Circumnavigating Greater Glasgow’s Green Belts
Over the next few months I will be raising money for APRS by walking around the linked greenbelts in 10 local authority areas around Glasgow. I’ll be doing it in sections and my first section will start out from Helensburgh at the North West extent of the Greenbelts surrounding the city of Glasgow and make my way back to my home at the western edge of East Dunbartonshire’s greenbelt.
Part of the adventure will be mapping a route, using paths and potential paths from the Rambler’s Scotland Paths Map Project. Our Greenbelts are amazing places for wildlife, landscapes and for recreation and I will document each section of the walk as a blog. The first stretch will be around 40km and the total journey will be around 200km and will see me pass Dumbarton, Milngavie, Kirkintilloch, Cumbernauld, Airdrie, Motherwell, Hamilton, East Kilbride, Newton Mearns, Kilbarchan, Bridge of weir, and Erskine.
I am raising money for APRS – Scotland’s Countryside Charity, who I started working for in December. It’s a brilliant charity so please give generously.
Anyone who gives £40 or more will get a membership of APRS as a Thank-you!
I hope to highlight how special green belts are for the people who live in the central belt and find some brilliant paths and places to visit on the way. I am one of these people who is always heading off to the highlands for my walks, but who discovered some real gems on my doorstep in northwest Glasgow during lockdown, now I am going to explore all around the greenbelt of greater Glasgow and see what I can find.
Please see the itinerary below, and if you want to join me for a leg of the walk you can sign up (please make a donation!) These legs are approximate and may change as I plan the route and discover the challenges…. email kat@aprs.scot to join
The walk so far….
Blogs from the walk are below – to join one of the walks please scroll down.
Circumnavigating greater Glasgow and surrounding towns to raise money for APRS. This adventure takes Kat from Castlecary to Kilsyth via woodlands, motorway, canal and castle.
The sheer scale of the task at hand in circumnavigating the whole Greater Glasgow Greenbelt is starting to sink in, and the sheer lack of time I have at weekends and in days off to do this walk.
Kat discovers that the map doesn’t always reflect what is on the ground and gets bogged down in a birch woodland between Cumbernauld and Airdrie.
The fourth part of our Director Kat’s fundraising walk around the Green Belt of Greater Glasgow. This time from near Greengairs to Calderbank in North Lanarkshire.
The fifth part of our Director Kat’s fundraising walk around the Green Belts of Greater Glasgow. This one from Airdrie to Carfin with plenty of chat about energy infrastructure, and a secret doorway.
Our Director Kat is spending her weekends and days off on a fundraising walk around the Green Belt of Greater Glasgow. This section takes her from Cleland to Greenhead Moss in North Lanarkshire.
The latest episode of Kat’s fundraising walk around the Green Belt of Greater Glasgow. This section takes her from Greenhead Moss Community Nature Park on the outskirts of Wishaw down Garrion Gill, an SSSI and an impassable jungle.