Glasgow Gallivanting: April 2023

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Women’s history

I’ll start with this month in Women’s History. The 10-minute video above appeared a couple of weeks ago, almost exactly a year after I gave the talk. It was the first talk I had done in over two years and the first ever via Zoom, so I wasn’t very happy with my performance at the time. I’m still not comfortable when I don’t have an audience to interact with – I like to move about, wave my hands a bit, and make eye contact. However, I’ve got better and, actually, the recording is not as bad as I had feared, though I’m clearly not relaxed. What did embarrass me was the quality of our camera so it spurred us on to do something we’ve been meaning to do for years: buy a new computer!

I’ve also done three guided walks, two for Glasgow Women’s Library and one for Maryhill Burgh Halls, a Story Café on Scotland’s witch trials for GWL, and another Gallus Pedals blogpost, this time on suffragette Dorothea Chalmers Smith whose minister husband was told by the church to control his wife or divorce her.

John’s birthday

In other news this month, John had a birthday! We had a fabulous day, first of all visiting the Japanese Garden at Cowden. As you will see in the gallery, the garden has a lovely café where we had lunch. To end our visit we crossed the carpark to the Woodland Walk. Here we found a delightful little village made from trees damaged by the notorious Storm Arwen of November 2021.

Cowden Japanese Garden
Anabel at Cowden
John at Cowden
Cowden Japanese Garden
Cowden Japanese Garden
Anabel at Cowden
Cowden Japanese Garden
Cowden Japanese Garden
Lunch at Cowden
Stewart Woodland Village
Stewart Woodland Village
Stewart Woodland Village

Our next stop was Dollar where we intended to climb the steep glen to Castle Campbell. Well, we did, but unfortunately we parked the car next to a new (to us) patisserie, Troy-Ann, and we just had to sample its wares.

Troy-Ann’s Patisserie
Troy-Ann’s Patisserie

Still, the climb to the castle must have done us some good, surely?

Dollar
Castle Campbell
Castle Campbell
Castle Campbell
Castle Campbell

I hope so, because at night we were out eating again at our favourite Chinese restaurant, Lychee Oriental. Cheers to the birthday boy!

John at Lychee Oriental
John at Lychee Oriental

Bar and Croy Hills

This walk has appeared several times before: it’s a favourite. Starting at Auchinstarry Quarry, we go along the canal, up and over Bar and Croy Hills, and back via the forest path on the other side of the canal. Both hills are sites of Roman forts on the Antonine Wall, hence the big head of Silvanus. Can’t explain the Skull and Crossbones though!

Skull and Crossbones at Twechar
View from Bar Hill
Anabel on Bar Hill
Antonine Wall at Bar Hill
Climbing Croy Hill
View from Croy Hill
On Croy Hill
Silvanus at Croy Hill
Antonine Wall signpost
Canal boat at Auchinstarry

Five ferries

Five ferries route

A couple of solo adventures now. John got a gorgeous day for an outing with his cycling pals, the Weegie Wheelers. He took the train to the meeting point at Ardrossan in Ayrshire from where their first ferry was to Brodick on Arran (bottom right of the image where the red line of the route starts). The first cycle of the day (for him) was north to Lochranza where they caught another ferry to Claonaig (Kintyre) and then cycled to Tarbert. From Tarbert they boarded the ferry to Portavadie and then cycled via Tighnabruaich to Colintraive. At Colintraive there is a very short ferry ride onto the island of Bute where they cycled south to Rothesay (red line ends here) to catch the final ferry to Wemyss Bay and the train home. Some people actually cycled to and from Glasgow as well, or left their cars at Ardrossan and cycled back there at the end. John felt he had done enough!

Ferry 1

Ardrossan to Brodick.

Caledonian Isles at Ardrossan
Ferry 2

Lochranza to Claonaig.

Catriona at Lochranza
Catriona at Lochranza
Lochranza from the ferry
Ferry 3

Tarbert to Portavdie.

Tarbert
Isle of Cumbrae at Tarbert
Ferry 4

The long cycle from Portavadie to Colintraive and the ferry to Bute.

Near Tighnabruaich
Near Colintraive
Bikes near Colintraive
Loch Dunvegan at Colintraive
Bikes on Loch Dunvegan
Ferry 5

Rothesay to Wemyss Bay. John’s bike is on the right in the first photo. What an adventure!

Bikes on the ferry
Arrival at Wemyss Bay

Edinburgh

My solo adventure was not so spectacular. I went to Edinburgh to meet three friends who hadn’t all been together in person since pre-Covid, two having since moved away from Glasgow. As you can imagine, much chatting took place over coffee and lunch, but we did have time for a little culture with a quick visit to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Things to catch my eye this time included the thistle mosaic outside, a view of the balcony through a doorway, two very different representations of poet Jackie Kay and, of course, the Library.

SNPG mosaic
Inside the Portrait Gallery
Jackie Kay by Clae Eastgate (2018)
Jackie Kay by Michael Snowden (2004)
SNPG Library

Street (and other) art

What would a Gallivanting post be without some Glasgow street art? Although, let’s start with river art. Some of you were intrigued last month by the Glasgow penguins down by the Kelvin. A lot has happened! Some new friends appeared on a fence by the river.

Caterpillar and toadstools by the Kelvin
Snails by the Kelvin

Then disaster struck! According to Twitter, the penguins disappeared – and this made several local news-sites. Then they reappeared, thanking us for our support.

This is our home!
Thank you for your support

Now, I’m not sure if they were genuinely stolen and returned, or whether the artist is trying (successfully) to create a popular narrative. Whatever, the penguins add more and more activities to their repertoire. I’m sure this story will run and run …

Easter eggs
Easter eggs
Easter eggs
Litter picking
Football
Rock climbing
Swings
Lost my balloon!
Skipping
Gardening
Bungee jumping
Making music

And there’s more! Back on the Antonine Wall theme, a new mural has appeared in the garden at Lambhill Stables.

Lambhill mural
Lambhill mural
Lambhill mural

A mosaic in Thornwood by Wilma van der Meyden and a fish by Frodrik on a derelict building in Maryhill.

Mosaic by Wilma van der Meyden
Fish by Frodrik

Alma Mater by Jephson Robb at the University of Glasgow. Donors’ names appear on the bottom plinth.

Alma Mater by Jephson Robb
Alma Mater by Jephson Robb

By the canal we were lucky enough to catch the ceramicists at work on the new bridge. Although we didn’t find it till mid-month, The Elephants of Maryhill Locks was been one of several April Fools plaques mounted by Glasgow Information and Kultural Identity Taskforce, or GlaIKIT for short. If you know, you know …

Ceramicists at Stockingfield Bridge
Elephants of Maryhill Locks

The bench in the Botanic gardens which is yarn bombed every Spring in memory of Rita McGurn has its 2023 outfit on. I hadn’t realised till last winter that there was a plaque underneath it all.

The knitted bench
The knitted bench

Finally, we visited the Hillhead Bookclub with friends. It’s a restaurant, where we had a delicious lunch, and it originated as a cinema so I’m not sure where the bookish identity came from but, of course, I’m not one to quibble with it.

Hillhead Bookclub
Hillhead Bookclub

So those are my highlights for April. What will May bring? Happy May Day!

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72 Comments »

  6. Your posts are always so full of life, interest and activity that I feel that I am perhaps not making the most of my time, but then I reflect that you are still just a girl and feel a bit better.

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  11. Really enjoyed the video talk, Jessie was a force to be reckoned with until the very end! Glad to see the penguins still going strong, they are very charming!

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  14. Goodness, that’s a tumbler full. I agree with you about Zoom presentations – I so much prefer delivering a talk in front of an audience!

    The bungee-jumping penguin takes the cake!

    Belated birthday wishes to John. Looks like he had a great day.

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  15. Your posts are always so full of life, interest and activity that I feel that I am perhaps not making the most of my time, but then I reflect that you are still just a girl and feel a bit better.
    A most enjoyable read from start to finish.

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    • Aw, just a girl, so kind! And here I am almost about to collect my pension. But if you put your daily posts end to end they would far exceed my monthly ones – and I certainly don’t have the energy to write something every night.

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  16. Good grief, woman! There aren’t enough days in a month for you, are there? It all sounds a lot of fun and entertainment, Anabel, and not a moment wasted.

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  17. Another very busy month…you do get lots of things done in a month. I do like the penguins. They remind me of the many gentoo penguins we saw in Antarctica. ( Suzanne)

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  20. Happy Birthday to John. Been in Dollar many times for hill walks in the past but did not know about the Japanese Garden at Cowden. Beautiful. Nice to see the new penguins, one of the most surprising new features in Glasgow… and free to view in this new age of spiraling prices.
    Just spent £30 for a few messages an hour ago… and that was out of Lidl! Still in shock!
    Luckily I’ve got my pension now so I’m reasonably better off than many folk out there but pre- pandemic that same £30 could have half filled a trolley. Not happy…

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  21. What a post! Fun-loving penguins, a cosy park bench. Eating, getting exercise, travelling. And a great talk too – I learnt a lot. Great stuff.

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  22. What a good month you’ve had! The Japanese Garden and Woodland Walk look like great places to celebrate a birthday, and on a special day like that I don’t think you need to justify the visit to the patisserie 😆 As for the river art, I love love love those penguins 🐧🐧🐧

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  24. Loved the photographs – particularly the Penguins. They really are getting into the swing of popularity :o) Happy Birthday to a fellow Arian. My birthday is also in April.

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  25. So much to love here Anabel, and birthday wishes to John. I’m glad the ferries seemed to be working for him.

    Where is the Stewart Woodland Village I loved it. I also loved the penguins – particularly the bungee jumping

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  27. Well you’ve definitely both been busy with your gallivanting during April and John certainly got some good weather for his bike trip. My favourite photos are the first Japanese garden, Dollar, and the first shot of the ferry at Lochranza, love the elephant story, the woodland village sign and the knitted bench, and the rock climbing penguins made me lol – long may they continue their adventures. And a belated Happy Birthday to John 🙂

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