ROB ROY WAY additional 21mile intro

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• published: 02 Jun 2015
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This is Part 1 of a 2-part video. An introductory additional 21-miles to the ROB ROY WAY begins from the heart of Glasgow by initially following the waymarked [*the waymarks are supposed to initially consist of a green duck on a yellow background?!] 9-mile Kelvin and Allander Walkway through two of the Citys beautiful parks before reaching Glasgow Rangers Murray Park training facilities just before emerging at Milngavie from where the West Highland Way is then followed for its opening 12-miles. From Glasgow City centre a short Underground journey to Kelvinhall Station followed by a short stroll along to Kelvingrove Park leads to the beginning of this additional 21-mile extension to the RRW. Once in the Park with the River Kelvin at this moment on your right, the way passes the Psalmist sculpture (a semi-abstract stick-figure compostion by Benno Schotz) and a memorial seating area. One seat is in memory of Tom John Honeyman, one-time medical practitioner and Director of Glasgows Art Galleries and Museums who served in the trenches during the First World War. He practiced medicine in the East End of Glasgow, before moving to London to become an art dealer. Working for the City, he became famous in 1952 for his purchase of Salvador Dali's Christ of St. John of the Cross - a controversial purchase at the time. The other bench is in memory of V.C. Honeyman (1897-1971). Two statues soon come into view. Born on the 5 April 1827 in Upton, Essex, Joseph Lister was the son of the British physicist Joseph Jackson Lister. When the Regius Professorship of Surgery at Glasgow University above Kelvinrgrove Park fell vacant in 1859 Lister was selected from seven candidates. In August 1861 he was appointed surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and put in charge of its new surgical building with the hope that a new building would decrease the number of deaths caused by what was then called hospital disease (now known as operative sepsis). Later, in 1865, when Louis Pasteur suggested that decay was caused by living organisms in the air that on entering matter caused it to ferment, Lister made the connection with wound sepsis. A meticulous researcher and surgeon, Lister recognized the relationship between Pasteurs research and his own. Lister then began to clean wounds and dress them using a solution of carbolic acid. In 1870 Lister's antiseptic methods were used, by Germany, during the Franco-Prussian war saving many Prussian soldier's lives. Lister made a triumphal tour of the leading surgical centres in Germany in 1875. A shy person but firm in his purpose, he humbly believied himself to be directed by God and was uninterested in social success or financial reward. The next sculpture the Way passes is that of Lord Kelvin, a similar sculpture of whom exists outside Belfast University. He was a s Scottish mathematician and physicist who contributed to many branches of physics. William Thomson Kelvin moved from his native Belfast when his father became Professor of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow. He himself enrolled in the university at age ten, became Professor of Natural Philosophy (now Physics) at 22, and was knighted for his achievements at 44 However, the initial beauty of Kelvingrove Park has to be the Pond where amongst a diverse range of wildlife, Grey Heron can be spotted. The Pond's island is apparently in the shape of Cyprus!? The Way continue towards the former location of Flipper (properly known as Big Bluey although anything but blue before it finally disappeared - possibly into the Kelvin!), a woodcarving of a dolphin once located outside the riverside pub (now of similar name). Philip Benson completed the now departed carving in 1995. The Way continues under the Kelvin Bridge, which carries the Great Western Road traffic over the river. The Way leads to North Woodside flint mills, one of Glasgow's Scheduled Ancient Monuments; the first reference to it being on a map in 1650 when it was shown as a barley mill. During the Napoleonic Wars at the start of the 19th century it was used to grind gunpowder. In 1846 it was bought by Robert Cochran, of Verreville Flint Crystal Glass and Pottery Works in Finnieston, who demolished the old barley mill and built the North Woodside Flint Mill, which processed flint and Cornish stone used by Verreville. The mill closed about 1955 and much of it was demolished around 1964. The large square-shaped feature is the remains of the old kiln, close by to which are several large round stones; old grinding stones made from Ballachulish stone. The reason apparently for locating the mill here, was due to the flat site and the ability to create a fall by means of a dam and a long lade which you can see in this video. Crossing Maryhill Road the Way follows a tree-lined path in Maryhill Park passing a trig point en route. During the course of those initial 9-miles the feature of the waymarks change to that of a heron (in Part 2 ). Soundtrack: Iain McNabb