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Having enjoyed the Mull of Galloway Way and Ayrshire Coastal Path we continued up the South West coast on the paths created by the Rotary Club with this link between Wemyss Bay and Glasgow.
Wemyss Bay to Greenock
There are a couple options to take - the "low road" hugs the coast while the "high Road" looked a bit more wild taking you over the tops. We opted to do both and make a potentially interesting loop.
Parked up at the Skelmorlie Community Centre and dropped down to the start point near Wemyss Bay railway station before heading along the A78 to Inverkip marina. Followed NCR753 around the coast enjoying views (and bird life) across Lunderston Bay before joining the side of the A770 towards Gourock.
Interesting weaving through the past and present of towns like Gourock - spotting relics and checking what they were - who knew there was a short-lived commercial Hovercraft service back in the 60's, or a Catalina airbase here once upon a time? Stuff like this interests me - which means I am definitely morphing into my Dad!
Along Greenock Esplanade to the container port and then it was a sharp right and up the steep back streets climbing up to Overton and entrance to the "cuts". A very different ride up here. First past several reservoirs before picking up the Kelly cut which would take us on a 10km traverse around these hills.
Eventually we picked up the Kelly Burn and time to descend back down into Wemyss Bay with some interesting dark slippy singletrack along the way.
Greenock to Bishopton
We parked up in Bishopton and headed over to Greenock staying high using the Old Greenock Road and picking up NCR75 dropping us into the port.
Once more back on the Coastal Path as we weaved our way through the industrial past (and some present) of this once great maritime town. I am embarrassed to say I had never seen the Skelpies before - impressive.
After passing the weak-hulled Glen Rosa, we continued along the Clyde discovering more unknown (to us) history - the timber ponds, before leaving Inverclyde and picking up the old A8 trunk road back to the van.
Bishopton to Milngavie
Parked in Bishopton again then headed out through the grounds of Mar Hall and under, then over, the Erskine Bridge.
From here you seem to lose the "Coastal" element of the Coastal Path as we headed East through Old Kilpatrick, Duntocher and out the arse end of Fairfley with a climb onto the Kilpatrick Hills via the Douglasmuir Quarry.
From here it's a downhill wiggle to the official end at Milngavie.
Rather than reverse the route back to the van, we now followed the Kelvin Walkway until we reached the Forth and Clyde Canal at Maryhill Locks and followed that nice level pedal back to the Erskine Bridge and a deserved ice cream at Bishopton.
Another enjoyable pathway and some interesting "ATB-ing".
Love this, am enjoying 'coastal' ways more and more just for the coastal sights and sounds (and smells!).
I was wondering how you could carry on up the other bank towards Helensburgh etc. I've often spotted interesting looking bits and pieces of trail out of the train window...
@13thfloormonk - certainly sounds an interesting proposition and a bit of map gazing required. We were hoping to head along the NCR 7 through Dumbarton to Balloch sometime as we enjoyed the section of Three Lochs Way (and John Muir Way) between Balloch and Helensburgh but that is veering away from the coast, unfortunately.
Enjoy following your adventures.
Nice write up again. I intend to do Dumbarton, possibly Helensburgh, to Glasgow on a nice day this year.
We were hoping to head along the NCR 7 through Dumbarton to Balloch
We did this a couple of years ago. Nice enough, mostly following the Leven. Quite short though, out and back could be done easily in two hours, plenty of parking in Balloch, we started at Loch Lomond. Not really any brilliant scenery, the most interesting part was the riverside in Dumbarton, with multiple sunken abandoned boats, then up through the scrapyards to look over Dumbarton Rock. It was mostly surfaced, apart from a couple of sections through fields which were a bit muddy.
Thanks @alanl - we did manage to potter up from the Erskine Bridge to Loch Lomond (and back) last weekend and, actually, thoroughly enjoyed it. Weaving off the NCR7 along tracks and lanes cutting through the whisky bonds and distillers and old ports was interesting.
Awesome, would love to see your route if possible to share?
Once more back on the Coastal Path as we weaved our way through the industrial past (and some present) of this once great maritime town. I am embarrassed to say I had never seen the Skelpies before - impressive.
Nice story, lovely pictures and am delighted you enjoyed yourself over there. However (pedant alert!) the "Skelpies" you mention are actually in Port Glasgow, not Greenock. I know the two towns run into each other and to someone passing through there's barely a difference, but I was born and brought up there and still have a soft spot for "the dirty wee Port" (as folk from Greenock call it), although to be fair I haven't lived there in nearly 40 years.
If you are back over that way again, the old Greenock to Largs road (not the modern coast road) is lovely to cycle, and taking the ferry from Gourock over to Dunoon gives you tons of great riding on quiet roads.