Train Stations to Nowhere

Within the Glasgow strath, there are numerous train stations. Glasgow, after all, has the second largest rail network outside London. The train stations I want to highlight here are those at the foots of hills. Glasgow, after all, is a strath.

So here, we have three on the north side of the Clyde and three on the south but there are plenty more. I want to highlight these because for those of us living in the city, it might be a little easier to train it through the city to its edge before getting on the bicycle and hiking it into the hills. For me, living in Cessnock, the train provides me with a wonderful catapult aspect that fires me and my metal hoss just that little bit further out. 

At any rate, the train stations to nowhere...

First, there is Barrhead station which as soon as you exit you see the upwardly sloping Gateside Road. This is all you need to know to get into the Ferenese Hills, the Lochliboside Hills and the Gleniffer Braes. The Gateside Road (contrary to the Calside-Stanely-Gleniffer-Seargantlaw Roads up from Paisley Canal station) is wonderfully quiet and bucolic.

Second, there is Neilston station, the oldest railway line in Glasgow, which deposits you at the foot of Neilston Pad, Duncarnock Mount and the gently rolling hills to the south of Glasgow.

Third, there is Newton station, which is a wonderful access point for Dechmont Hill above Cambuslang, the Cathkin Brase and the quiet pastoral roads between East Kilbride and Glasgow.

Fourth, there is Thorntonhall station on the East Kilbride line, a wonderfully countryside station that is literally in full country (although property developers are slowly putting the kaibosh on this). Here, we have beautiful access to Eaglesham  and the hills above it and Newton Mearns.

Fifth, on the north side of the river, there is Croy station which gives us Croy and Barr Hill right next to it and superb views from both. A little further on the bike from Croy, we can cycle down to Kilsyth and up the Tak Ma Doon road into the Campsies.

Sixth, Milngavie station gives us access to Mugdock Country Park and its hills, and beyond to the Campsie Fells.

Seventh, there is Kilpatrick station right at the foot of the Kilpatrick Braes. 

Only a moron would take a car.

Surfing the Strath

Surfing's the source. Bodhi

Cycling is a form of surfing. My bicycle is my surfboard. In both activities, one must peddle or paddle to attain the freewheel, the soar, and the surf. Where surfers align their selves with the sea, cyclers align their selves with the land. Both are elemental activities (and not just 'outdoor'), the wind and the flow being essential attributes.

Where surfers profess a longing to be one with the ocean, cyclers profess that longing in their union with the land, the land being none other than an ocean of its own at a different spatio-temporal setting. 

Thus, the strath of Clyde where Glasgow and I rest is, to those who can see, whether it be the shamanic cycler or the seafaring surfer, a great ocean of swells (hills) and breaking waves (braes)... to be pedalled and paddled, surfed, cycled, and loved.

Paisley Canal Circuit via Bridge of Weir and Lawmarnock

What a great little circuit, all car-free on the Sustrans 75 path from Paisley Canal train station with the exception of a small piece of road between Bridge of Weir and Kilbarchan. In fact, this piece of road is so quiet that it's one of my favourites around the greater Glasgow strath, not least because some thoughtful souls have put three benches (of serenity) alongside it at regular intervals. There is also a choice of two routes when you leave the path at BOW: the shorter route up to Auchensale, and the slightly longer route up to Clevans and Barnbeth. I almost always stop at the third bench just beside Law and marvel at the vista looking east over the strath. Moreover, this little interlude between BOW and KB is one of the few places in the greater Glasgow valley where you cannot hear the sound and the distant hum of cars. For this reason alone it is a blessed circuit. Indeed, this year alone, I have cycled it over a dozen times making it the most cycled of my circuits so far this year. It's that good. And today, the Sustran oldies were out with their wheelbarrows and brushes (no leafblowers here!) clearing autumn off the path.

The orange circle (lassoo) in centre of photo, starting on right at Paisley Canal train station.

There is also the opportunity to coffee or lunch en route at BOW or Kilbarchan where there are more than a few delightful little eateries and pubs. Right at the beginning of the route in fact, just out of Paisley Canal, there is Canal Station bar/bistro, which I pop into on the way back for a water bottle refill. I have yet to eat or drink there but it looks lovely inside and the staff are always very friendly to me.

Kilpatrick to Milngavie via Duncolm

Kilpatrick train station is our starting point bottom left, with Milngavie train station our end point mid right. The route is the black line (dotted across the grassy path part) trying to ignore all the other lines while we're at it... Left Kilpatrick at 10.35am, arriving at a leisurely pace with plenty of stops en route, at Milngavie at 1.50pm. 

 From the top of Duncolm

 

Looking down from Duncolm to Lily Loch and Burncrooks Reservoir (in the distance)

  

The idyllic Lily Loch

 

Looking back at Duncolm 

Having a rest at Burncrooks Reservoir

Around the Great Cape: Darnycaip and Back

Breakout: Getting Out of the Comfort Zone

It never fails to amaze me just how close we are to the peripheral hills. Even without the slingshot of the train, it is no great feat to cycle all the way into the back of beyond from the city centre. I often think that it is the complete opposite with some cities, that to get out of the city is almost impossible, like breaking out of a high security prison. 

This 'high security' has a lot to do with it I imagine, for as soon as you leave your comfort zone - those places that you are familiar with and feel safe in - things can take on a whole different feel. One's 'bearings' are thrown off, and one's familiarity too is gone. In comes strangeness and uncertainty. Yet this is when your brain and body really starts to work, when it finds itself in unfamiliar territory. In the comfort zone, people operate on 'safe mode' which is why they can stare into their little phones whilst negotiating the landscape. But to be in an unfamiliar setting is to be on high alert, naturally. One's wits and werwithal prick up like antenae trying to get some feel for where you are and where you might be going. These 'antenae' have been corrupted if not entirely corroded by the imposition of (false) technology (that is not Nature herself). We have lost the ability to tune in to the land, to attune to the elements, to listen to the animals, precisely because we have spent too much time in the comfort zone. And yet, this comfort zone is actually some kind of prison that satiates you, that fills you full of nonsense so that you cannot feel any more. You become submissive, obedient, and needy, just like your dogs. It is thus that the human becomes a pet, and a domesticated (and thus dominated) being. This domination extends itself to the domination not just of the human but of nature herself, so that now, the only antenae that exist are the corporate ones that fill our heads so full of nonsense. Nature becomes threatening under the corporate mandate, good enough reason to cut it down and replace it with the reassuring safety of concrete and iron.

And yet, to enter a place where one has left the beaten track, where one does not know what lies around the corner is a real thrilling experience. In fact, that's exactly what it is: experience. We are experiencing...! Maybe for the first time in many years, maybe even for the first time ever. Experience can only ever occur when we leave the prison of our own accord.

Life itself, at least that life that man has made for himself, is all about the tunnelling out of, for the life that man has actually made for himself is not life itself but a kind of slow-coming dark. When you finally break out, after crawling through a kilometre of sewage, you will see the prison behind you, and Nature will consume you. The feeling will be one of deep joy, and release, a release that will soon inculcate a real ease with who and where you are, wherever that may be.

Freedom is nothing after all, becoming free heavenly....

Little Barscube