Day 24: Wandering along the River Clyde

18/08/2021

On Tuesday Liam was up at the crack of dawn for the daily grind. The kids enjoyed a leisurely start to the day. Lachlan’s getting good at tummy time and his survival instincts have kicked in, he has to keep an eye on enthusiastic Eloise.

Sophie and the kids left Liam behind and pushed on with setting up the house. After a tumble with a large mattress, spirits were lifted when Eloise heard the distinctive tunes from the local ice cream van. With no time to spare, they raced out the front door with no shoes, Lachlan had a concerned look on his face. Eloise was very pleased to learn that the house is directly on the local ice cream van route, let’s hope it is not daily.

Liam arrived at the house just as Eloise was cleaning herself up from the ice cream. She looked like she was having the time of her life.

This morning we were low on food at the apartment so Soph and the kids went for a stroll up Argyll Street for some munchies. Impressively Eloise ran alongside Mum the whole way without skipping a beat.

Once Liam finished work for the day we thought we would go for a short stroll, but it turned into quite the adventure. We left with the intention of a short walk down to see the River Clyde. 

River Clyde (Scottish Gaelic: Abhainn Chluaidh) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major city of Glasgow. Historically, it was important to the British Empire because of its role in shipbuilding and trade.

It was such a beautiful day so we figured we would push on past Glasgow Bridge to see the Clyde Arc.

After crossing the Clyde Arc, you could see the massive Finnieston Crane.

The Finnieston Crane or Stobcross Crane is a disused giant cantilever crane in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is no longer operational but is retained as a symbol of the city’s engineering heritage. The crane was used for loading cargo, in particular steam locomotives, onto ships to be exported around the world. It is one of four such cranes on the River Clyde, a fifth one having been demolished in 2007, and one of only eleven giant cantilever cranes remaining worldwide. The first crane to be called ‘Finnieston Crane’ was moved from a site opposite York Street to Finnieston Quay in 1848.

In the background, there was also the Armadillo and the Hydro.

The SEC Armadillo (originally known as the Clyde Auditorium) is an auditorium located near the River Clyde, in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of three venues on the Scottish Event Campus, which includes the SEC Centre and the SSE Hydro. Many comparisons have been made with the Sydney Opera House, although this was not the architects’ inspiration for the design, which was in fact an interlocking series of ship’s hulls, in reference to the Clyde’s shipbuilding heritage.

We then strolled back down the Clyde and detoured to check out the city. We are about to move out of the Merchant City, there is still so much to see. We had a quick stop at Central Station. 

Glasgow Central (Scottish Gaelic: Glaschu Mheadhain) is one of two principal mainline rail terminals in Glasgow, Scotland. The railway station was opened by the Caledonian Railway on 1 August 1879 and is one of 20 managed by Network Rail.

Then we made our way to George square, there were lots of Glaswegian lapping up the sun

After all the walking it was time for a Scottish treat. We tried our first Pizza Crunch (deep-fried pizza) common in Scotland and Italy with a deep-fried mars bar.

The deep-fried Mars bar was a big hit. The pizza was interesting, but I could feel my life expectancy shortening with each bite. Like always, Eloise was very good at sharing and made sure we all got our fair share.

The sun was still shining strong but the clocks said it was time for dinner and bed, so back to the apartment it was.

Nali and Grandma don’t worry, they did feed me some proper food.