One of our popular weekend walks or cycles, taking in a lunch and a couple of drinks, is to head on to the Kelvin Walkway (which runs past our estate). The walkway follows the River Kelvin all the way to Kelvingrove Park, just a little outside of the city centre. Wellies or other waterproof footwear is useful if it has been raining, and particularly after heavy rain, as the path can get flooded in places.
Along the way, you pass the ruins of an old flint mill. There are some nice spots for photography along the way, examples in the photos below…
Inn Deep, a pub/restaurant on the walkway with outdoor and indoor seating plus a cavern (shown below), makes for a good refreshment stop.
Kelvingrove Park is usually our “turn around” point. It’s a lovely big park on the outskirts of the city centre and a great place for photography. There is also a bandstand where concerts are hosted, plenty of picnic tables, a skatepark and play areas for the kids. The pond is a great place to photograph the university tower, especially on a still day when it reflects in the water.
Opposite the park, if you cross the Kelvin Way, you come to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, which is worth visiting (free entry, donations welcome), or go right onto University Avenue and then enter the Glasgow University grounds (which contain the famous Cloisters and the Hunterian Museum).
If you like craft beer, be sure to pop into Brewdog (across the road from the main entrance to the Kelvingrove museum) and try one of their beer flights. Or try one of our favourite places, Bank Street Bar & Kitchen (instead of turning up University Avenue from the Kelvin Way, walk ahead for one block past the University Union). Popular with students, this is where we usually go for a tasty and cheap lunch.
If you visited the University grounds / Hunterian Museum, then from University Avenue, if you cross the road and turn right down University Gardens and past the Queen Margaret Union, after 100 metres or so, there is a lane/steps that head down alongside Brel’s beer garden to the famous Ashton Lane. This small lane has several very popular pubs and restaurants and a few good beer gardens. Normally full of people, the photo below was taken during the lockdown…
From here join Byres Road and head along to the Botanic Gardens, from where you have a couple of options for rejoining the Kelvin Walkway to complete a circuit.
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