Erspai one

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This was a route of many long straight stretches, interesting but not always picturesque.
The first section, from Erskine, was a very pleasant off road paved path leading in a fairly direct line, gradually uphill, between the houses but with lots of greenery.
The next section through Inchinnan had little of interest to me, except a house with a very timid sign declaring it to be the first metric house (in Great Britain) but the details had been eroded away, sadly. I wish I'd read Wellchoughed's review first so that I had looked out for other things on the way! The section along the A8 was very straight and felt very long, but also very safe with a wide pavement/cycle path, and also views towards the airport. The new pedestrian/cycle bridge over Black Cart Water was nice and gave a good view of the architecture of the road bridge.
The next long straight section was along a disused (I think!) road alongside the main runway of the airport. That was interesting!
The last section, I found rather tedious I'm afraid, heading through part of Paisley to the station, with constant traffic noise. The very last bit heads through the middle of the station, which I guess may be closed at night, but it would be easy to divert along the road and under the bridge.
I found this quite a tiring walk (although I had done two other routes that morning), as it was virtually all tarmac or paving. Overall though, there was quite a variety of interest, and navigation was mostly easy.

Review of SlowWays Route Erspai1 (Erskine to Paisley).
This is a really interesting route which passes through two urban sections and an area of abandoned farmland which is undergoing major redevelopment. I walked the route backwards (Paisley to Erskine) but will review it as it has been designed (Erskine to Paisley).
The route begins at the Bridgewater Shopping Centre in Erskine which is the main bus hub for the town. It initially heads east, along the north side of Newshot Road before turning south to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing opposite the entrance to Newshot Island Local Nature Reserve (worth a visit for wading birds and views across the Clyde). The route then heads around the back of some houses to emerge at a small cluster of shops. There is an uphill path here which joins the main north-south path through the Park Mains estate. The route follows this path all the way (mostly uphill) to its end at the Parkway. After crossing at the pedestrian crossing there is the option to drop down to a short residential street (called Inverarish) rather than walking along the verge of Parkway. In either case, a roundabout is soon reached and the route then takes a short path (easily missed) through the houses onto Niamh Court. This is another quiet back street which leads past Erskine Cemetery on the right and onto Old Greenock Road. A long downhill stretch takes the traveller through the village of Inchinnan. It is well worth diverting slightly to Inchinnan Parish Church which has in its grounds two fascinating groups of gravestones, the so-called Celtic and Templar Stones. These stones were removed from the derelict All Hallows Church which the route passes shortly.
The route then continues out of Inchinnan along Greenock Road through farmland (watch out for displaying Lapwings and singing Yellowhammers in spring, Whooper Swans in winter) in the direction of the road bridge over the Black Cart. Just before the bridge, the entrance to what remains of Old Hallows Church can be seen on the right. I notice that access is currently restricted due to adjacent earthworks but I hope the authorities will restore access again in the future to what is a really significant, local treasure. Just beyond the Old Hallows site is a lovely new foot/cycle bridge which bypasses the Black Cart road bridge. Once over the bridge, the route along what used to be Abbotsinch Road is currently (April 2021) blocked by major earthworks. However there is an easy diversion along the new section of road which has recently been built. Presumably the authorities will reinstate a footpath along the line of the Abbotsinch Road in due course. Meanwhile, the short diversion leads the walker back to Abbotsinch Road a little further along the airport perimeter fence and then there is a long but straightforward stretch of road down into Paisley and the end of the route at Paisley Gilmour Street Station.
Overall a very varied route with a few places requiring careful route-finding and a middle section which is currently disrupted but otherwise interesting, safe and easy to follow.

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