Glasgow Gallivanting: September 2020

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Craigmaddie Muir, Auld Wives’ Lifts and the Campsies

We’ve had some lovely, bright weekends in September which have been great for getting out and about. The walk to the Auld Wives’ Lifts on Craigmaddie Muir was one we’d wanted to do for a while – the Lifts being the rocks you can see middle right in the image above, with the Campsie fells and the prominent knob of Dumgoyne visible in the background.

The Lifts consist of three extremely large pieces of grey sandstone, one propped on top of the other two with a space between them. Couples who were considering marriage used to try to squeeze through the gap in an anticlockwise direction; if they weren’t successful, the marriage was doomed! The stones might be connected with worship of some sort and have been a place of pilgrimage for centuries.

Craigmaddie Muir
Auld Wives’ Lifts
The gap

Legend has it that three witches from Baldernock, Strathblane and Campsie carried the stones to prove their strength. They are covered in Victorian graffiti as well as about eight carved heads or faces, which look ancient but seem not to have been noticed, or at least written about, until the 1970s.

Victorian graffiti
Face

The walk itself was not particularly pleasant, being over muddy, rutted fields and boggy ground, but the views, one way back towards Glasgow and the other to the Campsies and Ben Lomond, were beautiful.

View of Glasgow
View of Campsies and Ben Lomond

A walk above the Ayrshire coastal town of Largs to Greeto Bridge also afforded good views and a welcome glimpse of the sea. The islands of Great Cumbrae and Arran can be seen beyond the town.

Greeto Bridge
Greeto Water
Greeto Water
View to Cumbrae and Arran
Largs from above

Milngavie, just north of Glasgow, is the start of the West Highland Way. We used the beginning of the trail to branch off onto a couple of other walks.

West Highland Way, Milngavie
West Highland Way, Milngavie
War Memorial, Milngavie

We saw more pretty countryside.

Countryside near Milngavie
Countryside near Milngavie

We came across several more sets of Scholars Rocks by Rachel Mimiec, previously encountered elsewhere in East Dunbartonshire in July, and parts of a new (to us) artwork, Home by Alex Allan, naming women workers in industries previously located in Milngavie.

Scholars Rocks by Rachel Mimiec
Home by Alex Allan

And we skirted the edge of Mugdock and Craigmaddie Reservoirs. It’s a long time since we’ve walked all the way round these two – maybe next month!

Mugdock Reservoir
Mugdock Reservoir
Craigmaddie Reservoir

September has also been a month for women’s history. Students returned to university and the usual Fresher’s Fairs were all conducted online. As part of this, Glasgow Women’s Library was invited to set out its wares in a programme for Subcity Radio and I did a slot on a couple of the women from our heritage tours. If you wish, you can listen here – I am on second, just after the two minute mark, and I speak for about six minutes.

I have also done another of my Twitter Walks, this time on the East End, which you can follow below.

While taking the photographs for the above walk we spotted a new mural in process on Abercromby Street. The third photograph shows the completed mural a few days later.

St Thenue by Mark Worst
St Thenue by Mark Worst
St Thenue by Mark Worst

St Thenue (also known as St Enoch) is pictured wearing a shawl featuring 29 motifs in honour of the victims of the 1889 Templeton’s carpet factory disaster when 29 women were killed by a collapsing wall. Legend has it that Thenue’s father, a pagan king, ordered her to be hurled from a hill in East Lothian when she became pregnant out of wedlock. When she miraculously survived she was put into a small boat and cast adrift in the Firth of Forth to perish. She was guided to shore by a shoal of fish and given shelter at the community of St Serf in Culross where she gave birth to her son, St Mungo, the Patron Saint of Glasgow.

Annie Lennox, Calvin Harris, Emili Sandé and Lewis Capaldi on the wall of Embargo

Another new mural this month is on the side wall of Embargo, a pub on Byres Road in the West End, and portrays Scottish music stars Annie Lennox, Calvin Harris, Emili Sandé and Lewis Capaldi. The mural is the work of local artist Rogue-One and is intended, according to the bar’s manager, as “a visual celebration of Scottish musical talent during a difficult time for the creative and hospitality industries alike.”

Finally, we encountered the highland cattle of Dawsholm Park again this month, so here are two of the most photogenic especially for Jessica!

Highland cattle
Highland cattle

So that’s it for September and what turns out to be my 700th post.  Restrictions are closing in again, but let’s not focus on the bad stuff. Wishing you all a happy October.

Scotland, UK , , , , , ,

69 Comments »

  1. Been getting a bit behind on reading blogs by my “bloggy friends” so catching up on the backlog.
    Glad to see you getting out and about up there in Scotland. Wonder how long it will be before we’re locked back indoors again? Being out in the fresh air is the best place to be to keep you healthy in body and mind – providing you don’t get too close to strangers. Unfortunately, not everyone does the latter.

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  2. Hi Anabel – congratulations on your walks and talks … you keep history alive for all interested; while the locals walks are always interesting to learn about the area and the folklore – those stones remind me of Cornwall. Interesting tale about St Thenue or St Enoch … amazing how these tales stay for us in future years. Gorgeous photos – and enjoy those long walks this month – all the best Hilary

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  4. Lovely walk and an excellent post. October seems to have started well for us here in South Australia, so long may it continue ( be great if the weather was better – all this rain makes a fellow feel homesick!)

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  8. glorious showcase for Glasgow and the countryside around. Love this – and your 700th post too!

    Hope the restrictions are not impacting too much on you – if only everyone was asked to wear a mask at all times and the messaging on distancing was better. Sure if it was we would not have seen the rise we have 😦

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  9. I’m so glad you were able to get out and go for a walk in the warm September weather! The views look gorgeous. And I thoroughly enjoyed your talk….you’ve been busy! Congrats on the 700th post, and I hope you don’t have to cope with too many new restrictions. This pandemic has more than outstayed its welcome.

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  10. Fascinating mural in progress. I had wondered how they could paint such a large image while so close to it, but now I can see that they draw it on first and (I assume) have coded the segments for colour, etc. Very dramatic mural!

    Jude

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  11. love those stones and the witches!. It’s a fair few years since I did the west highland way. It was both utterly mesmerising and utterly appalling, often on the same say!. Possibly the toughest ‘flat’ walk we ever did was the section alongside Loch Lomond, made worse by my jumping over a large tree root and ending up in the ribcage of a long dead, yet not completely rotted deer! Oh the smell! It could have lifted kilts at fifty paces…

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  12. Anabel – It’s like a potpourri of walks! Witches, wonderful clouds and – most especially – you in front of the library. I think I’ll go take that walk with you right now 😉 – Susan

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  13. Having been up there that boulder crawl must have been a test of fortitude as its usually flooded all round the boulders. A very wet corner. The Largs walk is a joy with great views. Think they took the sign that said GoGo Street down in Largs (name of local stream). Shame. Always made me laugh.

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  14. It’s always so green and pretty on your walks, which is a stark contrast to ours at the moment. A warm wet spring and summer have been forecast but we’re now a third of the way through spring and it’s been neither so far. Poor Thenue!

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  17. You have fit such a lot of lovely interesting things in on your weekends. Hurrah for dry weather! Nice to see those Highland cows and such wonderful street art. 🙂

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  18. Another enjoyable walk Anabel, and you convince me with every blog that you live in one of the most beautiful and photogenic parts of Scotland . As I can’t drive any more I am unable to illustrate any of the walks I used to do as I never took photographs when I walked, never thinking of blogging. I only took pix when I was doing an article for print, so my loss. Maybe I’ll ask around among my friends and see if they can help me out. I can’t show such dramatic scenery but we do have some lovely walks across our chalk downs.

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  19. Hi, Anabel – I’m glad to see that you’ve been able to take advantage of continued warm weather and get in some extra stunning views. I love going along on your Twitter Walks. Thank you for sharing them here.
    You’ve inspired me to go outside and enjoy our (unseasonably) good weather as well. Leaving now!

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  20. Aww, thank you for thinking of me! Such lovely coos too. I particularly like the first one – such a cutie! Congrats also on your 700th post! I like the witch rocks and the marriage tradition too – Marcus and I finally booked in a wedding date today for November (Covid permitting), so maybe we’ll have to try it some day, though it does look like quite a small gap!

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  22. You cover an amazing amount of ground. I’m glad you are able to use social media to continue your tours in a fashion. I doubt that crawling through those stones would do anything good for your wedding attire!

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  23. Another great walk. Lucky students to get a personal tour from you!

    I had a walk around Mull on Monday night – Geowalks are giving Geology tours online as they can’t do them in the flesh. Small charge, but well worth it, after all, you’d normally pay for the privilege (and no need for cagoule and wet boots, either!)

    Jemima

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  26. Imagine squeezing through the gap at the Auld Wives Lifts, not sure how that would work out now! I really like the concept of Home, a thought provoking tribute to the anonymous workers of lost industry. Fingers crossed we can all keep getting out and about in the face of those encroaching restrictions.

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