After being somewhat secretive about it last year (it was a surprise for my father), I am now making a screeching change of direction and telling all and sundry that I have a new version of Hugh MacDonald’s Rambles Round Glasgow coming out.
What do you mean, “Who is he?” He is a Glasgow legend, with a gate of Glasgow Green named after him, a fountain dedicated to him behind the People’s Palace and another on Gleniffer Braes (near Paisley), and even a quotation from him on a stone-tablet-type-thing on the Green as well! But I hadn’t heard of him until the start of last year either, so I’ll forgive you.
He was a journalist who wrote articles about his walking excursions in and near Glasgow, which were massively popular and were collected into a book – Rambles Round Glasgow. It went through lots of editions, and there was a sequel, Days at the Coast. As the Rambles were written in the 1850s, it was understandably quite different from today – in fact, probably more different than you realise, since the bulk of ‘Victorian Glasgow’ (most of the city centre) went up in the 1870s and ’80s, when MacDonald was long dead.
How different? Well the suburb where I live didn’t exist, Woodlands was still a wood, Castlemilk was a castle, not a council estate, and to get to Pollokshaws you had to leave Glasgow and walk for miles through countryside and villages. So pretty different. But then, there are some things that have barely changed physically, like Glasgow Green and Kelvingrove Park, although you won’t find people washing their sheets on the Green any more, and the Kelvin is, thankfully, no longer a stinking stream of pollution.
But of course, you can read all about it in my book. And why do I say “my book” when MacDonald wrote it? Because I spent year adding hundreds and hundreds of footnotes so that you have some idea who he is talking about and what he is quoting (he quotes poetry the way I quote films and song lyrics) and then, never being one to do things by half, I added an introduction and an index too. Phew!
If you want to enjoy the fruits of my (and Hugh’s) labour, you can find the hardback on Amazon right now, or pre-order the paperback (get your library to pre-order it, if you’re skint), or wait for the ebook. Or you could grab a vintage copy without my lovely notes, but as it’s been out of print for 70 years, those are actually more expensive. All the more reason to buy my version!
You can stop reading now, if you want, but for those who are interested, MacDonald’s 21 rambles were to the following locations, usually taking in other places en route from Glasgow:
I. The Public Green
II. Carmyle and Kenmuir
III. Cambuslang and Dychmont,
IV. Blantyre and Bothwell
V. Rutherglen and Cathkin
VI. Cathcart and Langside
VII. Pollokshaws and its Environs
VIII. Eaglesham and Lochgoin
IX. The Earn, Mearns Castle, and Moorhouse
X. Barrhead and Neilston
XI. Cardonald and Crookston
XII. Paisley and its Environs
XIII. Gleniffer and Elderslie
XIV. Govan, Renfrew, and Inchinnan
XV. Partick and Kelvin Grove
XVI. Duntocher and Old Kilpatrick
XVII. New Kilpatrick and the Whangie
XVIII. Milngavie and Strathblane
XIX.Baldernock and Balmore
XX. Kirkintilloch and Campsie
XXI. Robroyston, Auchinloch, and Chryston
But if you have a wee local bookshop, please use them instead! They need our support.
K C Murdarasi 
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