Day 1 - July 7

We arrived in Glasgow around 9:00 am and called for our cab.  Cecilia came straight away and we were at Claremont House Bed and Breakfast in no time. Tom very kindly fixed up a room for us while we had breakfast with some of the other guests.  Back to our room to clean up a bit.  I slept for an hour while Glen figured out where the major landmarks were for us to go and visit.

We headed out of the house about noon to head into the heart of Glasgow.  No sooner had we left the house when it started to mist and then eventually pour on us.  We pulled out our rain jackets, umbrella and pulled the rain cover over the backpack – all prepared!  We made our way over to Glasgow Green and wanted to see the People’s Palace but a huge 3-day “Osheaga-like” concert was being set up so we were unable to get close to the building.  We crossed the River Clyde and carried on with our walk.  We came across a little hole in the wall restaurant so we went in and both had fish and chips for lunch.  Very satisfying!!

Onward to Glasgow Cathedral with its beautiful coloured stone, history and architecture.  We walked inside for over an hour as we could even go into the lower parts of the church.  We were even able to see where a part of Outlander had been filmed!  Outside into the cloudy and windy day but we climbed up to the Necropolis and were shielded a bit from the wind.  So much history in this graveyard and there is still room for people to be buried there.  It was my impression though that it has become out of fashion to go and be buried there.  A lot of the headstones had graffiti on them or had been damaged in some way.

After leaving that area, we found the Tennent’s Brewery – one of the oldest breweries in the UK as it has been in existence since monks first brewed on this site in the 1100’s, during the building of the cathedral.  We were given a lot of history and then donned our protective vests and hair nets so we could tour the plant.  Very interesting!  Next came a sampling of 4 different kinds of beer they produce and then we were all given a choice as to what kind of pint we wanted to try.  I was floating by the end but we had a lot of fun meeting some people from here, New York and Hungary!  

Onward with our walking to Coia’s Café for pizza and pasta.  Now home and planning our day for tomorrow.  The day ended with blue sky and sun so that is hopeful for tomorrow!  So very hard now to keep our eyes open!

Distance walked: 11.5 km