fountain. Presumably not amused.

 

 
Although the nearby former Templeton's carpet factory (now a small business centre and flats) was inspired by the  mostly white Doge's Palace in Venice  this local carpet factory is very eye-catching in its own right and has some colourful additions of its own.

I'm sure in the 1960s/1970s growing up we had a small living room carpet in front of the electric fire similar to this pattern.... about six foot by three foot in size. It also had bright red zig zags in it though....and dazzling yellow ones looking like snakes. Hey, it was the 1960s man! The TV programmes might have still been in black and white but carpets were starting to become slightly psychedelic in design.

 

A corner of the building.

Walking back downstream past Glasgow Green boathouse.

Another new building going up along Argyle Street in Glasgow's city centre business district.

 

 A couple of new waterfront murals.

Same area.

 

New building complex going up near Finnieston District.

Finnieston Crane and the Hydro.

Paisley Road West art murals.

Same set,  Different panels.

 

Radisson Red at Finnieston... looking distinctly green from this angle of light. The old circular brick built Clyde pedestrian tunnel entrance/exit here, now a restaurant, which I walked under with my father back in the 1960s when it was still open. Dark, dripping with water, and fairly creepy underground and a tunnel that seemed miles long before you came up to the surface again near Govan on the other bank of the river. I loved it. It had real Dickensian atmosphere. Constructed late 1800s in the era of the horse and cart.

 

Same hotel building five minutes later viewed from a front elevation... and living up to it's name. Red.

 

And finally two old photographs from the only other time I took a walk along a frozen River Clyde into the city centre. As I say it doesn't happen very often that it freezes over and on this occasion it was solid for a large run of days and night time temperatures dropping down to minus 10 to minus 15 every night for a week. Thick enough to almost walk on although it would be certain death for anyone falling under the ice here as the river is fairly deep.

 

Same date, same era. Kingston Bridge and M8 motorway. The ship moored here is the Tuxedo Princess which dates this photo to the late 1980s or to the mid 1990s as that's the length of time it was berthed in Glasgow with numerous bars, discos, and a restaurant inside. The rest of the time it was based in Tyneside, along with a sister ship, also a converted car ferry. very popular with VIP types and locals both here and at it's home river base around Newcastle and Gateshead. On this occasion the ice was thick, bank to bank, all the way down to the Renfrew/Yoker ferry which was acting as an ice breaker as it ran across the river every ten minutes or so with passengers on board, thus keeping a path open and ice free during the daylight hours.

 

This is it here on another occasion with the Waverley paddle streamer out in front crammed with day trippers. There used to be two old ferries here. The Renfrew Rose and the Yoker Swan, much heavier and more robust craft than the smaller specially fabricated ferry today. The old ferry could take an ambulance... as well as passengers and cyclists. The modern ferry might not be around much longer though as a bridge is being constructed soon at this point so now is the time to take a trip on the ferry before it is gone forever. The last working ferry on the Upper Clyde. Happy new year.

Siberia on The Kelvin. Life Below Zero in Glasgow. December 2022.

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The month of November just passed in 2022 was a mild month with above average temperatures but the first two weeks of December 2022 more than made up for that. When the dominant weather front drifts down from the Arctic North or blows in from the East freezing temperatures occur over the UK

 

Binghams Pond. Glasgow. After about a week of sub zero temperatures, even during the daylight hours and a sustained ten days of minus 5 to minus 10 degrees at night... even in outlying city districts... I decided to take a few walks to see how the local wildlife was doing.

 

Most of the large pond beside Gartnavel Hospital remained solid ice but the swans and geese circling all night, being the heavier birds here, managed to keep this part of the pond open. I think the smaller birds, like ducks and gulls, would struggle to keep it ice free on their own.

 

Even the day I was out the temperature was around minus 5 and foggy with frost covering the outlying pavements all day without the sun to burn it off. It was enjoyable though- something different.

 

 

Next came the Botanic Gardens which I passed through to reach the River Kelvin.

 

It too was frozen solid in both directions. Downstream view.

Upstream view. The day before, the temperature, even in the city, was predicted to reach minus 10 degrees so it was the morning after that very cold night I decided on a walk. Further downstream a large weir and several rapids turned the ice back to running water again but on the gentle slow stretches like this one it could freeze over from bank to bank.

 Still misty and very chilly down here within the Kelvin Gorge walkway.

 

Inn Deep, Bars and Restaurant under the arches below Kelvinbridge.

 

Dog and human mural.

 Kelvingrove Park came next with an intrepid cyclist panting up an impressive incline to reach the summit of the park.

 December in Kelvingrove Park looking across at the lights of the University of Glasgow. Dark by 4:00pm in Glasgow at this time of year. Especially on a foggy day like this one.

 

The River Kelvin Walkway below the tumbling weir. Liquid surface again.

 

University of Glasgow next.

 The entrance gates on University Avenue.

 Deus Ex Machina... as they say in Rome.

 

An atmospheric and misty River Kevin gorge with the Glasgow University tower lit up.

 

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum from the University Tower.

 

 

 Kelvin Hall.

 Partick at night.

 Heading along Dumbarton Road in Partick to get a bus back.

 No sign here of frost on these pavements thanks to busy traffic, numerous shop windows, and loads of pedestrians throughout the day and night. Always a populous place this.

 

Dumbarton Road shops and soon my bus homeward arrived. An enjoyable day out. Merry Christmas everybody.... and best wishes.