This week I went from the Lake District to Glasgow then Bristol and back home in 2 days.
This is a fairly common event for me for such long trips, but this time was just a little different.
I had to go to Glasgow for formal condition check visits on two war memorials. The actual purpose had vacillated- originally it was to one at Arrochar (near Loch Lomond), that switched to Barrhill (between Girvan and Stranraer) then eventually was re prioritised to Yoker (a Glasgow suburb) and Houston.
Houston is way off any tourist trail, now being a dormitory village to Glasgow, but in Renfrewshire. But is actually quite an interesting place dating back to the 12th century. The modern village is a planned 18th century village, built on a grid plan. Like may of the towns and villages in the area it was partly agricultural but the mainstay industry was cotton weaving. It is now a conservation area.
Probably not somewhere I would have gone to without another reason, but a pleasant visit in the hour between buses.
On the spur of the moment I decided not to go back into Glasgow, then out again to Houston but rather to take the little known Renfrew Ferry across from Yoker to Renfrew. This is the last survivor of 6 cross Clyde ferries. The timetable will tell you it runs every 30 minutes and takes 10 minutes. Neither is true- it runs on demand and takes 2 minutes.
I must have been looking as tired and worn out as I felt because I was offered the concessionary fare of £1.50, rather than the full fare of £3.
Given that it saved me nearly 90 minutes (through subsequent slick bus connections, that became 3 hours saved) worth every penny.