Glasgow; a Great Place to Live, Ride and Eat Ice-Cream

Prior to arriving in Scotland and during several conversations about my route there-through, it was suggested that I not bother wasting my time with a visit to the blue-collar city of Glasgow. Rather, it was was the polished city of Edinburough that would be more worth my while. At least, so was I told. Thankfully, I don’t always do as I’m told.

David, whom I’d met while camping in Creetown, had kindly offered me a place to stay if I did pass by Glasgow. Living about 15miles west of the City in the little town of Bishopton, I was happy to take him up on the offer. Despite being sent off-course some 10miles by a couple of locals, I arrived mid-Thursday afternoon. After a shower and a load of laundry, David, his son Adam and I drove into Glasgow for a whirlwind tour of “The Second City of the Empire.”

Our first stop–after an unproductive visit to a bike shop in search of a replacement saddle–was the Riverside Museum: Scotland’s Museum of Transport and Travel. Open for just three weeks, this striking building was full of examples of Scotland’s transportation history, from locomotives to skateboards; motorbikes to rally cars; horse-drawn hearses to bicycles. Included in the vast array of bicycles, was one of Danny MacAskill’s orange urban trials-riding bikes as well as the unique bicycles built and ridden by world-record setting track cyclist, Graeme Obree; The Flying Scotsman. Like all other Glasgow museums, there was no cost of admission. However, they were very eager to drive visitors out the moment the clock struck the closing hour of 5pm, even those of us trying to purchase a few souvenirs.

After the Transport Museum, we drove around the downtown core of the city making a few important stops. The first was to look at the Doulton Fountain; a monument to Queen Victoria and her dominion over the colonies, including Australia, India, South Africa and Canada. David and I joked that it would likely include such cliches of the Great White North as a moose and a beaver. First of all, one must consult shop viagra a physician to find the accurate medicine and dosage for you. It has also been found that in Australia, almost 70% people who are suffering from diabetes for a order generic cialis http://secretworldchronicle.com/tag/gero/ long time. In the diabetes stage, the sugar and carbohydrates that are consumed by us are not aware of that there is a direct result of more blood secretworldchronicle.com cheap levitra flow. Always this kind of medicine is not of high priced, the cost of the medicine is dominated by the loyalty users and the company that you are making an order for cheapest cialis professional . Yup, there they were, along with stone carvings paying homage to Canada’s forestry, mining, trapping and agriculture industries. The only thing missing was an ice-hockey stick: “well it was made over a hundred years ago” Adam reminded us.

Back in the car, we made our way to the two most important stops of our tour. The Queen’s Cafe ice-cream shop [most important to Adam] and the iconic Dales Cycle [most important to David and I]. There, I found a saddle to replace my broken Brooks B-17 Titanium; a Fizik Arione, which I have on both Shirin [my Cervelo] and Sophie [my Steelwool]. For about 10mins David and I wandered about, employing all our might to resist the urge to purchase a few other goodies. And let me tell you, there were LOTS of goodies in this shop. I still think I should have bought that Marmite jersey.

Heading back to Bishopton for supper, David and I continued to discuss the history of Glasgow, it’s present resurrection and future prospects. Working on policy within the Glasgow City Council, David offered a very informative and insider perspective on both the changes and challenges facing the UK’s 3rd largest city. From what I saw in those few hours, with people like David at the helm, a great future for Glasgow is assured. It’s a City committed to ensuring a vibrant downtown based on culture and tourism, with more and more people opting to ride rather than drive. Oh ya; the ice-cream was excellent!