Think global, ride local -A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood – Part 3

Words by Sanny. Images by Julia Gould and Sanny.

“How long has it been now?” I wonder to myself as I look at another day of home-schooling tasks that lay ahead for my daughter Julia and I. Umpteen weeks! That’s how long we have been navigating our way through See Saw, an online learning app that seems to consist entirely of revision tasks and no actual teaching. Umpteen. It sounds like a lot but it is still in the teens as James Acaster so eloquently puts it. The sun was out, it was warm and I have to admit that I cracked. “Come on, we’re going on a bike ride. Let’s bring the camera and learn about how to use it. School is done for the day.” To her credit, she still quickly did her school work but the dye was cast. We were going on a mini adventure around the not so mean streets of Glasgow.

Our first port of call was a not so dim and shady side street just off of Clydeside. The street art there is little short of phenomenal. Rounding a corner, we were faced to face with undoubtedly THE coolest character in the entire Star Wars universe, Boba Fett. Some 30 feet high, the mural had us both somewhat slack jawed. Forget tags and pre-school excuses for graffiti, this to my mind is as much an example of fine art as anything you will find in a museum. Riding along the street, there are many great examples of what can be done with spray cans including one particularly striking masked face.

While Julia got to grips with the camera with me as model, I soaked up the scene. I loved art at school and wasn’t half bad at it but it never fails to impress me when street artists work on such a massive scale and produce such visually stunning images. Sorry, this is in serious danger of turning into a treatise on street art worthy of Pretentious Art Influencer Monthly so I’ll refrain from any mention of how the artist managed to capture the surrealism of the underlying metaphor within the confines of the metaphysical didacticism……..or some equally baffling phrase that I don’t understand but will nod affirmatively and pretend that I do! Just know that I really liked it and that is good enough.

Getting back on our bikes, we ambled our way down the shared use path that lines the banks of the River Clyde and made our way over to the Science Centre. Home to two brilliant examples of how more buildings really should be clad in sheet titanium, we found a series of waved grass humps that made for a perfect pump track. Clearly, we were not the first folk to do this as a narrow line of hard packed singletrack stretched the length of it. Taking turns to pump all the way to the end, it felt like all good rides should. We were playing on our bikes and having fun which is surely what all biking really boils down to?

Eventually, hunger came a knocking and we turned the corner to sit in the sunshine and eat an impromptu picnic. A child of the eighties, I brought that old school classic of Primula Cheese and Ham spread in a tube. Served on oatcakes and accompanied by an apple, it was the poor man’s ploughmans but none the worse for it. All that we really needed was a Vienetta, Birds Ice Magic and a glass of Creamola Foam for the ultimate throwback repast.

I can’t even begin to recall when I last had Primula but it must have been a while as it was when they still used foil tubes. As Julia snapped some more pics, I soaked up the rays in quiet contentment. However, the shine was taken off the moment retrospectively when I subsequently read that Primula had recalled all their products after finding Clostridium Botulinum in their production process. Oh well, the world did not fall out of my bottom so I think we were ok.

Built on the site of the old Glasgow Garden Festival, I fascinated / bored to tears (delete as appropriate) my daughter with tales of what was a watershed moment in Glasgow’s reinvention as a city of culture. Riding through Festival Park, I was able to show her what remained of what had been a brilliantly conceived and realised event. The brainchild of Michael Hesseltine, they were a way of reclaiming vast tracts of derelict land in five towns or cities throughout the UK. I must have gone well over 30 times with my folks as a young kid back in 1988 and loved every minute of it. Who knows, perhaps with the economy’s precipitous positioning, someone in power might take a leaf out of the old play book and kick start a new series of regenerative economic events? One can but hope.

“Fancy some proper mountain bike trails to try?” I asked, more in hope than expectation but to my delight Julia was well up for the challenge. Making our way over the unusually quiet M8 motorway, we soon found ourselves in Pollok Park, a real gem of green space in a city rightly famed for its many parks and green spaces. A number of years ago, the cycle team in the Council realised that there was scope to build some mountain bike trails in the forest and promptly did. Although fairly small in scale, they are a perfect place for kids and families to experience proper mountain biking in dense, mature woodland slap bang in the middle of a populous urban area.

Unlike the trails at Glentress, they feel less constructed and more natural. In the winter, they get muddy while in the summer, they bake solid and make for a great place to simply play on your bike. It was heartening to see all manner of girls and boys, young and old, riding the trails on everything from £99 Halfords specials to some seriously flash machines. For me, it was definite proud dad moment time as Julia repeatedly powered up some of the short but steep climbs that pepper the trail with a big smile on her face. After a couple of grin inducing laps, we decided to head back home although not without another visit to the whoop de doos at the Science Centre.

As an antidote to home schooling, it had been the perfect day out. We learned a bit about photography, we rode bikes, we had a picnic and perhaps most importantly of all had a lot of fun. Mission accomplished I would say.

This article was brought to you in association with Ortlieb.

Julia and Sanny were using:

• Ultimate Six handlebar bag and camera insert
• Atrack 25 Litre backpack
• Saddle Bag 2 1.6 Litre

Guaranteed waterproof and incredibly durable, ORTLIEB bike bags, backpacks and travel bags have long enjoyed an excellent reputation among bike and outdoor enthusiasts. Our bike bags make for the perfect companion when you’re out biking, bikepacking or touring! Hikers, climbers, canoeists and many other adventurers rely on the quality of our outstanding gear. You’ll encounter waterproof ORTLIEB backpacks throughout the world, accompanying their owners on hikes in the Catskills, expeditions in the Himalayas and bike tours in the Australian Outback.

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