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Showing posts from October, 2019

Bushmills Railway walk

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Walking with Kids Although our trip to Northern Ireland was to visit relatives, we thought it would be a good idea to get out and do some simple walks. One of those was a walk from Bushmills to the Giants Causeway along a cycle track next to a railway track. The railway line Safety First The two mile hike would have taken us to the famous natural heritage landmark, although it should be noted that we stopped at the bridge that crossed the river Bush. River Bush  The walk is a pleasent one which is sandwiched between the Bushmills Railway line and the river Bush. More information can be found about this railway line at the bottom of this post. The track also crosses between a golf course, so a little care should be taken here. Building at Golf Course Bridge over the River A walk next to fields If we had a little more time I'm sure the kids would have been able to compete the 4 mile walk there and back. As it was we also wanted to have lunc

Gortnamoyagh Forest

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Walking With Kids One of the good aspects about going on holiday is that it gives you an opportunity to try out new walks and see new sights. We had thought about  the best place for a walk, having just arrived in Northern Ireland the evening before. A rope bridge, a beach and a temple on the coast were all options before we realised that we were best keeping things local. Just as well since we had already made three mistakes, these were: The kids were still tired from the travel and getting to bed later than usual. We didn't bring the child rucksack due to space considerations The youngest one had got new wellies but hadn't tried them out yet. Benbradagh  The Road Looking at Sheep From the get go, the kids were sluggish and looked fed up. The youngest one struggled with the new wellies and wanted to be carried most of the time. Her slightly older sister was also having a difficult time, lack of sleep was taking an effect, that only  T.V. and a

The Crinan Canal

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Boating with Kids Over the course of the last year I have spent enough time walking along the side of one canal or another. In 2018 it was the Caledonian canal when I walked the Great Glen Way. This year it has been the Forth and Clyde and Union canals during the walk on the John Muir Way. During our holiday to Dallavich we were invited to meet up with relatives, sure we said, but where?  The answer was the Crinan Canal, obviously I wasn't very enthusiastic  about this as, it  boring to walk along a canal after a wee while. My wife explained that we weren't going for a canal walk but we were going on the water. Panic set in.  House next to canal Opening a Lock Gate Looking Cool (not really) I must explain that in fact said relatives were bringing their own boat with them and were travelling down the canal. The canal itself is only 9 miles in length and gives easier access to the Clyde. It was open in 1801 and starts at Crinan and ends at Ardrishaig. We

The Walk With The Tall Pillars

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Greenhall Park Walking With Kids Continuing the theme of going on shorter walks as we head towards winter, I thought an exploration of Greenhall park was in order. The park itself is located just outside Blantyre, close to Cambuslang and East Kilbride. There is a very small car park, if you can call it that, just inside the entrance. We opted to park outside the park, just at the gates to the park.  Map Location The Route The Route Route Elevation From the car park we took the track to the left that winds down towards the river. We could have continued straight ahead and taken another track further on,  that also heads off to the left, on the other side of the river. We opted for the former as I was interested in the strange stone pillars that showed up on Google maps, when you look at the satellite image of the park.  Woodland Walk Across The River - Part 1 On The Right Track The path from the car park curves down to the river