Bearsden & District

Strathkelvin Railway Path

Photographs of the walk from Milton of Campsie

along the Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path

to Kirkintilloch

The Glazert Water

at Milton of Campsie

Signpost

at Milton of Campsie

The Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path

from Milton of Campsie to Kirkintilloch

Ornamental Bench

on the Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path

Glazert Water

on the Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path

Weir on the Glazert Water

on the Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path

Bridge over the Glazert Water

on the Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path

Campsie Fells

from the Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path

to Kirkintilloch

The Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path

from Milton of Campsie to Kirkintilloch

View from the Thomas Muir Trail from Lennoxtown to Milton of Campsie

Confluence of the Glazert Water
and the River Kelvin
from the Thomas Muir Trail / Strathkelvin Railway Path
at Kirkintilloch

Wikipedia - River Kelvin

Broomhill Hospital

from Strathkelvin Railway Path

Signpost in Kirkintilloch

Saint Mary's Church in Kirkintilloch

Kirkintilloch is on the Forth and Clyde Canal,

some eight miles northeast of Glasgow.

Kirkintilloch is the administrative centre

of East Dunbartonshire.

St Mary's Parish Church

Map of route

from Milton of Campsie to Kirkintilloch

Map of Thomas Muir Trail

from Milton of Campsie to Kirkintilloch

Map of Glazert Water

and the River Kelvin

Route Map

of the Strathkelvin Railway Path

STRATHKELVIN RAILWAY PATH - ROUTE DESCRIPTION:

Location: Strathblane, Stirtingshire
Map: OS Landranger 64
Distance: 15 miles, ( 24km )
Tine: 1.5 hours
Terrain: flat; cyclepath

This excellent traffic-free cyclepath has been upgraded recently with a tarmac surface and provides a good cycling option, whatever the weather.
The path follows the trackbed of the former Gartness to Kirkintilloch Railway, which closed more than 40 years ago. It's practically flat and is ideal for young children.
Start from a small car park off the A891 by Strathblane, the Campsie Fells forming a pleasant backdrop on the left. Soon you'll reach a small rocky hill, Dunglass, on your right. This lump of basalt was quarried in the past - if you look closely you'll see columnar basalt forms, like those of the Giant's Causeway and Fingal's Cave.
Cycle on. by grassy ﬁelds, to Lennoxtown and Milton of Campsie.
Here, a plaque commemorates an early flight by the pioneering Italian balloonist Vincent Lunandi, who landed nearby in 1785 having launched from St Andrew's Square in Glasgow. His departure was watched by an excited crowd, one of whom was inadvertently lifted six metres off the ground before breaking free.
From the village the route swings south, running by the Glazert Water, to Kirkintilloch, where it links with the Forth and Clyde Canal.
Follow the cyclepath as far as you like, safe in the knowledge that the Kirkhouse Inn by the start in Strathhlane will provide a welcoming return.

Map of the Thomas Muir Trail
/ Strathkelvin Railway Path

THOMAS MUIR TRAIL / STRATHKELVIN RAILWAY PATH - ROUTE DESCRIPTION:

Location: East Dunbartonshire
Map: OS Landranger 64 or Explorer 342 and 348
Distance: 12 miles (19km)
Time: 4-5 hours
Grade: Easy low-level walk

It is a short walk from Bishopbriggs station to the start of the Thomas Muir Trail - however it is up a steep
hill - but there are compensations. Firstly, starting the trail proper meant walking downhill; secondly this gives great views of the Campsie Fells; and thirdly, and best of all, the trail starts at a good coffee shop. There is also an equally good coffee shop at the other end of the trail.
Born in 1765, Thomas Muir was a passionate supporter of universal suffrage at a time when only a minority of people had the right to vote. He played a leading role in the Friends of the People reform group and in 1793 was tried for sedition on a trumped-up charge and sentenced to transportation to a penal colony in Australia. He managed to escape and after a tortuous journey ended up in France, where he died aged 34. More
than 200 years later he is remembered as the father of Scottish democracy.
The new trail covers the area where he spent his early years and where his family owned land. It starts near his childhood home at Huntershill
House and passes a number of places with links to Muir and his life. The trail makes an excellent day walk and is largely on a canal path and an old railway line.
The trail is well signposted but the route it takes out of Bishopbriggs is somewhat convoluted and a simpler route is described which gets you more easily to the Forth and Clyde Canal where the better walking starts, with more open views.
The canal is followed to Kirkintilloch, passing Cadder Church, where Muir was an elder of the kirk. In Kirkintiiloch, where Muir helped set up a Reform Society, the trail leaves the canal for the next section to Lennoxtown along the Strathkelvin Railway Path. This is also part of the John Muir Way, so we are here celebrating the lives of two distinguished men with the same surname, though they were unrelated.
Although a century apart and with their passions lit by very different ﬂames I like to think they would have enjoyed walking together here.
As you enter Lennoxtown, to the right is Cort-ma Law, looking much higher than its modest 531 metres.
A little farther on, the two Muirs part company; John goes west to Strathblane while we continue with Thomas to Clachan of Campsie. On the way we enter Schoenstatt, a centre for retreat and pilgrimage run by the Sisters of Mary. Schoenstatt was originally Ballencleroch, owned by John MacFarlan, a friend of Thomas Muir.
A woodland walk winds through Schoenstatt and the trail ends in the attractive village of Clachan of Campsie, with another welcoming coffee shop. From here a path leads into the gorge of Campsie Glen with its waterfalls and crags, but that’s for another day.

Route:
Firstbus service X85 runs from Clachan of Campsie to Kirkintilloch
and there are several services from Kirkintilloch to Bishopbriggs { www.travelinescotland.com }.
Start at Thomas Muir Coffee Shop on Crowhill Road (GR: NS6096B6).
Walk down Crowhill Road, under railway and cross at lights into Kirkintilloch Road.
Cross access road to Triangle Shopping Centre and follow path with railings to cross road by subway.
Walk through park, turn R over burn, up slope, cross into Keir Drive.
Turn L on Balmuildy Road.
At T-junction keep L (still Balmuildy Rd) past Leisuredrome to canal.
TR on canal path past Cadder into Kirkintilloch.
Follow canal through town centre and under bypass
then turn L as signed and follow signs carefully out of Kirkintilloch on to railway path.
Follow path past Milton of Campsie and Lennoxtown.
North of Lennoxtown cross burn twice as signed then go R on trail path to Clachan of Campsie.
Cross road into Schoenstatt, turn R on woodland path, exit Schoenstatt at gates and turn R to Clachan of Campsie.
Note: Much of this route is well used by cyclists who do not always give audible warning of their approach.