Walk: Bothwell bank, thou bloomest fair

📌 Blantyre, South Lanarkshire
★★★

O Bothwell bank, thou bloomest fair! begins the old Scottish air. Close to Glasgow‘s southeastern suburbs, the wooded Clyde valley separating Blantyre and Bothwell is still as lush as ever. The two villages themselves boast fascinating historical properties: the birthplace of the most famous explorer of Africa, and the imposing Bothwell Castle. And the walk between the two? This section of the Clyde Walkway perhaps doesn’t quite measure up to Livingstone’s Nile, but it’s pretty pleasant all the same.

🌍 Location

📌 Start / finish on Station Road, Low Blantyre

🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NS 694584

🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.800891,-4.084316

🚆🚌 Train / bus to Blantyre

🚗 Street parking

📝 Key info

► 4 km / 2 mi | ▲ 110 m | ⌛ 1 hr

Features: 🏛️ David Livingstone Birthplace ★★★; 💧 River Clyde; 🏰 Bothwell Castle ★★★

⬤ Easy | Various clear paths, muddy in places and some branches suffering from river erosion.

➡️ Out-and-back walk: start – David Livingstone Birthplace (admission fee) – footbridge over River Clyde – Bothwell Castle (admission fee) via riverside – return by outward route

Download file for GPS

🥾 On our last visit

Wildlife: Swallows nesting among the castle ruins.

Weather: Mostly cloudy but dry, light winds.

July 2014