What better way to start a new year than a short cycle around the valley? Today, being New Year's Day and all, I thought of a route where I didn't require a train to catapult me out, or ferry my tired bones back. 2017 was all about train + bike (Glasgow having the most extensive urban rail network outside of London) and extending the home range locomotively. As such I have relied on trains to the point where I kinda miss a day without being on one. Yet...
The (misshapen) hammerhead can be seen in gold. I started in Govan heading westwards into the wind. But what a delightful route with plenty of thought-provoking scenes along the way. Took me two and half hours to complete with a few short breaks en route to inhale the views and some of that hot lava java in my bag.
From Govan, the route follows past Fairfields towards the boardwalk of Braehead. The route could be shortened significantly by taking the little Renfrew-Yoker raft, but since it's New Year's Day even rafts require a break. The route, at any rate, from here is lovely following around the back of the scrapyard and Renfrew Golf Course (a bona fide path), up the White Cart Water until the Normandy Hotel (looking like it needs a lick of paint) and the big red bridge at Inchinnan. From there it's onto the Old Greenock Road, past the airplane spotters, and up and through Inchinnan. The worst bit is the road from after Inchinnan to the Erskine Bridge which is dual carraigeway with a sliver of path for cyclists. I think there may be an alternative route so check it out. Avoid dual carraigeways whenever possible. A few minutes later, passing the Erskine Hotel (or is it the Overlook?), we are at the Erskine Bridge (opened in the month of my birth) and a choice of west or east side to cycle across. One side looks towards the oceanic vastness of hills and mountains and the ever-widening estuary, the other towards the smokestacks of the city and its tombstones. Which side are you?
I almost ended up in the scrapheap. Thankfully, they were closed. The route is just a few metres behind me to the left, ducking behind the scrapyard and onto the peripheral riverside path around Renfrew Golf Course.
I stupidly took the east side before I realised my mistake and headed over to the other side. Which may explain why I have posted photos from both sides...
What an inhalation to start the year!!!
When I got back, the Kilpatrick Hills just to the north of the Erskine Bridge are lit up with sunshine. Half an hour ago they were barely visible behind a thick veil of cloud. This is the beauty of valley-cycling, the variety, the diversity.... the existential spice!
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