44 | Cycling World
Glasgowopolis
Gordon Cairns takes a futuristic ride along the Clyde to the heat of Glasgow
The precinct of Glasgow ' s media hub could have been created by a cartoonist from the fifties imagining a futuristic metropolis . This unusual cityscape with its rocket-shaped Science Tower across the river and assorted oddly shaped buildings is our starting point to cycle along the banks of the River Clyde , taking us into the city ' s industrial past . Even reaching it is slightly futuristic , as we cycle through a massive corrugated orange tube which takes us up and over the Exhibition Centre train station then spits us out at the city ' s newest music venue , the Hydro .
Another curious aspect of the architecture here are the close proximity of the bridges , two footbridges straddle the river within pebble skimming distance of each other and a road bridge just a few hundred metres away . In fact , twenty two bridges cross the river and act as distance markers on the trip I am taking with my 10-year-old son Noah . There are also a couple of tunnels under the river . Does this say something about the citizens of Glasgow , I wonder , never happy with the side of the river they are on .
We head out of the car park of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre on what feels like the first sunny day of the year towards the largest remaining artefact of the city ' s industrial age , the Finnieston Crane , a 175-ton colossus which was built to load steam engines onto ships to be exported across the world . Now standing out-with its industrial context , it is like a giant toy abandoned by a bored child .
We navigate over the ' Squinty Bridge ', so called for the angle it crosses the river and drop back down to the riverside passing the long disused Anderston Quay , now converted into flats , with the Kingston Bridge , the main motorway artery taking traffic south west , looming above . On the other side of the bridge is a section skirting the financial district of the city which has been landscaped in recent years into a wide , ramped section ideal for cycling through stone benches and bollards . Here is another remnant of Glasgow ’ s past as a starting off point for sea voyages from the city that once built more than half of the World ' s ships . We pass a group of cycling ' s illegitimate offspring , a bunch of baggy kids doing stunts on their tiny BMX bikes . Meanwhile , on the water sits the creaking Renfrew Ferry , a nightclub and live music venue with a carpet of river debris connecting it to the shore . We soon have to dismount and carry our bikes up a set of stairs to get under the George the Fifth Road Bridge which sits alongside the second Caledonian Railway Bridge , an impressive Victorian structure which carries thirteen tracks into Glasgow ' s Central station and at one point was the widest railway bridge over a river in the country .
The next bridge we pass is my favourite ; a Victorian suspension bridge which gently vibrates as you cross