The Final

Around the corner from Gare Loch is Helensburgh, with more reminders of re-entry into urban life. Irritating pedestrian crossings, Waitrose, crematoria instead of coastal cemeteries.  But also cafés.  I now had a simple plan, to cycle up the Clyde to Glasgow, about 30 miles. 
Interrupted by a quest to book a train ticket home.  Slight problem: no trains from Glasgow to London tomorrow.  I was at a small station, only one chap at the ticket office, as he struggled against the system for about 45 minutes to book me via Edinburgh, with bike, £37.60, not bad. And excellent service - thank you Scotrail.
On to Dumbarton, another big town with a nice Wetherspoons, and a maritime museum, but I only had time for one of them.  Some serious rain after that. The rest of the way to Glasgow was on a cycle track: initially along a canal, then a disused railway line , then a bit of industrial wasteland - all easy cycling but rather shut off from the surroundings.  There was a rash of two-storey sheds at one point - no bigger than a garden shed but twice as high. I saw perhaps a dozen of them, but couldn't work what they were for. The last three miles saw regenerated Clydeside with a nice cycle track along the river.

Arriving at Glasgow the official end point, I visited the facilities in the big Wetherspoons. You don't need to know that, but it was packed for the Cup Final. Ten minutes to go and Celtic 1, Aberdeen 1. Plenty of people wearing Celtic shirts.  Two minutes into extra time, Celtic score the winning goal and the place erupts. It was a memorable moment.

The unofficial end point was six miles further. Tim and Chris have kindly moved from Aberdeen, where I visited them five years ago, to Renfrew, near Glasgow.

I will try and sum up my thoughts on the whole trip in the next day or two, bit if you have read this far in the blog, thankyou for your company on my meanders!