There are many delightful walks within Mugdock Country Park, and almost as many which take you out of the park in all directions, allowing for an extended walk.  This  route makes for the South Lodge car-park and exit before taking in the Milngavie Reservoirs, Drumclog Muir, part of the West Highland Way and the Boards walk. It avoids the dangers of the Khyber Pass and, at just over seven miles, is mainly on very firm paths.

Park at the car-park at the Visitors’ Centre in Mugdock Country Park. To get there:

Take your favourite route to Milngavie. This is generally either:

• Great Western Road or the Clyde tunnel to Anniesland and then the A739 (the Switchback) through Temple and on to Canniesburn Toll; or
• Queen Margaret Drive to Maryhill Road, then Canniesburn Toll.

At Canniesburn Toll take the A81 to Milngavie. If you come from Maryhill Road you don’t actually reach the roundabout but take a slip-road to the right; if you come from the Switchback, go right the way round (second exit) ignoring the first road to Bearsden. The A81 takes you through the east end of Milngavie (past what was the East Dunbartonshire Council Buildings and is now a hotel); round the roundabout at Homebase, etc (sign-posted to Strathblane) and past the waterworks. On a straight stretch, with Dumgoyne looming ahead, a brown Tourist Board signpost points to a road on the left to Mugdock Country Park. At the T junction turn right and keep going past the first car park and on to a more imposing entrance with a well-laid out car park, sign posts and buildings etc.

The Walk

Your walk begins from the Visitors’ Centre where you take the eastern (or left) side of Gallows Hill, past the Play Area on your right on a broad LRT sign-posted to Craigend Castle. This curves round and continues to and round the end of Mugdock Loch and down towards South Lodge car-park. At a T junction  turn left, as signposted and come down to a second T junction just before the actual car park which you don’t enter. Instead a slight dog-leg right and left leads to a short but lovely off-road path along and across a little nameless burn which runs down from Mugdoch Loch to the Allander water.

This path emerges on Ellangowan Road where there is now a pavement. Take this to the gates of Mugdock Reservoir, where you cross the road to enter on your left and then turn immediately right to continue beside the water to where a gap allows access to Drumclog car-park.

A very firm path exits the rear of the car-park by an excellent Information Board and map. The broad path continues to a broken sign-post where you turn left. (The indicators are missing but the path to the left is well-made and obvious whereas the path straight on is narrow and muddy. ) Turn left here and, with splendid views across Glasgow, go downhill to the West Highland Way where there is a blue bench and a sign-post pointing in all directions!

Turn right and follow a broad LRT with a packed surface along the lovely Allander. There is also a narrower path which is worth following occasionally since not only is it nearer to the river but is also free from cyclists. This comes out at Craigallian Bridge where you dogleg slightly left then right to continue the track towards Craigallian Loch. At the far end of Carbeth Loch we turn right, around the loch, and then take the track which leads up to the Boards Walk. This is the only steep bit on the walk.

At the T-Junction,  turn right which brings you, eventually, on to the Khyber Pass. Turn right and either take the short-cut on the left-hand side of the road or walk a short distance along the road and turn left into the Khyber car-park. Turn immediately left, opposite the car-park, and make  your way back to Craigend Castle and back to the Visitors’ Centre.

This is a cultural/historical gander as you wend your way from the 2^nd century (the Antonine Wall) to the 21^st (café, toilets, play-park) via two battles of Falkirk (one under William Wallace on 22^nd July 1298 and one under Bonnie Prince Charlie on 17^th January 1746). And there’s a 19^th century chateau built in French Renaissance style complete with family mausoleum and a 19^th century coal-owner’s estate. You begin with the Antonine Wall and eventually make for the Union Canal via a circuitous route through Callendar Woods. A detour takes you up into the Bantaskine Estate and the monument to the Battle of Falkirk Muir before you return via Falkirk High station. In addition to the picturesque woods, canal, and attractive views of the Ochils and the House, the walk clocks up more miles on the John Muir Way. You’ll recognise the logo on signposts and lamp posts but don’t try to make sense of this route since it divides for walkers and cyclists and we do a bit of both.

It might help to think of the geographical area in five distinct parts. You begin with the Antonine Wall to the north, under the care of Historic Scotland. The next section including the House, lake, café, play-park etc. has been restored and preserved by Falkirk Council. The third section, Callendar Woods, is part of Forest Enterprise while the Union Canal is maintained by the Forth and Clyde Canal Society. The final section, with its network of paths, is again provided by Falkirk Council although the Woodland Trust has contributed some link paths. All combined you are provided with a circuitous route of 9.5 easy miles. Most of the paths are very firm: one through the woods was muddy in places. There are two tunnels, one long and friendly and the other short and scary! In addition to a myriad mapped paths the locals, usually a boon and a blessing, have trodden down endless short-cuts so it might be wise to keep an eye on where you are!

There are at least two good cop-outs and many smaller escapes . The first is to turn left where you otherwise exit Callendar Woods and make straight for Callendar House. The second is to return via Falkirk High when instead of continuing to the Bantaskine Estate and the Battle of Falkirk Muir Monument. There is plenty to do besides walk. In addition to viewing the House itself (free to visitors), there is a museum with illustrations of and artefacts from the Antonine Wall. There’s a snack bar in the grounds and a café in the House, and two sets of toilets, again with one in the House. And you could even have a go on the chutes in the Play-Park!

Park in the main car-park next to Seaton Place at Callendar House. The postal code FK1 1YR works well with the satnav.

This is an easy and fast 26 miles from the church to Callendar House and should take under 45 minutes. (MY SATNAV took me this fast, but longer route, but you could come off on the A803 from the A80 or the A883 from the M876. If you know the way to Junction 6 on the M9 start reading from ‘Junction 6’ below!)

Take the M8 from Glasgow towards Edinburgh and then the M80/A80 off to the left, sign-posted Stirling/Kincardine Bridge etc. Follow what is now a motorway towards Stirling/Kincardine Bridge/Perth for about 20 miles. Just past the road to Denny you’ll see the first signpost for the M876 to Kincardine Bridge/Falkirk/Grangemouth. Keep in the inside lane and you’ll automatically go off on the M876 (while the middle and outer lanes go on to Stirling and Perth). Stay on the M876 for about 6 miles, and when it automatically joins the M9 get into the middle lane. (The inside lane goes off to the two Kincardine Bridges leaving you in the inside lane of the M9 going towards Falkirk and Grangemouth.)

IGNORE the A883 and continue to Junction 6, (with ‘The Kelpies’ on the right-hand side) to take the A905 signposted ‘Callendar House and the Mariners’ Centre’. Get into the right-hand lane of the slip road ready to turn right at the T junction and traffic lights.

Turn right into the middle lane (the dedicated inside lane goes off to Grangemouth) and continue to the large roundabout. Keep in the middle lane to take the third exit (A904) signposted Falkirk/Callendar House etc. Pass the entrance to ‘The Kelpies and the Helix’ on your right and at the next roundabout (Westfield) go straight over ignoring the sign to Callendar House on the left.

At the next junction (with traffic lights and a dedicated left hand lane) turn left on the B8080 Bellsmeadow Road. Go straight over the next roundabout into Estate Avenue and straight on into Callendar House Park. (There are blocks of high rise flats to the left and a car-park to the right.) Park in the car-park beyond the barrier on your right.

The walk

Begin by walking from the car-park down Estate Road, past a golf course on your right and the Club House, Snack Bar and Play Park on the left. Continue on towards the house and you’ll come to a signpost on the left, pointing left, to the ‘Antonine Wall’ with its the earthen ramparts and vallum.

Turn right to walk along the wall but you can see it coming in on the left from the car park where you left the cars and it’s worth pausing to admire it. At the end turn right again (notice the Roman Temple on your left) and come down to a simply stunning view of Callendar House. There’s a John Muir Way (JMW) logo here. Turn left here (yellow and blue posts) to walk firstly along the good path by the lake but soon go down to the path at the water’s edge which is more attractive. At the end of the lake turn right with the path but at the T junction of paths go left up on to the main path again. (There are two signposts here: Forest Enterprise ‘Callendar Woods’ and ‘Callendar Woods Path Network’ Scottish Rights of way Society). On the main path, by the signposts, go right and then take the main path to the right to go past the Mausoleum which is on your left. After the mausoleum you want to be on the path to the south on the left-hand side of the path you’re on. There are two short-cuts. The path above the blue footprint and beside the ‘M’ of mausoleum on the OS map is overgrown but the next path on the left is much easier! This takes you to the junction at the ‘W’ of Wood. Turn left here and then first right. This good path peters out a bit through attractive woods and is fairly muddy in patches. You can skip it if the weather is very poor.

At the end of this path turn left, climb a little to gain good views of the Ochils and the Forth, and at a junction turn right on a clear path. This crosses a drive not marked on the map (a local entrance from Hallglen), but your path continues with a dog-leg to the right and then left. It continues winding through the woods to the main, sign-posted path, down to Woodend Farm. You now join up with the JMW again.

The track by-passes Woodend Farm (on the right) and curves round to go down to a country road. Turn right here and then left on a very pretty path sign-posted to the Union Canal with a JMW logo. There’s a really scary little tunnel under the railway here after which you immediately emerge on the Union Canal.

Turn right and follow the canal bank to the Callendar Tunnel built to hide the barges on the canal from the Forbes family in the House. The tunnel, if you haven’t done it before, is long but well lit and with a broad path beside the canal which is separated by a railing. You would have to try really hard to fall in! You can see the end of the tunnel from the start. It’s good fun!

At the end of the tunnel is a signpost to Falkirk High railway station and a short cut to the car park. The main walk continues along the side of the canal to a bridge signposted to Bantaskine Estate and the Seagull Trust. Cross the bridge and enter the Bantaskine Estate. The Estate was once the home of the famous coal master John Wilson, one of Falkirk’s best known and most influential Victorians.

The path either continues along the opposite side of the canal or climbs a little up past an allotment making for Lionthorne car park. At the end of the allotment is a clear path running along the edge signposted ‘The Battle of Falkirk Muir Monument’. Follow this and at the burn turn left to come to the Monument itself.

Retrace your steps but this time go straight on instead of turning right to the allotment and the way you came up. On the way down towards the canal, at a fork, take the left-hand path and emerge on the canal bank. Continue towards Glasgow but at the first bridge and road, go down to the road, turn right underneath the canal and right again to come up the other side, this time returning to the Edinburgh direction. Go back along the canal bank to the exit to Falkirk High Station.

 Exit to Falkirk High Station and back to Callendar House

There is a signpost on the canal bank pointing to Falkirk High Station just after (or just before) the Callendar Tunnel. If you’re taking the short-cut it will be on your right; if you’re coming back from the full walk it will be on your left. Follow the short path across some shrubby ground and you’re soon at the station. Don’t turn right to go up immediately on to the platform but turn left to go through the tunnel underneath the railway. You emerge by the car park on your left. On the right is a set of steps, or a ramp, going up to the station forecourt. There are JMW logos on the railing showing the way. In the forecourt, with the station on your right, go to the far end where there’s a roundabout with a pillar in the middle. Turn left here (JMW sign) and then immediately right along a ‘No Through Road’ between some bungalows. The JMW sign is on a lamp post on the right. At the end of the road, at a set of traffic lights, turn left and then right into Kemper Avenue. Where the road swings to the left, ;eave it on a path (signposted) into Callendar House estate. Turn left over a pretty bridge and you come up to the Snack bar. Turn left for the cars (note the monument to the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 and right for the toilets, Callendar House etc.

This is an interesting circular walk around Inverkip, which takes in the daff and Kip Glens and makes use of a local path to the Scout Hut at Everton which you should approach on foot only. For this reason the walk described here starts at Inverkip Station which, obviously, you can reach by train or car. There are cafe’s and a hotel nearby.

To get there

To get to Inverkip from Glasgow take the tunnel/Kingston Bridge across the Clyde on to the M8 towards Greenock and stay with the motorway. Go straight on at the Langbank roundabout. 2.5 miles from Port Glasgow, a roundabout takes you easily on to the A8, a dual carriageway. At the super-Tesco roundabout, follow the signs to Greenock, getting into the middle lane at the next roundabout still sign-posted Greenock. The simplest way to avoid Greenock town centre is to follow the route you know!

At Inverkip, from the A78 just before the marina, turn off left as signposted to go into the village and park.

Your walk

From the car go to the bridge over the River Daff and take the sign-posted path on the left-hand side of the river up the Daff Glen. At the top, on the road, turn right, and go up to Langhouse. At Langhouse take the path on the left which continues beside the Daff Burn. At ‘The Bell House’ (understandably marked ‘private access’) continue along the track on the right. Continue to the end of the track where you can actually see the Scout hall on the right. Through the gate on the right, there’s a faint path making for the Scout hall which, about 50 yards from a wall, turns suddenly left and comes down to a burn. There’s a path up to a good bridge along the burn and here the  fun begins. Don’t cross the bridge, but step over to the fence on the right which has barbed wire across it. Between the third and fourth posts the barbed wire is tied with yellow string. This can be unknotted, the barbed wire dropped and you can step over the fence. The yellow string and barbed wire should then be replaced. Take the path which leads up the side of the Scout camp.

At the cross-road of paths in the centre of the campsite, with your back to the sea and facing Leapmoor Forest, take the right-hand path (not the apparently obvious concrete path going straight up) but across some rough ground making for what looks like a bridge but is a hefty stile (with a entrance for dogs!). Immediately over is a good, rocky, if muddy and steepish path beside a burn which soon levels out as you reach a LRT at Leapmoor Forest. After taking in the (hopefully) fine views across the Firth, turn left and begin the long slow descent which eventually comes out at the shore. First though, you follow the forest track down past the waterworks and then round Langhill Farm (you’re directed away from the farm itself) and out on to a country road with a sign-post pointing back the way we’ve come. (The country road actually runs from Inverkip to Cornalees if you’re following this on a map.)

Turn left here and then almost immediately right along a tracked marked ‘Private access’. Cross the railway bridge and continue along in the same direction with the railway line on the right out of sight beside you. At a huge railway viaduct slither down (there are steps but I wouldn’t trust them) on to the path below. Turn left along a broad and well-beaten path with the Kip river way below you. At a fork, keep right, following the river. The next bit needs care but emerges at a good bridge across the Kip. Cross the bridge to the little hamlet with the stables, and, just before the A78, turn right as signposted to the Ardgowan Coastal Path. Then go sharp left through the underpass. The Underpass is hidden at this point, it’s just behind a pile of sand about 50 yards on the left from the gate with the horse-shoe handle.

Once under the road, turn left as directed, hidden from the road but going in the same direction. The leads gently out on to Cloch Road, which you cross using the traffic islands provided and go straight into the Ardgowan Estate. Here, take the path down to the right, then right again along a smaller path in about 500 yards, on the first good path and follow this down to North Lodge.

At North Lodge you can now go straight down to the shore where you turn left and keep walking parallel with the shore. There are glorious views on all sides. At the ever-expanding Inverkip Marina, where there is a rope tied to a tree and a notice saying that this is a ‘Family Beach’, you must turn left, inland: the good path goes on to the marina itself.

The path now becomes a muddy lane where the contractors have been working, but you’re soon on a pedestrianized path which leads to a bridge across the River Kip: look for the Daff coming in at the confluence. Go straight over, straight on to the foot bridge, and down into old Inverkip village and your car or the station.

This is a lovely, and gentle, circuit of The Stank Glen below Ben Ledi. The steady but gentle climb up the track from the car park at Kilmahog soon gives you unexpectedly lovely views of Loch Vennachar to the south and then Loch Lubnaig to the north. You continue along a much-changed path below Ben Ledi to Stank Glen. Despite it’s off-putting name, Stank Glen, an alternative route down from Ben Ledi, has stupendous views both up to the rugged top of the mountain and down to the magnificent depths of Loch Lubnaig. There is a real mountain feel to this part. The path continues up over a mountain which can be full-flowing in winter but is which was just about navigable. The way back is a muscle-achingly long flat trek  along the Strathyre to Callander railway path!

Park at the Forestry commission car-park on the A821 just before it joins the A84 at Kilmahog near Callander.

To get there, go to the roundabout on the A81 at Aberfoyle near the Rob Roy Motel. (To get there take either the A82 (Great Western Road) to Anniesland and then the A739 (the Bearsden/Switch Road); or the A81 (Maryhill Road) both of which take you to Canniesburn Toll. Here, take the A81 through Milngavie, Blanefield, Strathblane, Dumgoyne, etc. to the Rob Roy Motel and the mini-roundabout) At the mini-roundabout, the quickest way is to turn right towards Callander on the A81, driving past Braeval, the Port of Menteith, turning left with the A81 and following the signposts to Callander. At the traffic lights at the main street in Callander turn left; drive through Callander and just past the Kilmahog Woollen Mills, turn left on the A821.

There are TWO car-parks. Kilmahog is the one  on the left; a little further on is the less-frequented Bochastle car park on the right.

The walk

Depending on where you’ve parked, the walk begins either by taking the safe, off-road path from the Kilmahog car-park to the Bochastle car-park and going straight up the LRT (with the car-park on the right); or by returning to the entrance of the Bochastle car-park and picking up the LR to the right. The LRT gently winds its way up through the forest on a clear LRT. There are several places where the trees have been cleared and a quarry which you’re warned not to climb!

You reach a wider part of the LRT where trees were being cleared on our walk. This should be less muddy and more attractive when the forestry work has finished. On the left is a little hidden sign-post up to Ben Ledi. On the right is a new path back down to the path alongside Loch Lubnaig. It is raw and new but well-made and will soften over time. (This is a good escape route for those not wishing to go further. This path goes down steeply, but very safely, to join the track at Loch Lubnaig. Turning left takes you to Strathyre while turning right takes you first to the bridge at the Stank Glen car-park, where climbers for Ben Ledi usually park, and then on to Kilmahog and Bochastle car-park. At this point, anyone who wanted to do Ben Ledi should continue on up, and either come down the same way or walk along the ridge and come down the Stank Glen. But beware, Ben Ledi is a strenuous climb which will take several hours. It’s much further than it looks on the map.)

 Your walk, however, continues straight on, below Ben Ledi but high above Loch Lubnaig, with lovely views up to the mountain ridge and down to the River Leny and then the beginning of Loch Lubnaig. Stroll along the LRT to a junction (with Coireachrombie written across it on the map) where you take the LRT to the left which initially curves round left and then right and then straightens out to reach Stank Glen. We had lunch at a magnificent viewpoint along this stretch.

At the next junction you can go straight on to cross the burn and begin the descent. For those opting to go higher you turn left up another shortish climb, again on a very well-made path, up the left-land side of the Stank Glen. Both routes open out with a real mountain-feel under the ridge above you.

After crossing the Stank Burn make our way down the other side of the glen, dropping all the way. The LRT eventually comes out on the cycle track along Loch Lubnaig and back to the car, which is easy walking but, I’m afraid, sore on the calves! To relieve the tedium, at a concrete seat supported by railway sleepers, you can leave the old railway track and take a path closer to the river which will bring you out at the picturesque Falls of Leny.