September Weekend to Mull

This weekend was cancelled due to lack of interest.

September Weekday Walk on the Thomas Muir Heritage Trail

Four of us met at Kirkintilloch for a walk along the Thomas Muir Trail to Clachan of Campsie. I took two buses to get there and arrived late due to rush hour traffic delays. The others drove there, and while waiting at the meeting point for my arrival, they found a small notice about parking charges and they had to re-locate their cars accordingly. With the cars safely repositioned and me arrived, we made our way to the start of our walk.

This part of Thomas Muir Trail mostly follows the Strathkelvin Railway Path which is also a cycle route and is used as part of the John Muir Way. The walk starts in a northerly direction with a long, flat, straight section beside the Glazert Water. Here we met the first of the other walkers, dog walkers, joggers and cyclists we were to meet throughout our journey. The trail turns west near the site of the old Kincaid Print Works and passes the platforms of the old Milton of Campsie station. The route is lined with trees and underfoot can be slippery as Kenny found out when he stepped onto the old platform. Fortunately, a bruised knee and elbow were the only results of his stumble and fall. The route continues past more long-gone industrial sites .. Campsie Alum Works, Underwood Chemical Works and Lennoxmill Print Works .. and then has a short section through Lennox Castle grounds before re-joining the Strathkelvin Railway Path to get to the site of the old Campsie Glen Station. From there the railway path continues west to Strathblane, and the Thomas Muir Trail heads north along a footpath beside the Kirk Burn then through the grounds of the Schoenstatt retreat and pilgrimage centre to reach Clachan of Campsie. We missed out the Schoenstatt bit and walked along the road instead and had a good view of the Campsies along the way.

Safely reaching our destination, we had time to relax and partake of some refreshments before boarding the bus for our return journey to Kirkintilloch and beyond.

GPS data : distance 8.5km, total time 2hrs 12mins, walking time 1hr 59mins

Willie Robison