Bartho one

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Review of SlowWays Route Bartho1 (Barrhead to Thornliebank).
This is a very interesting and mostly enjoyable route which passes through what remains of the green belt between the town of Barrhead and the southwest corner of the Glasgow conurbation. However there is a short section of the route which presents a considerable access challenge and therefore the route will require to be redesigned.
I walked the route on a showery day in February 2022. The first section leaves the centre of Barrhead via Main Street and the Dovecothall roundabout. I chose to drop down onto the path which runs beside the Levern Water but the designed route is also fine with good pavements and crossing points. The route then heads past the imposing St John the Evangelist church and out of the town via Darnley Road (with good views south over Cowan Park). Just before a big, new housing estate, the route follows a path off to the right. This is the most attractive section with views back to Barrhead and forward to a wooded escarpment which is part of the Dams to Darnley Country Park. There are some access issues in the park because of ongoing water works. However these are relatively minor and will not be an issue when the work is completed.
Unfortunately, the pleasant scenery ends rather abruptly as the route enters a modern housing estate. At first the going is fairly easy, but it is then necessary to negotiate several busy road junctions associated with a sprawling retail complex and the M77 motorway. Once these junctions have been left behind, the route heads away from the main road via a path which leads uphill and then down again into the Arden housing estate. The walking here is not very pleasant but becomes particularly challenging on Kilmuir Crescent where the walker is directed to take a very steep, muddy track up the side of an embankment to join a narrow path running parallel to the Auldhouse Burn. This path appears to have been in existence for many years and provides a convenient crossing over the burn. However access to the path is poor and the path itself is very badly neglected. There is evidence that alternative access to the embankment path was once possible via an adjacent, modern housing estate, but on the day I passed, the link had been completely boarded up. After a very muddy walk and a fascinating view of the burn crossed by an ancient, fern-covered bridge, the route emerges into a small industrial estate. The walking is very much easier from this point, making use of good paths and back streets to arrive in the centre of Thornliebank and the end of the route.
I personally enjoyed the route and would use it again. However I am unable to recommend it to anyone else because of the access issues mentioned above.

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