Set off just after 05:30am to ride my loaded Surly touring
bike to Preston Railway Station. I was there in plenty of time at
around 06:15. I wheeled my bike to platform 3 to wait for the 06:40
train to Glasgow. I hadn't been waiting long before another cyclist
turned up with a rather battered looking bike. He had a small
rucksack and asked me about how good my Ortlieb panniers were.
Bike on the train to Glasgow
He
was also going to Glasgow as he was currently working there though
he lived in Preston. We chatted about bike touring until the train
arrived on time. There were already 2 bikes on so we had to
re-arrange things to get all 4 bikes sorted. I needed to take my
panniers off to hang the bike up by the back wheel. I took a photo
out of the window as we passed the Howgill Fells and posted it on
Facebook, commenting that I was leaving England for Scotland on St
George's Day.
Outside a rainy Glasgow Central Railway
Station
We arrived in Glasgow on time just after 09:10am. The
street outside was wet and felt quite chilly but there was no rain
as I set off along the busy roads. After various busy roads reached
I reached a cycle track turn off to head through University Campus
buildings and at the end of them reached a quiet road around St
Mungos Church. A pedestrian bridge took me over a busy dual
carriageway and on to a complicated series of cycle tracks to more
busy roads.
Glenboig, the old railway and site of
works
It had started drizzling earlier and continued as I road
to Muirhead when it thankfully stopped. Leaving the village I
stopped at a large busy butchers shop & called in to see if they had
any sandwiches. They didn't so I headed out into open countryside
along straight roads until I came to a cycle track at a right turn.
It follows the line of an old railway. As I reached it a cyclist
came off the track saying it was a dead end.
Glenboig brick makers 1929
Old Glenboig Works
Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life. Tram.
Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life. Tram
Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life.
Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life.
I said I'd checked it
on the map and it eventually connected to a road. He said I would be
better off following it the other way. I explained that was not the
way I was heading. It was a pleasant ride along a mostly cinder
surface until I reached the end at an awkward gate with a low middle
section where I had to lift my bike over. A stretch of road took me
to another cycle track that took me to Glenboig by a small loch and
an excellent information board. It showed the extensive industrial
area that used to surround the area. I reached the road and followed
it to Coatbridge where I took a short diversion to visit Summerlee
Museum of Scottish Industrial Life.
Sculpture by old canal basin
Old canal basin and plug
There were some old trams doing
rides and a large exhibition hall. I cycled back to the town centre
area and the old drained canal basin with its large artistic steel
bathplug. I followed the road for a while then on to cycle tracks
following the old canal and then old railway. I cycled the same
route last month without problems but now there had been many
bottles smashed on the line of the cycle track. There were so many
that it must have been deliberate as the problem continued for about
2 miles. I passed through Ardrie and reached a Tesco shop on the
outskirts where I bought 2, 2lt bottles of water at 59p each. I
continued along the road to a new cycle track roughly following the
line of the reconstructed railway. It took me to Caldercruix and the
Hillend Reservoir. This is where I'd planned to stop for camp one
and I managed to find a camp on wet ground near the water and a
short way off the cycle track. Train noise was a bit of a problem.
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Whittle Wanderer
