Craigendoran to Ardardan

Little She Bear (LSB) and I went for a walk. We were looking for sand. There is not much sand on the stoney beaches of our wee loch, but from the the train into Glasgow one can see sand and mud flat stretches along the Clyde. In the interest of places to go with grandchildren, we decided to investigate between Craigendoran at the eastern end of Helensburgh and Ardardan Garden Centre at the western end of Cardross. We are planning to walk, in stages, along the Clyde Walkway south of the Clyde starting at New Lanark. Today's walk was a kind of wee taster, a rough wee taster because the Clyde Walkway has proper track. This route was stoney, sandy, clayey, grass hummocky, and bricky.
    We parked the car at Craigendoran station. The bit of land between the sea and the railway track is up for sale and development, apparently, or it was in the summer. It may have been bought by now. Alongside the old slipway we found evidence of other old stuff and bricks. (Old pics of the now derelict pier, used in the past for paddle steamer traffic, here.) Brick-making was quite an industry in and around Glasgow. You could spend hours reading bricks on the salt-water shores of the Clyde. We didn't dawdle too much over bricks but we found a couple of legible ones: Hurll of Glasgow and Colt of Sanquhar, which is on the road to Dumfries.



More info for brick enthusiasts here.



Other old stuff included massive slabs of reinforced concrete and what looked like a rather imposing gate post.

Then, on we bumbled stepping from hump to hump of grass that doesn't mind being regularly swamped by the incoming tide. Further along there was more of this on higher hummocks and with water between.

As you leave Craigendoran behind there is a stretch of railway track right next to the sea. All this sea wall is propping up the train track. When there is an extra high tide sometimes the waves slosh over the tracks and stop the trains until the tide recedes. There is a similar stretch just beyond Cardross. LSB and I were just impressed by the Victorian engineering that built this line. There have been various repairs to this shoring up, with layers of concrete put in joins between old sandstone blocks and even covering the entire wall.

We liked this detail of pale sand against the red sandstone and every where the beautiful lichens on exposed rocks.

Where the rail track went a little in from the shore the yellowing leaves of Rosa Rugosa run wild looked bright even in the overcast light. The sun was supposed to break through, according to the Met Office. It didn't. We didn't mind. Walking makes you warm even on a dull winter day.

In the little bay before the round lump of land called The Hill of Ardmore that sticks out into the Clyde, you can look straight across to Dunoon.

The 'corner' of the Clyde estuary as it turns south
past Greenock and Gourock

In the photo below, Dunoon is on the farthest away land. As we negotiated this part of the walk, we were accompanied by the voices, way out on the sand and clay flats, of curlews and oyster-catchers. Some of the lumps of clay looked very good for making primitive dishes.

There were a lot of small streams across the beach but here we came across what looked like a spring. We reckoned there might be a burst pipe under there. A little further along we came across old pipes, new pipes, and large tyre tracks, which seemed to confirm our suspicions.

We crossed the narrow bit of the Ardmore peninsula, walked inland to the level crossing and up to the Cardross road to get to the garden centre and restaurant at Ardardan where we ate lunch. We considered getting a bus back along the road to Craigendoran but it would have meant a longish wait so we just hoofed it instead. It was a lovely day out. The photo below is looking back to where we live, somewhere on the hillsides below that bright snow in the distance.