Total miles: 9.6
Elevation gain: 355 ft
Time walking: 12pm – 5pm
Miles to date: 1,006.7
Wow, I cracked 1000 miles! Such an incredible milestone and yet it feels rather surreal! I’ve actually walked 1000 miles?! It’s amazing what the human body can do, if you treat it well and put your mind to it! The walk itself today wasn’t the most exciting or enjoyable of walks, and I think it was the second shortest day of the whole trip so far (mainly down to being driven by the location of the only campsite between Maudslie Bridge and Glasgow), but it was a nice day all in all.
It was a dry morning and although we didn’t have the sun on our little spot the sky was blue and the air was fresh and we very much enjoyed our breakfast and tea on the river bank! With such a short walk ahead of us we didn’t need to rush off so we decided to make the most of our beautiful spot, just relaxing and enjoying the peace. It’s amazing how easy it is to pass the time just by being. By enjoying nature and all the sounds, the way the light reflects off the rippling water, the wildlife you can hear if not see. We saw a heron going about his business, and the orange and blue streak of a kingfisher – the first Anneliese has ever seen! Neither of us particularly wanted to move! We knew that soon we’d be heading into more urban areas and we weren’t looking forward to that after our days of hills, rivers and wild camping!
Happily our tents went away completely dry, a rare luxury these days, and we packed up leisurely, eventually being ready to head off at midday. The first mile was through pretty woodland along the river but then the path left the river and joined a short stretch of fairly busy road up a hill, crossing a busier road at the top. Main roads feel quite daunting after days of footpaths and small country roads! After that the path followed a gravelled farm track for a while and we spotted the first signs of the city in the form of a tower block on the horizon and the distant hum of a busy road. It was weird, knowing we were heading into a big city, a rather bizarre thing to do really on a long distance walk! We were both feeling tired today and our packs felt heavy. My left shoulder is not feeling great when I have the pack on – I think I could do with an osteopath to crack a few joints – and it was particularly bad today for some reason, to the extent it felt like it was harder to breathe!
Coming back to the river the path ran through gentle pastures and the walking was easy and enjoyable, the river wide and pretty to our left, a beautiful old priory in the trees on the slopes across to our right, tower blocks growing on the skyline. I had cause to celebrate as I passed the 1000 mile mark, resulting in much singing of the Proclaimers! And yes, we may have looked it up on YouTube to remind ourselves of the actual words…! What was nice was that Anneliese hit her 100 mile mark at a similar point to me passing 1000 miles, so we could have double celebrations!
There was a short but very pretty section through Dalzell Park which had been landscaped two to three hundred years ago – grand avenues of huge chestnuts and lime trees. Some of the trees were huge but half dead – massive hollowed trunks but then new growth sprouting out of one section at the top. One tree had fallen and half of the trunk had rotted away (or something) but new growth had grown straight upwards all along the trunk and formed mature tree trunks themselves. How amazing it is that a tree can be damaged to the extent of nearly dying and yet it manages to hold on and fight back. Quite inspiring!
The path then entered the Baron’s Haugh nature reserve which, surprisingly, wasn’t a terribly pretty section – the nature reserve itself was surrounded by a tall hedge of trees and the track was a narrow gravel path on the wrong side (so, better for nature, obviously, but not so interesting for walkers) – and the noise from the motorway was getting louder and louder. Happily there were some bird hides along the way which not only provided a nice view of the reserve but also a convenient rest stop sheltered from the one heavy rain shower we had.
A mile or so later we crossed under a busy dual carriageway which intersected with the motorway and suddenly we felt like we were somewhere much more urban. We came into the Strathclyde Country Park, with its own loch, and I was a little underwhelmed. I guess if you come from the city then this is a beautiful breath of fresh air but to me it seemed rather dull and grey – tarmac paths, neat grass and beige-bricked buildings, with the constant roar of traffic. Still, there were lots of birds on the water which was nice and I’m sure on a sunny day it would look far more attractive! The best thing for us though, tired despite a ridiculously short day, was that it meant we were close to our campsite!
We found the campsite without too much trouble and the kind lady only charged us for one pitch as we could squeeze our tiny tents onto one fairly easily. We managed to get the tents pitched just before it started to rain, thankfully, as it’s set in for the night. Then, straight to the pub! We’d found out earlier that there was a Toby Carvery just around the corner and after two nights of wild camping we were ready for tables, chairs, warmth and lots of hearty food! It didn’t disappoint! I went king-sized, loaded my plate and managed to eat pretty much all of it. Plus dessert! I’m trying to ignore the fact that I’m now struggling to breathe, let alone move, because I ate so much! It has been raining all evening and it sounds like it’s going to rain all night. I’m so glad we managed to have dry tents to put up, it makes such a difference!
We are both a bit sad that this is our last night camping (for now, at least), and tomorrow is Anneliese’s last day. It is a long-ish one, 17 miles, but mostly flat so it shouldn’t be too challenging. Mind you, I feel like I’m going a bit soft what with the past two short days so it will be good to have a bit of a longer distance before my break in Glasgow! And then, a hotel! For four nights! It will be the longest I’ve stopped anywhere and it will feel quite strange I think!