BRAES

The Craigie to The Pad                                                                       

March 2019

A few years ago, when helping with Cubs, we climbed the Craigie as a short evening trip from the southside of Glasgow.  Whilst some were used to hills, for others it was a fresh experience.  It’s a great child's hill - a craggy mini-mountain, set off by water and with panoramic views at its summit.  It provides that important sense of risk and excitement that transports you away from the mundane.

The day I ran here, runners on social media, were describing conditions as "brutal".  Not in my book - it was one of those blustery days that heralds spring and invigorates the soul. 

Starting out, passing the reservoir, the wind created spangled ripples, light ever changing.  I chased my way up the rough path to the summit, hoping to catch the rainbow from there.  Last year's long grass was papery and greying.  In the gusts it rustled and swirled, revealing new shoots, strong and green.  Approaching the top I passed the weathered earthworks of an Iron Age fort.  The views were terrific, but even in the few years I have been coming up, continue to change – more housing  and wind turbines developments nearby. 

Being caught in a squalid short shower during the descent wasn’t an issue, with clouds speeding overhead, I reckoned I would dry off and get soaked again before the run was over.

Whilst this run was focused on two landmark volcanic plugs, there was interest between. With no obvious destination was an avenue of beech trees that has aged gracefully despite the exposed location.  Later, checking historic OS mapping I discovered they were fragments of a long-gone shelter belt. The map indicated a footpath on the untrod line I took towards Neilston Pad - I had been re-treading an old lost way.    

Elsewhere the land rolled and flowed in that distinctive Renfrewshire manner, with hollows that provided wetland habitat or had been reshaped into reservoirs.  I ran past a ewe with lamb sheltering by a whin dyke at the edge of marginal grazing.

In contrast to the rugged Craigie, Neilston Pad is flat topped, as if the moorland had been extruded upwards.  There was a narrow track which twisted round the hill following the woodland edge. It took out the worst of the gradient and was easy to climb. At first when I approached the plateau like top,   I was almost disappointed that it wasn’t more dramatic. The charms of the hill, however, are teased out slowly and following the path the stunning views, set off by a stand of Scots Pine, were eventually revealed when least expected.  

In May the Neilston Pad race takes place. Mick, the organiser, runs around here most Sundays, come rain or shine.  His description is miles away from the norm of running blurbs:

"...enjoy views extending from Tinto Hill to Arran, or to spot the buzzards, dippers, stonechats, roe deer, foxglove and harebells along the route"

A place and a race well worth experiencing, whatever the weather.