The second part of our whistlestop tour of Scotland was Glasgow, but we had to get there first.

The thing that inspired this whole trip was the reopening of the Forth&Clyde canal and the Union Canal, which join near Falkirk. I said it would be interesting; my housemate said we were going, tickets booked, bikes bought, off we went. The full distance is 69 miles; we did just under half that. I wasn’t exactly fit enough!

Early start at the Youth Hostel. For those who haven’t stayed in one before, they’re a great, cheap way of spending a night, provided you’re undemanding! Pretty popular with schools and clubs. Men and Women sleep separately in most hostels, though some will reserve a whole room for a family. Dorms normally sleep five or six – Edinburgh and Glasgow were en-suite, Mull was not – with bunkbeds and lockers. You’re sleeping in a room with strangers, which tends to result in everyone being somewhat over-polite. I was in bed by 10 most nights, just to make sure I didn’t keep anyone up! If you’re up before 8 you find yourself sneaking around in the dark, desperately hoping nothing’s rolled under a bed because you’ll never see it again. Breakfast is available on request, usually quite cheap, and most hostels have a couple of lounges and a kitchen to cook your own food in (making them even better for the thrifty traveller). I never saw the communal areas in Edinburgh, but we cooked and ate at Glasgow and listening to Just a Minute in the TV lounge.

Anyway, at Edinburgh we were up by about 7:30 (another side effect of sleeping in a roomful of  strangers) so set off bright and early to tackle the canal. We took a train to Falkirk High, and scooted off from there. The Falkirk Wheel, feat of engineering, wasn’t in use when we passed. In the course of the whole day I think we only saw three or four narrow boats in use, and only a handful of other people in general.

For the first half of the journey the weather was nice, and the views pretty. We were next to the trainline most of the time (two things that like flat routes: trains and boats!) but pretty clear of the roads. The lowlands of Scotland are very pretty. As we approached lunch the weather got a bit more western: wet and windy. Drizzley, at first, and a breeze in the face.

After lunch (which was very nice) the weather got far worse. Proper rain, unfriendly to four-eyes like me, and a strong wind in the fact the whole time. We were averaging about 6 miles an hour. I may be unfit, but on a well-maintained flat surface even I can normally cruise at a comfortable 10 mph. Glasgow city council decided to compound this by paving the towpath with sticky mud and fine gravel, a combination popular with no user that I can imagine.

We reached Glasgow at about 4:30, and promptly got lost! We followed a split in the canal, when we wanted a join with a river. Glasgow itself was alright for cycling around, though not a particularly bike friendly city (nor wa Edinburgh, but you have to be a certain kind of masochist to choose to cycle there in the first place). The youth hostel was right at the top of a hill, by which point I’d pretty much gone on strike, and was pushing my bike even on the easy bits.

It’s a shame we got there so late, because I’d really wanted to see the Hunterian (most especially their Zoology branch, which has many interesting things in it), which was practically visible from where we were staying. The view across Glasgow was amazing, especially at dusk.

The glasgow youth hostel was a pair of massive Georgian buildings, with a chandelier in the lounge and wood panelling. Oh, and no lift, which my knees did not appreciate!

We saw very little of Glasgow, but it made a better impression on me than Edinburgh. Not because it’s necessarily a nicer city, but because no one had attempted to persuade me so. It’s an industrial city and unabashedly so, and I have to admit a Blade Runner-esque love of big, hulking, industiral cities. The centre appears to have been regenerated, which means it looks like Rotherham and Sheffield and Hull and Newcastle and every Regenerated city in the North of England (you may have already gathered, but I’m not a fan!), but not, alas, like a Time Lord.

So, Glasgow. I barely saw thee.