Beamil one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

A decent urban route, with wooded footpath interludes. It is, however, foot-only, given a number of steps along the way.

Starting in Bearsden, near a number of shops (and not far from bus stops and, a little further, the railway station), the route soon passes the church. The route here goes around the corner, following the road, but there is a footpath by the church hall that cuts the corner and makes better sense to take.

An uphill paved street walk follows, until we get to the wooded park around Kilmardinny Loch. There are steps down to the footpath below (there is a sloped walk, including wood carvings, further on), and we follow the route past the loch and through the peaceful woods.

Out of the woods, a few more residential roads, then a quiet footpath running alongside Craigdu Burn. At its end, a long road walk to the crossroads, where we enter Lennox Park, but there are no good nearby crossings (there are some on the junctions just over 100m north and south). Whilst Lennox Park has good tarmac paths, there are steps up to the path that leads to Milngavie station, the end point.

A good walk going through some nice areas, especially around the loch and along the brook, and with a few small adjustments, it should be accessible to all, but currently it is for walkers only.

Very good route linking green spaces and residential streets; avoids main roads.
Walked Milngavie to Bearsden on a hot summer day. I especially enjoyed some shady paths and the carved seats at Kilmardinny.
Would definitely walk again and recommend.

Access - some steps at Lennox park (Milngavie), and a steep section at Kilmardinny Loch.

No refreshments on route but plenty at either end.

Review of SlowWays Route Beamil 1 (Bearsden—Milngavie)
This is a simple and pleasant route which links these two population centres on the north edge of Glasgow and makes excellent use of three large green spaces along the way. The route begins at the War Memorial in Bearsden before heading behind the shops and through a group of church buildings to emerge on a long, residential street. A left turn and a steep uphill section follow, before the path plunges down into the park surrounding Kilmardinny Loch. After a pleasant meander through the park, the route heads through another housing estate and back into another green space, this time the grassy corridor bordering the Craigdhu Burn (with the scent of Hawthorn flowers hanging in the air when I visited in May 2022). Another slightly longer section through a housing estate (the gardens containing an amazing array of gaudy-coloured Rhododendron bushes) finishes at Main Street, Milngavie. Thereafter, the route drops into Lennox Park and across a footbridge before leaving the park via a path along the side of the railway line and ending at Milngavie Train Station.
This is a great route with lots to see along the way and only a couple of busy roads to negotiate. The three sections through green spaces felt safe enough but probably would be a little daunting to the solo traveller after dusk or at other quiet times. This apart, I would warmly recommend this route.

A short route that makes use of some lovely off-road sections through this built-up area. The route seemed quite direct but actually walking it there were a couple of points where corners could have been cut off to make the route a bit shorter. It was easy to follow the route. There are some sections of road walking with good pavements.

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