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Showing posts from September, 2019

Queen Mary's Seat

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Walking with Kids Last year, as the days begin to get shorter and the temperature dropped, it was best to try out shorter hikes not too far from home. We had already visited Cathkin Braes a couple of years ago to look at the mountain bike track, which  was used for the Commonwealth Games in 2014,  but this time we came  back to try one of the walks.  Where is it? Map Location Cathkin Braes is just on the outskirts of Glasgow and is the highest point in the city at just over 200m, it is located near Castlemilk. It is a country park and there are plentuy of walks around the area. We travelled from the East Kilbride direction and had parked at the lay-by/parking spaces on Cathkin Road.  The Route The Route Elevation Profile From the parking space we followed the track that ran parallel to the road, this continued for a mile or so through the woods. Every now and the you can catch glimpses of the city. There were a couple...

Clachan of Campsie

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Walking With Kids It was one of those days, I didn't feel like doing anything. In fact by the time my wife had suggested going out for a walk in the afternoon, I was ready to fall asleep. So there I was dozing off in the car on the way to Clachan of Campsie. I should have been happy, since this was my idea anyway, although I had suggested it a few weeks prior. The walk we were doing was a short one, prefect for kids to the waterfall, yes, another waterfall. I might make it an idea to do a wee series on waterfalls in Scotland. We have the water for it, after all.  Where is it? Location on the Map Clachan of Campsie is at the foot of Campsie Glen, the area also known as the Campsies because of the hill range there. The area is north of Glasgow, that doesn't help much as most of Scotland is north of Glasgow. The area is next to Lennoxtown and close to Strathblane.  We could have taken a quicker route and parked at the top car park and walked to the waterfall i...

Sugelary Camera Strap Review

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Product: Sugelary  Camera Strap Cost: £15.99 Supplier: Amazon But First... Full disclosure, I am NOT being paid for this review. The opinions held are mine only and are based on actual testing of the product outdoors. The product was given to me for my birthday, although I did stipulate the supplier.  The Review Let's be clear, I'm not a professional photographer and if you've been checking any of the pictures on this blog, you will come to the same conclusion. The issue I had in the past was down to the length of the camera strap. The one I got originally for my camera, many years ago, was only long enough to wrap around a person's neck. The trouble with this is that when hiking with a backpack the camera got in the way of the chest strap. The solution was to wear it around the neck and under the arm. With the short strap, it often got caught and was difficult to get easy access to the camera. The solution was to get a camera strap that can easily su...

The Castle Walk

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Bothwell Castle Walks with Kids There was a time, a few years ago, that I spent considerable effort to strategically plan my walks with the wee ones. This walk, in contrast isn't one of these, although the walk around Bothwell Castle is a pleasant one. Our trip out was decided at the last minute. I realised that we had to get out the house for a little while and the option to go for a walk seemed better than spending time at a play park.  The Route There is plenty of parking for cars outside of the castle but there isn't a structured car park, more of park on the grass verge situation. Our idea was to have a walk around the area before checking out the castle. The grass area at the front of the castle is large and good for sitting to have lunch and to do gymnastics. We decided to walk around the castle building first before walking down to the path along the river.  Bothwell Castle Running About Some Holes Here The track hugs close to t...

Get to the Point

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Ardmore Point Hiking With Kids Looking at Ardmore Point The Red Icon Marks the Peninsula Ardmore point is a short walk which is situated a couple of miles outside Helensburgh. The walk which is only a couple of miles long, is a short walk around a peninsula. This has good views over to Helensburgh as well as Greenock and the Firth of Clyde.  The location for the walk is down Ardmore Road, which is the next left after  Argarten Garden Centre. There is parking at the bottom of the road, past the train tracks and is popular with walkers.  The Route The Route Elevation The path goes around in a loop and so it can be done in any direction first. We decided to take a left past Ardmore cottage, this followed a footpath which hugged the Clyde. The path here was dry however the vegetation was over grown in a couple of places. This has been something that I have experienced on a few of these walks over the summer, a combination of warm ...