I have been looking for some new local run and bike route over the last few months. The other weekend, hill pal Graham had an old 1:25,000 pathfinder map which covered the area around Milngavie and down to the Kilpatricks. His plan was to have wee day walks to visit all the trig points on that sheet (we found seventeen). He got me to thinking about home many trig points I could link together into a run (for ones close to the flat) and bike (for outlying points) in a day. Quick scan of the map showed a reasonable number of 12 which made for a challenging but achievable Sunday training jaunt.
Ended up with a bit more of a run (21.4km) than planned but a bit less of a cycle (36.6km) than was in my head but the route was a nice starter. Transition was at the flat and a key element of the bike section was actually taking the bike to each trig point (not as easy as it sounds).
The run was great …a mix of trails, roads and a few farmers fields. It amazed me that I had previously run so close to some of the trigs and yet past them. As a few were less than obvious, they have thankfully avoided vandalism …others not so lucky.
Got back to the flat and chugged a bottle of juice and grabbed some food before heading back out on the singlespeed. Shot over to Mearns Castle for the first of the planned trigs – maybe due to me thinking I knew the exact location of the trig and maybe due to travelling quicker than on foot but I overshot the exact point …twice ! Took a picture to record the moment and headed off to the next point just beside the Mal Inn. Access proved to be interesting due to a jaggy hedge – keen not to have to speak to the farmer, I found a wee section of fence and got me and the bike over intact. The snow was silly deep and even pushing the bike was difficult. Got the photo and retraced my route back down onto the road. Next point was simple down at Patterton Station then spun through Barrhead to collect the last picturesque trig before the last two which had more Buckfast bottles than I would have thought possible. Between times I did however contemplate how good Bucky would be as an official energy drink (high sugar and caffeine content) …it helped the last few miles roll by.
The Run
The Cycle
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