The Critical Walker

Stirling, Wallace Monument & Cambuskenneth Abbey

Distance: 5 1/2 miles / 8.9 km

Date: Tuesday 13th October 2009.

Weather Conditions: Cloudy & Overcast

Temperature: 12C

Ordnance Survey Map: Landranger 57 (Stirling & The Trossachs)

Guidebook: Pathfinder Guide - Loch Lomond, Trossachs, Stirling and Clackmannan

Critique: 

Stronachlachar, Loch Katrine & Loch Arkel

 

Distance: 5 miles / 8 km

Date: Saturday 11th July 2009

Weather Conditions: Warm & sunny with white cloud

Temperature: 19 - 21 C

Ordnance Survey Map: Landranger 56 (Loch Lomond & Inverarary)

Guidebook: Pathfinder Guide - Loch Lomond, Trossachs, Stirling and Clackmannan

Critique:

This is a pleasant walk with relatively easy instructions to follow.  However there are a couple of points that you should note before commencing this walk. Firstly, the walk details state that there is nowhere for refreshments. This has obviously changed since the book was published, as the Stronachlachar Tearooms have opened at the pier carpark where you commence your walk. In addition, the very last section of the walk which is listed as optional, is no longer accessible. It appears that the Lochside pathway that you are recommended to follow has become private property.

The walk itself starts quite gently along a water authority access road. Towards the end of the road, the instructions become very hazy, it talks about the end of the pathway being at a cattle grid but actually it is before the cattle grid, however you only discover this by reading a sentence or two of instructions on. The Royal Cottage is actually private property, so be careful if you want to take a look at it.

The pathway before the cattle grid, up the hill is  not that clear because of the large amount of vegetation obscuring the way. There are times when you become convinced that you are following the wrong direction,  just because the path is not clear. The path is also not the 'easy ascent' that the guidebook claims it is, and so the sight of the 'iron girders' referred to, is a welcome relief!     

The only other instruction in the guidebook also worth drawing attention to is the instruction 'Return to the line of towers and at the next one, which is just before a hill with a pillar on top, veer right on a faint path to flank the hill and head down towards a gate in the fence'  The reason I mention this phrase is because the 'faint path' that is mentioned is not 'faint' at all, in fact it is a very well defined track for Vehicals from the Foresty Commission to use.  Don't waste time looking for a 'faint' path where there is not one ... the big wide muddy track is the one that you want...    

Mugdock Country Park

 

Distance: 5 1/2 miles / 8.9 km

Date: Saturday 2nd May 2009

Weather Conditions: Dry, periods of  sunshine

Temperature: 10 - 13 C

Ordnance Survey Map: Landranger 64 (Glasgow)

Guidebook: Pathfinder Guide - Glasgow, the Clyde Valley, Ayrshire and Arran (Jarrold Publishing, 2007)

Critique:

Finding Mugdock Country Park is not that easy, especially finding the correct car park as there are multiple car parks dotted around the perimeter of the park.  However, it is worth pursuing as the park itself is lovely and the starting point at Craigend Visitor Centre has a Garden Centre, Cafe and a couple of Craft/Gift shops so there is plenty to keep you occupied.

Following the walk itself was challenging. The instructions were to start in front of Craigend Visitor Centre and to follow a path to the left of a sign-posted path to 'Mugdock Castle and Loch, Craigend Castle' however, there are no sign posts at all in front of the Visitor Centre. I went around the back of the Visitor centre and there are signposts there, but none with the exact directions noted on it. I therefore made my best guess on which path to follow based on the map and took that one.

The Park is very lovely and has plenty of paths which means a trip to this park would be worthwhile even if you are not going to follow this walk.  However, it turned out that the path I ended up taking was not the correct one, but I did end up at point A (the 14th century fortress/castle) only realised that I had approached it from completely the wrong direction and ended up double-backing along my original route to get back on track. This meant that I suspect that I missed quite a few important features in the park such as the chapel ruins.

Once corrected, the route was pretty easy to follow from this point onwards, although there were times where you felt that perhaps you were going wrong. This was particularly around the reservoir/Milngavie area, but in actual fact the variety of the landscape on this walk is part of the attraction. I now know that Milngavie is a very attractive place to live!

One more correction to the walk - at the end of the stretch of the West Highland Way that the walk follows, it refers to a kissing gate - there is no longer a kissing gate, instead a very modern metal split fence has been put in it's place.  

The part of this walk that moves it from 'Easy' to 'Moderate' is the very steep climb up the hill after turning away from the West Highland Way, if you are not fit, this will be a challenge unless you take it very slowly.

All in all, an enjoyable walk despite the lack of clear directions at the beginning.