Interconnected nomad

Cycling to art: Glasgow’s Mural Trail 

I really enjoy discovering sites, exhibitions and examples of art and culture when I visit other places. It is also something I enjoy doing in and around my own city and country. I find that my bike, which I use just as a regular means of travel, for sport and fitness, as well as for holidays and exploring, is a great way to access and enjoy art both at home and abroad.

From wee day trips in Glasgow, to further afield in Scotland, and to multi-day tours in the Lowland countries, I’ve used my bike to access some great art and culture over a number of years.

One of Glasgow’s most recent additions to its rich art and culture is the city’s Mural Trail (see the council provided guide map and information here on it)- a  growing body of contemporary street art commissions around the city centre adorning various buildings and public spaces. 

Green and fun- between Strathclyde and St Andrews Universities by train and bike…   

It was a beautiful clear few days in early February, and I had signed up for an event at St Andrews University to learn about some of the techniques and uses of ethnographic writing in academic research (a method of studying people and cultures from the point of view and context of a specific group or individual).

An approach mostly used by anthropologists and sociologists, it’s perhaps not one generally associated with accounting research. However, I suppose it indicates the interdisciplinary nature of my work, and where I hope to include such techniques in my sustainability accounting research on water access in rural communities in Malawi.

I thought it would be nice to use some alternative and more sustainable means of transport to travel from my institution, Strathclyde University in Glasgow, to the event at St Andrews on the Scottish east coast- and, of course, in which I could incorporate my trusty bike. Understanding there were a couple of routes I could take, I had booked my bike on a train to Dundee (the need to book a bike on Scottish trains is variable depending on the route- it’s always best to check ahead) on the day before the course. A light flurry of sleet overnight in Glasgow had clearly been heavier out with the city, and a fresh blanket of snow covering the countryside and mountains, coloured by some late afternoon sunlight, is a bonus to a train trip in Scotland at this time of year. Alighting at Dundee I had the choice to then cycle the 25 km to St Andrews, or take a connecting train to Leuchars and pedal the shorter 10 km to the town.

With the sun fading, and keen for the chance to spend a little time in Dundee, I opted for the latter. Leaving my bike at the station, I walked along to the newly built V&A museum on the waterfront- which was looking especially handsome in the late sunshine as it awaits its opening later this year. One stop on the train across the Tay bridge (the road bridge can be cycled over) to Leuchars is a signposted and traffic-free cycle route (a combination of separate cycle paths and shared pedestrian and cycle pavements). Away from the road traffic this is a safe route to the town (but bike lights are nonetheless necessary if cycling at this time of year!).

After staying in the town overnight, a crisp cold morning was an ideal opportunity to make use of having my bike with me, and I pedalled down to the old harbour before heading for breakfast and then to the university via the ‘Home of Golf’s’ famous ‘Old Course’.

Following a full day of insightful sessions at the workshop, I could reflect on how I could potentially incorporate some ethnographically inspired research into my own work as I cycled back to Leuchars to catch an alternative train route via Edinburgh back to Glasgow. In doing so I met a fellow attendee from the day’s event at the station (I had managed to travel the 10 km to the train station quicker than her connection via bus from the town), and highlighting another benefit of travelling by public transport, we got the chance to talk about the course in relation to our individual research and work (Furthermore, we experience a lovely moment where 3 swans flew alongside our train as we travelled along a valley…)

However, connecting at Edinburgh did highlight one the issues with travelling by bike and train in Scotland. With our train having only 3 rather than 6 carriages as expected, capacity was tight for passengers and what is normally pretty restricted availability for bikes was further limited. While I got my bike on, other cyclists really struggled to board, and at least one individual had to be turned away. Arriving in Glasgow I then had the short cycle home- and had made it from the university in St Andrews to my house in under 3 hours. Not only had I undertaken a more sustainable means of travel that aligned with my institution and department’s recent increased commitment to sustainability practice by staff and students, but I had enjoyed what also had been a fun and memorable experience.

Images:

Top left: The impressive V&A museum in Dundee, to open later this year…

Top right: Pretty standard bike accommodation on trains in Scotland  

Bottom left: A beautiful sunset to cycle from Leuchars to St Andrews

5 weekends in July, and 5 cycling challenges completed…

Following cycling that I got up to in May, and June, I managed to (despite some pretty rubbish weather) get some good pedalling in each weekend over July- each cycle with a slightly different theme/challenge. The map above corresponds to each weekend’s route- while more details can be found on my Strava feed.

1- ‘The 5 ferries challenge’- This island/peninsula hopping route on the west coast of Scotland, not far from Glasgow, is a popular almost 100km cycling challenge that I undertook with a coupe of friends on the first weekend of July. As its name infers- it involves cycling (and timing each leg appropriately) between 5 ferries connecting the mainland to some of the beautiful islands and peninsulas in the firth of Clyde. A wet, wet day- but great fun- and described in greater detail in this separate post.

Inspired by People Make Glasgow’s recent photo video, which features a number of my home city’s architectural landmarks, I thought to take a few hours on the ‘braw’ day that was Monday to show how easily a number of the buildings (as well as a few other personal favourites) can be connected and accessed by cycling- and a route that’s interspersed with plenty good cafe stops…

The map above is a snapshot of my route from Strava- the full version of which is here. These images, and a few others from the day, are on my Instagram page- which identifies the location of each of the landmarks. The following is a brief guide to my 30km route (but, notably, could/should be adapted at points to avoid busier road sections), and a few tips if planning to give it a go…

The Firth of Clyde ‘5 ferries cycle challenge’: Islands, peninsulas, coastlines, hills and villages all in a day- and in easy reach from Glasgow by public transport.

In the first weekend of July I cycled this well known, and popular, route on the west coast of Scotland- not far from my home town of Glasgow. The following are some of my experiences, photos from the day (with a few more at my Instagram feed), and some tips for anyone considering taking it on.

It should be noted that this route is pretty popular, and particularly at weekends in the summer, and some planning is necessary to align with train and ferry timetables. This website has a useful concise guide to distances and times between ferry/train sections, and a timetable that we intended to follow. Cycling the route in a clockwise direction, as per the schedule on this site, seems to be the conventional option- but it is also feasible to undertake it in an anti-clockwise direction (though the 2 main hill climbs on the route look to be steeper coming that way- take note of the screenshot above of the route and altitudes on my Strava feed from the day).

June in Scotland didn’t quite live up to the brilliant weather of May, when I managed to get away every weekend on my bike. However, instead, I did do a single week long pedal during the month- taking in my bi-annual summer/winter solstice cycle, a bit of sightseeing, some camping, a meeting related to my studies, and also a friend’s wedding at a mountain biking festival…

Trying to fit all these things in meant the need to squeeze in quite a lot of different bits and pieces of luggage, from camping gear through to my kilt, and a pretty full load for my touring bike. Here’s a few images from my trip, and the route I followed (marked in red on the map- grey lines are train connections I took to and from Glasgow). The photos are in order from the top to bottom of 6 days in which I traveled along the west coast of Loch Lomond, then north through the village of Crainlarich (for the summer solstice), along the north side of Loch Tay, then cross country to the city of Dundee on the east coast, over the River Tay to the historic St Andrew’s, and then westwards through Fife before finishing my cycling at Perth. 

My route is on my Strava feed

In the last month or 2 my work commitments have changed quite a bit, from my previous set up as a freelance researcher to having returned to university to undertake a full-time PhD.

Recognising that my time would be more constrained, I have been determined to make use of the Scottish spring/summer- and get away on my bike every weekend, whether just a day trip or on an overnight stay.

Here is a little record of my May trips on the bike- and where I’ve got to in Scotland. The red lines and numbers on the map correspond to the following routes:  

1-  Train from Glasgow to Dumfries to see the fantastic, and only open once a year, Garden of Cosmic Speculation (just north of Dumfries). Then a good 110km cycle west through beautiful (and quite empty) Dumfries and Galloway- passing through Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright, Newton Stewart and to Wigtown. Lovely cycling, other that quite busy A75 road. (top row images)

2-  Train from Glasgow to Wemyss Bay and ferry to the Isle of Bute. A cycle round the island, and a visit to the quite stunning Mount Stuart House and gardens, as well as its Art of Power exhibition. A bit of a hidden gem of a place, and with fantastic weather. (2nd row images)

3-  A cycle from Glasgow to the village of Balloch on the southern edge of Loch Lomond and then over to the town of Helensburgh to visit Hill House, the masterpiece of one of Scotland’s greatest architects- Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Then back along the Firth of the Clyde to Glasgow. (3rd row- left)

4- After a bit of a rainy weekend, a late bit of fair weather on a Sunday manged to fit in a cycle south climbing out of Glasgow to the open fields of East Ayrshire and the villages of Stewarton and Dunlop. (3rd row- right)

5- Making the best of 2 days at the end of last week to cycle in the evening from Glasgow to the bustling little village of Drymen (on the West Highland Way long distance walking route)- before next day embarking of a fantastic 120km cycle north to the village of Aberfoyle, over the Duke’s Pass (with brilliant views), round Loch Katrine (Glasgow’s freshwater source), and back via Aberfoyle and Strathblane to Glasgow. One of my favourite recent cycles in Scotland- and getting the most out of probably the warmest day of the year so far. (4th row images)

During a visit to Iceland in March, I hired a bike for a day to see some of its capital, Reykjavik, away from its centre- and wrote about it at the time. This was my experience…  

Cycling in Reykjavik- see more of the city, escape some of the crowds, travel more sustainably 

After spending a few days walking around Reykjavik by foot, I was keen to explore and discover some more of the city. Having been in and about Reykjavik from the end of February, a day after the city had experienced record breaking overnight snowfall, I gradually noted a number of cycle lanes ‘emerging’ out of the snow as it began to melt (to some extent).

I love to cycle in my home city of Glasgow in Scotland. It’s an enjoyable way to get around, keeps me fit, is affordable, and is a sustainable method of travel. It allows me to easily see places and do things in the city centre, but also access nature and cultural attractions on the city’s perimeter as well as further afield in Scotland. I also like to cycle in other countries and cities that I visit, as I find it a fantastic way to explore and find new places that I might not otherwise get to- and I’d identified a few areas of Reykjavik that I was keen to experience away from the centre. It was time to hire a bike…

London to the Lowlands- a winter cycle touring trip: the art and culture

Following 2 initial posts, describing the planning/cycling and the places I visited, this third blog post on my series of my winter cycle in the Netherlands/Belgium takes a slightly different angle- and focuses on the art and culture I managed to experience on my travels. I think it is important to understand that cyclists often have interests out with cycling, and that there are often great opportunities for using a bike as a way of accessing and partaking in such wider interests. I have had an interest in art and culture for a long time, but it is in recent years as I have got more involved in cycling that I have actually been able to reach a wider range of exhibitions, galleries and locations- both in and around my home city of Glasgow, but furthermore more widely in Scotland and in other countries that I visit. 

During my January cycle trip I passed through the major European cities, and the home of major art collections, of London and Brussels- while furthermore manged to incorporate visits to other significant cultural heritage sites that I had been aware of, such as the cathedral in Aachen and the UNESCO heritage site of Leuven’s old town. (A previous cycle trip to the region allowed me to incorporate visits to the galleries and museums of Amsterdam and The Hague, the beautiful and historic old towns of Brugge and Haarlem, and furthermore initially unplanned visits to the memorable Kröller-Müller Museum and the emotional Westerbrook World War 2 refugee transit camp.)

It is perhaps these unexpected cultural visits and experiences that you have when cycle touring that demonstrate the value and opportunity of combining cycle touring with accessing art and culture. Two examples are evident from my January cycle. The impromptu stop I made at Brussels’s Cinquantenaire Museum/ Royal Museums of Art and History to see its Ukiyo-e exhibition of Japanese art- including the famous ‘Great Wave’ by Hokusai (an exhibition I only became aware of because the cycle path I was following took me through the Parc de Cinquantenaire). The overnight stay I had in the tiny village of Stevensweert in the middle of the Maas River- historically important due to the fact the Spanish had built a fortress there during the Dutch War of Independence in the 16/17th century, and still retaining the hexagonal street layout from that period (again a place I would unlikely to have reached by other forms of transport).

The images here are of a few of the fantastic art, cultural and historic attractions I managed to see on my journey- while some of the specific art/cultural things I got up to included:

-          London: Using my Art Fund pass, and travelling between numerous galleries by bike, allowed me to affordably access numerous exhibitions and locations across city during the few days I was there- from a Paul Nash exhibition at the Tate Britain, a number or shows at the Nordic Matters festival at the Southbank Centre, a Caravaggio exhibition at the National Gallery, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum, and Maps of the 20th century at the British Library. I also managed to visit the new Design Museum at Holland Park and climb the Switch House tower at the Tate Modern, affording some new spectacular views over the London skyline.

-          Brussels: As well as the Ukiyo-e exhibition featuring work by Japanese artist Hokusai and a number of his contemporaries, I furthermore visited the Royal Museum of Fine arts to see a exhibition containing a number of Peter Bruegel ‘s most famous pieces (including ‘Fall of Icarus’) as well as seeing several other significant European works (the likes of ‘The Death of Marat’ by Jacques-Louis David and ‘The Temptation of St. Anthony by Salvador Dali). I also visited the Rene Magritte museum to see works by Belgium’s Surrealist master.

-          Aachen: In a day trip from Maastricht, I cycled to the German city of Aachen to see its quite majestic cathedral- the oldest cathedral in Northern Europe, dating from the 8th century, and which has been developed over its 1000+ year lifetime into an architectural wonder of numerous artistic styles in addition to its religious and historic significance.

London to the Lowlands- a winter cycle touring trip

Cycle touring is generally something people might do in the summer- but, I was keen to, this year, start January with some extended pedalling. Having spent a few weeks cycling during summer months in 2015 there, a return to the lowlands of Belgium and the Netherlands was one of the first places that came to mind- different from home, not too far away, weather should be too inclement, and where cycling is a joy. As something to look forward to for after Christmas, I started a bit of planning in October or so- giving me the best chance to get some good prices on transport.

Cycle touring is, for me, a great way to combine some of my interests. Beyond the actual cycling element (which, of course, is a primary aspect), it is a fantastic way to visit new places and locations; get into the outdoors and engage with nature; and access art, culture and architecture. I furthermore value the flexibility, and few restrictions, of where I can go; the independence and self-sufficiency of cycling; that it is a low impact and sustainable form of travel; and that it aligns well with a preference as a solo (and often solitary) traveller. Another attraction, and which is perhaps a bit self-specific, is that I as quite fascinated (and have been since a young age) by maps and mapping. The daily planning of cycle routes, looking back at Strava data, and connecting cycles through places over time is something I really enjoy- my cycling feels like a way of slowly and gradually mapping the world around me, and the places I visit, in my head.

Considering these different aspects, I thought I might develop some blog posts that rather than chronologically recounting my trip day by day, somehow collate my photographs and experiences according to some of these general themes. A post on the general planning and cycling aspect of my trip; a post on landscapes, nature and places visited; and a post on accessing art and culture on the route I took.

And, as they saying goes, a picture says a thousand words- so I’ll let some of the images do most of the talking. These are a few from my route planning and travelling on the bike (including via public transport) as I travelled, via London, to Belgium and Netherlands (with a quick pop into Germany).

A few general points points from my experiences:

- I was pretty impressed with Virgin Trains and how they dealt with me travelling with my bike on the West Coast mainline in the UK- storage on the train, plus having cyclist assigned seats right next to the bike compartment.

- There is a clear step up and effort in London to introduce cycling infrastructure through its ‘cycling superhighways’. Away from these core routes, however, can still be tricky…

- From Flanders Belgium through to the Netherlands is a joy to cycle in- infrastructure, services, attitudes- and a great option even in the winter. However, it can be cold- and warm cycling gear really important (layers, and especially feet, hands and ears…)

-  I do really enjoy using a ferry as part of my cycle, as it gives great ‘continuity’ to the journey. However, while I took the ferry from Rotterdam to Hull- it did leave me the quite onerous journey of taking my bike on 3 connecting trains back to Glasgow. The change over at 5.30 on a Friday night in Leeds station was a little frenetic…

A Scottish solstice seeking mid-winter cycling trip    

The ‘Kingdom of Fife’ is region on the east coast of Scotland that stretches between the Firth of Tay and Firth of Forth- points at which the region is connected by bridges to the cities of Dundee and Edinburgh. As one of the country’s historic counties, it has a rich cultural and built heritage- with numerous publicly accessible castles, palaces, abbeys and other significant buildings- as well as a range of natural attractions, including beautiful beaches and natural harbours, along its coastline.

A wee mid-winter cycle trip to the Isle of Arran- increasingly becoming one of my favourite cycling destinations in Scotland…

Arran, often referred to as ‘Scotland in miniature’ due to its varied topography- mountains in the north, rolling hills to the south- is one of the most accessible major islands in Scotland. Not far off the coast, just 50km to the south-west of the major city of Glasgow, it can be accessed by road/train and public ferry in just a couple of hours travel from Scotland’s biggest city.

In the last couple of years I’ve visited the island a couple of times, part of a longer cycle tour on Scotland’s west coast, and also as a review for some cycling related journalism I’ve undertaken. The previous visits had been in the early and late summer months- but this visit was to be in winter, just a few weeks before Christmas. Cycling in the long days of Scottish summers (they might not always be that warm, but the light lasts late into the night…) is often a great experience, with plenty daylight to explore the remote areas of the Highlands and northern isles. But, and especially if you are based in the main towns and cities in the lowlands, those northern regions can be difficult to get to, and often subject to difficult weather conditions, during the winter months- making cycle touring more difficult.

But Arran’s more southerly location makes it a great option for year round cycling- it offers many of the challenges and appealing qualities of cycling in Scotland’s more remote regions (long stretches of quiet roads, some tough hill climbs to tackle, beautiful wild inland and coastal scenery), but is much more accessible from the main cities and has a number of small, but well served, populations centres around the island. If the weather does take a turn for the worse (which it can, and really quite quickly, in Scottish winters)- then you are rarely too far from a village, café or pub to shelter in…

My visit on this occasion, which was part of a wider piece of work I’d been commissioned to undertake on cycling touring as an opportunity to drive economic development through sustainable tourism, limited my cycling to just a section on the east coast of the island- but allowed me to visit a number of the wider cultural attractions on the island. Brodick Castle and Country Park has all the hallmarks of a classic Scottish castle and grounds, while the Isle of Arran Distillers is an opportunity to taste some fantastic whisky (and that still counts as a cultural attraction…).