We are pleased with the choice we made yesterday to save the next part of the walk for the morning as we discover that the section around Erskine golf club is a fantastic place for birds. As we cross the Black Cart water we spy a duck we have not seen before. It is diving for food, and seems to be solitary although there are a few of them, and it is not a cormorant which we are well used to seeing. We get on the RSPB website and we wonder if it might be a black-throated diver when you look at the winter plumage. Are we confident enough to put this on the blog? No. I am satisfied with naming it the "Black Cart Duck" after where we saw it! We could of course stay here for longer but it is cold so we keep moving! Jennie goes ahead and misses the unexpected site of a seal swimming up the Clyde! I spied it quite clearly with my binoculars. I wonder how far into Glasgow the seal is planning to go. Next we are walking on to Renfrew where the Renfrew-Yoker Ferry offers another crossing point we have decided not to take. You can see how narrow the Clyde is here though and why it makes a decent crossing point. We've another crane in view as we look along the river. We don't initially intend to go into Renfrew but a comfort break is required. For some reason we can't find a cafe anywhere! Eventually we find one which makes a lovely homemade Victoria sponge. The next section is a rather uninspiring trek along main roads via a cycle path passing a rubbish dump en route to the Clyde tunnel, although it improves once we reach the attractive sandstone tenements of Govan, once the shipbuilding capital of the world. We are very grateful to finally reach the tunnel although a bit worried when a local says one of the entrances is closed. I did check this out before we came to make sure there was some form of pedestrian access. It looks open. Right, here goes. Not a very enjoyable subterranean experience to be honest and we are both very glad when it is over. On the plus side as we come up on the other side we are just by Partick Station which marks the end of the Clyde Coastal Path, hurrah! We are now going to follow a section of the Clyde Walkway which will take us into the city centre. We decide not to actually walk on to Partick Station but instead divert to the Riverside Museum and a welcome break for weary legs. Hard as it is to summon up full on museum enthusiasm at this stage of the walk, after a rest we do whizz round some of the exhibits. I am particularly enamoured by the re-creation of an old Glasgow Street. As the sun sinks in the sky we pass by the Glasgow office Jennie used to work from sometimes in her old job. Strange to think it is empty due to the current pandemic restrictions. We are not sure what the exact end point of our walk should be noted as. Perhaps the lovely rooftop view of Glasgow from our accommodation, or perhaps Glasgow Queen Street where we plan to get the train home the next day. Thanks to Storm Arwen damage cancelling all the trains, we end up getting a bus in the morning from Buchanan Street bus station. We notice how brilliant the sculpture of a running clock is outside which we have never noticed before. Always too busy, I suppose!
We have successfully completed 15 days of our walk and next we shall begin our slow assault on the Highlands starting with the Kelvin walkway from the centre of Glasgow to Milngavie and the beginning of the West Highland Way. Watch this space! Matthew
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