Walkability and Sail-ability

I have been amazed by the ability I have to walk basically anywhere I want to. I have been tracking on my phone health app and am averaging 16,000 steps a day (hence why I keep splurging on chocolate and coffees).

From February 17th to February 19th I was traveling in Glasgow, Scotland. I was there during one of the winter storms [that are seemingly never ending] so took the train into the center of town rather than walking the 30 minutes to get there. My first night I got in late so just went to my host stay and then took an Uber to town to watch the Manchester United v Chelsea game because it was at 8 at night and I didn’t yet know how to get around town well enough to go alone at night.

The next day though, I took the train into town and back to the house but besides that was able to walk absolutely everywhere. I searched around for Henderson family Tartan and that was my main mission. Besides that I was just wandering around the city.

Because I was able to wander easily, I found this great zero waste market!

The store was small but provided many options for people to refill containers with bulk items and buy plastic free products like bamboo toothbrushes and reusable travel mugs. Most of these things are widely accessible yet near where I live in North Carolina so I end up having to order some online, defeating some of the environmental positive impact. It was awesome to see that place near a highly residential area so maybe others would stumble across it like I did. A number of customers came in during the 15 minutes I was there to buy anything from vegetables (that weren’t individually wrapped in plastic like they occasionally are at the grocery store!) to refills of shampoo and conditioner. The most interesting thing I found was a solid shampoo bar that you use for dogs! It even had flea and tick type repellent ingredients included.

I bought some toothpaste tablets to see how they work and to avoid buying more toothpaste in a small tube later on in my journey, I’ll have to see how they work out. After that, I went into the center of Glasgow.

Since I was strolling around without much purpose, other than exploring, I found some interesting signs and places. Below is a great example of signs being used as points of way finding for walkers and bikers. It also has a counter showing the number of bikers that have gone through that path!

You can see how quickly the rain clouds moved in as these pictures were taken 10 minutes apart. And because of that, I found the wonderful Glasgow Women’s Library!

The library features only women authors and was originally created as a way to ensure women’s history was preserved. They have an archive of women’s weavings, pins, embroidery, poetry, articles, etc. Anything used for storytelling! There were of number of researchers there looking through old archives and an art exhibit done by local artists and women who were impacted by domestic abuse.

The space was really nicely laid out and inviting for any reader or researcher. It was interesting because when I told the family I was staying with about it, they had never heard of it. I was surprised that it doesn’t have more reach as a museum for tourists and locals alike.

I continued to wander after a tour of the library since it was sunny out again. I found St. Andrew’s Square and the Glasgow Cathedral. While also noticing massive street murals along my walk to those locations.

The images were great and maybe were created by the university to offer connections to history and current work being done in those buildings.

Many of my findings along the way would not have happened if I was in a car. I may have known to go to tourist spots like the Glasgow Cathedral, but I wouldn’t have practiced crossing the street with cars driving on the opposite side of the road along the way. Having a pleasant pedestrian experience with clear way finding signs, crosswalk signals, and visually interesting locations is something I found in Glasgow and have continued to find in Europe.

Though overall, this image below sums up most of my time in Scotland. Sun and rain and wind. Sometimes all three at the same time.

From Glasgow I traveled to Belfast, Northern Ireland. However, I booked a ticket with a coach company to get to the island of Ireland. I really don’t know what I expected but I was pleasantly surprised.

The trip started in Glasgow, where I had to rush and almost missed my bus at the central bus station. That bus took us to two stops before unloading it’s passengers at the Cairnryan, Scotland port. It took about three hours to get to that port stop. From there I hobbled off the bus, my bag making me feel like a top heavy turtle. [I fell over backwards just the other day arriving to Amsterdam…] No one seemed to be quite sure what was going on and I had sort of imagined a ferry like the small ones in the US. The ones where you can stay in your car and drive on to the boat or you sit on the top level in small plastic seats. I was not expecting a freight ship.

The Stena Line company does a great job emphasizing the sustainable aspect of choosing that boat over flying from Glasgow to Belfast. It’s mission is posted right on the side of the ship, “Connecting Europe for a sustainable future.”

They have small notes around the ship regarding sustainability but their website does a great job of showcasing their work – https://www.stenaline.com/sustainability/.

The most interesting part to me is the multi-use aspect of the transportation. There are not multiple trips being made to move passengers and freight individually. Both can be transported in one trip, reducing the number of trips and having more people travel in a way that produces less carbon (and is cheaper than flying!)

The whole experience with National Express/CityLink/Stena Line was better than expected and I am so happy I chose that bus to ferry option rather than flying. I had a way nicer seat than I would have if I took a budget airline flight!