Overtoun Park

Date I ran: 24th January 2020
Run time: 43:40
Distance covered: 4.71m (7.58km)
Soundtrack: Laura Lippman, Lady in the Lake
Conditions: drizzly morning



Relatively long run from Cambuslang, out to Overtoun Park and back, after the school run. The cool thing about running different routes is it doesn't feel like you're running as far as you are, because it's as much exploration as it is exercise. I've always found the secret to exercise is to distract myself from the fact I'm doing it, and combining a run with a bit of pedestrian exploration is a good way to do it.

Overtoun Park is named for the industrialist Lord Overtoun, who was, as standard for a lot of these parks, a rich dude from hundreds of years ago. Overtoun seems to be a particularly controversial one, as his chemical company dumped toxic waste around the area, some of which is still contaminated a couple of centuries later.

It's a nice little park, not big enough for a full 5k, but good as part of a longer run. Pretty tree-lined avenues, a gentle hill, and a hundred-year-old bandstand, as well as a fountain dedicated to Queen Victoria.

On the loop back around, I took in another small park on Stonelaw Road that I couldn't find named on maps, but a little Googling has suggested is called Woodburn Park. A reminder that there are so many parks around Glasgow that it's easy to lose track of them.




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