clairedavieswriter

After the rather torrid journey into Glasgow, I wasn’t much looking forward to the journey out. I needn’t have worried: it turns out there are cycle paths after all, provided you don’t want to ride through the city centre.

Through the slit masquerading as my bedroom window, I was pleasantly surprised to see blue sky, after the rain yesterday. The temperature had noticeably dropped, so today I wore my snood for the first time, and a second long sleeve jersey over my usual one. It was chilly to start with on the knees and hands, but shorts and fingerless gloves were still fine.

So after fuelling up with coffee, porridge and an eye-wateringly expensive thimble of fruit at Pret A Manger (altogether a snip at £8.95) I set off with the sun on my back just after 9am. The excellent National Cycle Network route 7 first took me along the Clyde…

… with its iconic new buildings, some of which will be used to host COP26 in a few weeks’ time.

NCN7 then follows the old Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh railway path, the Forth and Clyde Canal and the River Leven – a total of 35 glorious, peaceful, traffic-free kilometres from Glasgow to the Loch Lomond Marina at Balloch.

There was relatable street art…

Ingenious engineering (this idea seemed so obvious I was surprised it was the first in the UK)…

Historical references:

And ingenious use of historic engineering (the old railway line):

After Balloch it got hillier and more rural, with stunning (if slightly daunting) views of high ground to the north.

There are barely 20k between Aberfoyle and Callander but they took over two hours because of this little beauty. The suggested alternative was not a runner, being both an A road and many more miles. Luckily, my road bike turned out to be both lightweight (but laden) and rugged.

The climb through the woods was tough but scenic.

The summit felt seriously remote.

The descent was a bone shaker.

I descended past the wonderfully named Loch Drunkie..

To the beautiful Loch Venachar, from where it was 5 mercifully tarmacked miles to Callander.

As often on this trip, my food stops came with views as standard (provided I wasn’t dazzled by the cheese):

On the way I saw some topical graffiti…

Some that was more topical than originally intended:

And some that simply stated the obvious:

Amazingly, the sun stayed with me pretty much all day – and I never got wet.

My thanks to my fourth Warmshowers hosts, Ian and Collette, for welcoming me into their home. Tomorrow: Aberfeldy.