A Clydeside Scottie walk

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Mothers Pride by Steele McTurk
Merchant Navy Plaque

A new sculpture trail, Scotties in the City, has hit Glasgow’s streets raising awareness and funds for Maggie’s, a charity providing free cancer support and information in centres across the UK and online. I have been collecting a few at random, but one Saturday afternoon John and I worked out a route along the River Clyde (crossing it several times) which allowed us to find seven.

We started by taking the Subway to Govan on the south side of the river where we found Mothers Pride (above) looking across to the Riverside Museum and the Tall Ship. This Scottie is clad in an instantly recognisable bread wrapper. Behind him we found a plaque we had not noticed before.

Crossing the river, we found our next Scottie at the front entrance to the museum. Someone had very kindly provided Shipyard Scottie with a bowl of water.

Shipyard Scottie by Pauline Paterson

We continued along the north bank to the Clydeside Distillery where we found Clyde, also on a maritime theme. We then took the next footbridge back across to the south bank.

Clyde by Jenny Marshall

Next up was probably our least favourite, Robo Doggo representing the technological advances shaping our world. Appropriately, he was outside the Science Centre.

Robo Doggo by Andy Craig Grant

The next Scottie, clad in chainmail, was a tribute to Robert the Bruce. Behind him we could see the Armadillo, part of the Scottish Events Campus.

Scottie the Bruce by Maureen King

And beyond him we could see more of the SEC (the Hydro on the left) and the Finnieston Crane.

Our next stop was also south of the river but we reached a point where the footpath was blocked off so we had to cross and recross. However, this took us past part of another trail, Jasleen Kaur’s Superstructure, which has been commissioned for Glasgow 2026, a festival celebrating the Commonwealth Games which come to the city later this month.

I was Here B4U
Major Employer / Look Good
This Should Be Public

Back on the south side we saw CTRL+ALT+DELEASH celebrating software and coding.

CTRL+ALT+DELEASH by Laura Henderson

We then made our final crossing north of the river to Glasgow Salad, aka a poke (bag) of chips (fries) wrapped old-style in newspaper. This is a well-known Glaswegian joke against our (allegedly) unhealthy dietary habits. Personally, I think salad AND chips is a fine meal.

Glasgow Salad by Emma Mary Batman Barnie (known as Barnie)

We were now very close to St Enoch Subway from where we could get a train home. As the crow flies our walk probably wasn’t very long, but with all our criss-crossing of the river I think it was probably 4-5 miles. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the riverside and meeting some of our Scotties. Do you have a favourite? I like the colour palette of Shipyard Scottie but overall I like Mothers Pride best, perhaps because of childhood memories of piles of hot buttered toast. A plain loaf was perfect for that!

After this little diversion I’ll be back to my Gozo posts next week. Linking this one to Jo’s Monday Walk.

Scotland, UK , , ,

37 Comments »

  3. You did well there with seven. It’s a puzzle with the Commonwealth Games arriving very shortly in Glasgow that the city fathers have picked this exact time to tear up half the roads in the city, supposedly for yet more cycle-lanes and shut off George Square for renovation. But maybe they will finish it all in time. Bob. BSS.

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    • I read that George Square won’t be completed until October! I’m guessing that because these Games were a last minute decision, when no-one else would host them, and so were always meant to be low key that they haven’t been allowed to get in the way of plans already made.

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  5. As always giving me plenty of reasons to visit Glasglow. I enjoyed CTRL+ALT+DELEASH by Laura Henderson for her ordinality. A fun walk and outdoor art for a good cause, win-win, Anabel.

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  6. Glasgow seems to have everything and now a Scottie trail!! I love all the sculptures as they will bring a smile to all who see them and it will also make people aware of the amazing Maggie’s charity. My favourite is the Shipyard Scottie as I like the design and colour but they all are wonderful. Thank you for showing them …how many are there on the whole trail?

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  11. These are great fun! I’m glad you took the trouble to photograph and share both sides of each dog as in some cases they are quite different. I agree with you about salad and chips, but I have to go for Shipyard Scottie as my favourite, both for the colour palette that you commented on and for the detail in the art work 🙂

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  15. ‘An instantly recognisable bread wrapper’. Not to us poor Sassenachs! But what a great trail. I even liked the Robo Doggo. In fact, together with Shipyard Scottie it may have been among my favourites.

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  16. That was a lot of criss-crossing Anabel. I think my facourite is Clyde, not so keen on Robbo Doggo though, it looks like it’s made of metal. I hope you feature some more if you manage to find any.

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I'd love to hear what you think!