Kilpatrick to Bowling via the Abyss

Kilpatrick to Bowling is normally a sedate affair along the canal towpath for about 2km. However, you can go another way...

The up and over way.... via the abyss.

Far less sedate (sedation will get you nowhere) and far more edifying...

Kilpatrick train station is ideally placed for the Loch Humphrey path which takes us up into the Kilpatrick Hills. The path is steep in places, so be prepared to make like Sisyphus, and get off and push. This path after all was originally a drove road, designed for beasts with four not two legs.

The two blue dotted lines branching off are the Doughnot hill to the north (a worthy half hour detour), or the Crags path (which, if you are with bike, is very awkward and at certain points more than a little hair-raising). The orange circle at the bottom is the Sheephill Quarry.

This section of the Loch Humphrey path (you'll know it when you get to it) is fondly known by the locals as 'The Bastard'. I have never ever been able to cycle its full length in a oner, although I have seen others do it with relative ease. Personally, I blame it on the bike, and my penchant for smoking the odd hubbly bubbly, but man, I reckon even the Tour de France's top polka-dot would have a hard time on this little stretch! At least when you're gasping for breath, and wondering if your heart's about to give out, you can take in those breath-taking (agghh!) views across the valley.

From the eastern edge of Loch Humphrey, the peaceful sound of Nature is palpable. In the far distance, you can just see the Campsie Fells.

Recently, there have been changes around Riggangower Farm and not for the better. The landfill site has been re-started and fences have been put in place on paths that walkers and cyclists previously took. Naturally, an alternate right of way has to be instituted, and it has, although at points fenced in on both sides, the way is so narrow, and in summer so hemmed in by stinging nettles, that it is a virtual gauntlet of distress. Personally, I opt for cycling down through the field, but that requires a keen eye and a lot of hope. You're probably better of walking with the bike through then field when the path gets too boggy or nettled out. You can see that sentiments towards the farmer here are not great, and I have to say that, ten years ago, when passing through here with my friend on bicycles, the farmer threatened to shoot my friend with his shotgun (for passing through his farm - at that point there was no alternate route available). He's a nasty old farmer he is, and I'm glad others have noticed this too.

The abyss in question is the quarry at Sheephill (there's another one just 2km west at Dumbuck). It's the first time I've climbed up to peer into it, but what a peer! Indeed, the destruction of this hill has important ramifications since it was the site of a very significant hill fort. There's a very interesting article by the archeologist Euan Mackie of the history of the hill, here:

https://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/a-scottish-hillfort-and-adjacent-rock-carving-part-14/

and there's an even more interesting article here on the shenanigans of the quarry operator William Thompson and Son, here:

 http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/dumbarton-quarry-operator-avoids-huge-7256824#MkSLuV0MyZtDdGDe.97

Another airy station, this time Bowling, almost beach-like, with the river widening out and its shipwrecked little harbour.

 Always porous, always fluid..... the meditative cyclist's bodymind.