Renfrewshire

11 miles / 18 km

This is a long and interesting walk over the hills from Stewarton to Neilston and Barrhead. It is long but also very scenic. The views here are excellent on the backroads between the Clyde valley and Ayrshire. This is a beautiful area and this walk is the best way of exploring it. I do this walk on an annual basis as it is one of my favourite walks.

Very Hard

This walk is an up the hills and down again on the other side type of walk. The hills are not steep. They are long, though. This walk is on small roads and then some good gravel paths. This walk is a very good test of endurance in addition to being a very beautiful walk. Very good shoes and plenty of drink are required here.

Train to Stewarton from Glasgow Central/Barrhead 2 times an hour.

When leaving the train at Stewarton train station, take the Rigg Street down to the right past the ESSO station to the next crossroad. Take the road to the left here, the High Street past the shops. The road is starting to climb a lot here out of Stewarton. You are now on Old Glasgow Road.




The pavement ends midway through the climb and you are following the road verges here on the sparsely trafficked road. After 2 miles / 3 km from leaving the train, take the small road to the left, signposted Dunlop. The road now becomes pretty flat for a while. In the distance, the climb up to the Harelaw Road can be glimpsed.



It is also a good idea to look back down the hill here and observe Stewarton and Ayrshire from this angle. See this picture...



The climb up to Harelaw Road is steep, but not that long. It looks far worse from the distance than it really is. The walk now follows a broad ridgeline with some great views towards the west. This small road climbs past some farms, farmfields and treelines. The climbs are not bad at all. This is a really scenic part of this Ayrshire/Renfrewshire borderlands.



The road here on the top of this ridge is undulating with some climbs and descents. Both Long Loch and Harelaw Dam can be glimpsed to the right before the road crests the final hill, and all the pleasures of Harelaw Dam are in front of you. See the next two pictures.










The road descends pretty steeply down to the dam and under it before it climbs again. The detour to the dam and the fishing hut is a must-do detour and break in the walk.

The road now climbs sharply over another short hill before it descends down to a car park. Take the path straight ahead here and through a small gate. Then follow this gravel path until the next crossroad, where you take the path down to the left. Craighall Dam is now below you to the left.



The path descends to the dam on the right side of the loch here and then climbs a bit through a forest before it reach another crossroad. Take the path to the left here, down the hill to the end of the path at the top of Kingston Road. Take this road on the pavements down to Neilston where you can, if you want to shorten this walk, take the train to Glasgow or the bus down Glasgow/Barrhead/Paisley.
This walk continues down the Neilston Road with some excellent views over Glasgow, past the graveyard and down to Barrhead. At the end of this road, take the Kelburn Street to the right and then the Cross Arthurlie Road to the left down to the Barrhead train station and the bus stops here, where this walk ends.

Train to Glasgow 2 times an hour.
McGill's Bus 51/66 to Paisley 4 times an hour.