Holmlea, Govanhill, Cathkin, Ardmay Parks
Run time: 44:51
Distance covered: 4.78 miles (7.69km)
Soundtrack: Sam Cooke, The Man Who Invented Soul
Conditions: sunny and warm
Lots of blossom today.
The south side is a pretty ideal area for running, all things considered. It's mostly flat, there are a lot of reasonably quiet roads (extremely quiet, at the moment), and it's just a really interesting environment. It's incredibly diverse in terms of the buildings, the street layouts and the feel of different neighbourhoods. There are wealthy enclaves a few hundred yards from very poor areas. There are mansions and tenements and fancy restaurants and greasy spoons and gardens and warehouses and river paths and alleys. And of course, there are a lot of parks.
Once again, I combined daily exercise with my weekly delivery of supplies to my dad. I was pleased to see that the police have clarified it's okay to drive somewhere for daily exercise as long as more time is spent on the exercise than the driving. It's a sensible approach for a whole lot of reasons, from avoiding overcrowded pavements around your house, to making sure your car battery doesn't go flat.
Today, I was tackling a series of smaller parks again. I started out in Holmlea Park in Battlefield, which is a medium size square a little away from the main drag of Battlefield Road. It has a small sports area and a playpark, and it was looking pretty presentable on a spring day.
I left Holmlea and headed north, cutting through Mount Florida railway station and then around the road dividing Queens Park and the recreation ground. I peeled off to run up Langside Road, feeling the vibe of the area shift with each block. The buildings changed from the grand townhouses and flats overlooking the park to smaller tenements, the trees got less numerous, the buildings started to look a little more down at heel. I passed a car with no wheels, and knew I had already roamed far from Battlefield. I could see the new M74 flyover cutting across the sky ahead as I approached Govanhill Park.
This one is similar to Maxwell Square, which I crossed off a couple of weeks ago, if a bit larger. It's a little smaller than Holmlea, but the same kind of green square among tightly-packed tenements. There's a basketball court and some benches and, at this time of year, some very photogenic trees.
Back down Cathcart Road, pausing to check out the abandoned Egyptian-style Govanhill Picture House which was built in 1926 and is now probably used as the headquarters of a Batman villain.
Next on the list, Cathkin Park, which is oddly named as it's nowhere near Cathkin.
It has an interesting amphitheatre-like arrangement, with a trail curving around an oval grass field with aged-looking stairs built into the slopes. I looked it up later and found out it was the site of the second Hampden Park (the current stadium is about a quarter of a mile south), and was home to Queens Park football club until 1903 and then Third Lanark until 1967.
Along Aitkenhead Road, past the rather bigger Hampden stadium (where I've never seen any football, not being a fan, but have seen Bon Jovi, U2 and Bruce Springsteen, plus Mike Tyson knocking out Lou Savarese in 38 seconds).
Next stop was Ardmay Park, which was actually closed, the first one I've encountered like that. It's a tiny park without much more than a swing park, which probably explains why it's closed. I ran around the perimeter and I'm counting it, but I might have to go back for completeness.
After that, it was back to Kings Park Avenue, under the three bridges where the rails split off in different directions, past the White Cart and back along to Holmlea Park.
I covered a lot of distance, a lot of different neighbourhoods, but it felt like a much easier run than some much shorter ones I've done. I think that's because I'm not really thinking about the run on days like this, I'm exploring. If you struggle with exercise, I recommend trying some new territory, it makes the miles sail by for me.
Distance covered: 4.78 miles (7.69km)
Soundtrack: Sam Cooke, The Man Who Invented Soul
Conditions: sunny and warm
Lots of blossom today.
The south side is a pretty ideal area for running, all things considered. It's mostly flat, there are a lot of reasonably quiet roads (extremely quiet, at the moment), and it's just a really interesting environment. It's incredibly diverse in terms of the buildings, the street layouts and the feel of different neighbourhoods. There are wealthy enclaves a few hundred yards from very poor areas. There are mansions and tenements and fancy restaurants and greasy spoons and gardens and warehouses and river paths and alleys. And of course, there are a lot of parks.
Once again, I combined daily exercise with my weekly delivery of supplies to my dad. I was pleased to see that the police have clarified it's okay to drive somewhere for daily exercise as long as more time is spent on the exercise than the driving. It's a sensible approach for a whole lot of reasons, from avoiding overcrowded pavements around your house, to making sure your car battery doesn't go flat.
Today, I was tackling a series of smaller parks again. I started out in Holmlea Park in Battlefield, which is a medium size square a little away from the main drag of Battlefield Road. It has a small sports area and a playpark, and it was looking pretty presentable on a spring day.
I left Holmlea and headed north, cutting through Mount Florida railway station and then around the road dividing Queens Park and the recreation ground. I peeled off to run up Langside Road, feeling the vibe of the area shift with each block. The buildings changed from the grand townhouses and flats overlooking the park to smaller tenements, the trees got less numerous, the buildings started to look a little more down at heel. I passed a car with no wheels, and knew I had already roamed far from Battlefield. I could see the new M74 flyover cutting across the sky ahead as I approached Govanhill Park.
This one is similar to Maxwell Square, which I crossed off a couple of weeks ago, if a bit larger. It's a little smaller than Holmlea, but the same kind of green square among tightly-packed tenements. There's a basketball court and some benches and, at this time of year, some very photogenic trees.
Back down Cathcart Road, pausing to check out the abandoned Egyptian-style Govanhill Picture House which was built in 1926 and is now probably used as the headquarters of a Batman villain.
Next on the list, Cathkin Park, which is oddly named as it's nowhere near Cathkin.
It has an interesting amphitheatre-like arrangement, with a trail curving around an oval grass field with aged-looking stairs built into the slopes. I looked it up later and found out it was the site of the second Hampden Park (the current stadium is about a quarter of a mile south), and was home to Queens Park football club until 1903 and then Third Lanark until 1967.
Along Aitkenhead Road, past the rather bigger Hampden stadium (where I've never seen any football, not being a fan, but have seen Bon Jovi, U2 and Bruce Springsteen, plus Mike Tyson knocking out Lou Savarese in 38 seconds).
Next stop was Ardmay Park, which was actually closed, the first one I've encountered like that. It's a tiny park without much more than a swing park, which probably explains why it's closed. I ran around the perimeter and I'm counting it, but I might have to go back for completeness.
After that, it was back to Kings Park Avenue, under the three bridges where the rails split off in different directions, past the White Cart and back along to Holmlea Park.
I covered a lot of distance, a lot of different neighbourhoods, but it felt like a much easier run than some much shorter ones I've done. I think that's because I'm not really thinking about the run on days like this, I'm exploring. If you struggle with exercise, I recommend trying some new territory, it makes the miles sail by for me.
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