North Queensferry

 20 March 2026

A slightly misty day which provided a sense of atmosphere. I had visited South Queensferry on a number of occasions but never its northern equivalent. I took the train from Croy to North Queensferry changing at Haymarket and walked down the hill to the harbour area after first looking at the station which has a village information point. There were lots of information boards in the village, best example that I have seen of a town providing information for its visitors. Other towns should take note! An example.....

The main focus was of course the rail bridge, opened in 1890. The bridge and surrounds are now a world heritage site........

Next stop was the Town Pier which also provided views of the other two bridges, the Road Bridge and the Queensferry Crossing. I can vaguely remember, as a very young child, the ferry which was the only way to cross the Forth here.......

The pier area was really interesting and well worth a visit. It contains the world's smallest working light tower- the Harbour lighthouse- built in 1817, 23 ' in height. It is open to the public- 24 steps to the top- so of course I went up. The last photo in this section is looking out through the light window.....

Adjacent to the tower is Scotland's smallest museum, full of information about the bridge, the pier and the tower......

A general view of the village from near the car park under the bridge.....

There are a couple of interesting Wells roadside between the harbour and the station. Firstly the Waterloo Well which supplied the village's drinking water until 1883 and, higher up, the Jubilee Well.....

A drone shot of the 3 bridges (from South Queensferry).....

A really interesting day out.

Callander and the Bracklinn Falls

 19 March 2026.

Spring has arrived! I had passed through Callander many times but rarely stopped; it is a tourist mecca in the summer but today it was fine. I first went to the Bracklinn Falls a short distance out of town.....

The Falls are part of the River Keltie and there is a good signed track to them.....

The original bridge over the river was built in the 1870's. It was washed away in 2004 and it's replacement suffered a similar fate. The current bridge was opened in 2023. The gorge is dramatic and the best view of it and the falls is probably from the south amongst the rocks, there is a path of sorts.....

I then drove back into Callander and parked in the large car park beside the river Teith. It is a really pleasant spot, although it gets very busy in summer. Ben Ledi dominates the town and this is probably the best viewpoint for it......

The Red Bridge is at the south end of this area and carries the road that goes to Aberfoyle. It dates from 1908.....

There is an interesting artificial mound before reaching the bridge; this is Tom na Chisaig or Kessog's Hill, named after an Irish saint and built in the 12th century.....

Behind it is the old kirkyard overlooked by an octagonal watch tower built so that the graves could be guarded from body snatchers. Unless you climbed Kessog's Hill you wouldn't know that these features were there.....

From the "summit" of the mound there is a view over the town to Callander Crags, a Tump with a waymarked path to the monument on top, a very fine viewpoint which I climbed a few years ago.....

Clyde Bridges Heritage Trail

 13 February 2026

A day of brilliant blue sky and, out of the shade, a bitingly cold wind. Just right for doing a city walk! I took the subway to Govan and walked across the Govan to Partick footbridge (opened in 2024) and crossed the Riverside Museum car park to the start of the Trail which was hard standing throughout. The Govan Partick bridge and the Museum.....

I started on the north side of the river but crossed to the south side at various points to get the best of the views. The first bridge upstream was the Millennium bridge (2002) built by the Glasgow Science Centre to provide easier access to the Centre and the Glasgow Tower, at 127m high the tallest building in the city. The viewing area at the top of the Tower was supposed to rotate but never really worked and the Tower has remained closed for some time. The Millenium bridge with the tower of Glasgow Uni background......

The Science Centre and Tower.....

Another pedestrian/ cyclists bridge, Bell's bridge (1988) is situated east of the Science Centre and was built to link the conference centre area on the north bank with the Glasgow Garden Festival........

Walking along the south bank now past the media village, there were good views across the river to the conference area- the Armadillo, the OVD Hydro and the Crown Plaza hotel......

Also to the Finnieston Crane, now derelict but retained as a symbol of the city's industrial heritage.......

Continuing up river, the Clyde Arc, or the Squinty bridge as it is better known as, was next. It was built as a multi- purpose crossing in 2006......

There is a great view from this bridge, west to the Finnieston crane and the Armadillo and Hydro and east to the Kingston bridge, the next one to be visited.....

The Kingston bridge (1970) is the main bridge for motorway traffic heading north/south. It is one of the busiest motorway bridges in the country.....

Upstream again, the Tradeston bridge (2009) referred to as the Squiggly bridge is a pedestrian bridge linking Tradeston with the financial district on the south bank.....

A short distance further on I recrossed the river by the multi purpose George V bridge (1928) which ran alongside the Caledonian railway bridge, the main exit from Central station......

By this time I was getting tired so decided that I would do the rest of the walk on another day. So I headed to a coffee shop and then to St Enoch subway station to get me back to the starting point at Queen Street station. A really interesting day!