Two days in Glasgow

June 25, 2025 to June 26, 2025

There are two choices of areas to stay in Glasgow: downtown or the West End. We picked the West End and we now recommend it. We stayed off the Great Western Road, a busy historical commercial street with shops, bars, coffee places, restaurants. The side streets are quiet so it’s a nice balance.

Our flat on Belmont street was cute and roomy, with a large bedroom, large living area, large bathroom with a great tub and large entryway in which we stored the bikes. It had wonderful high ceilings. Since has been cool in Glasgow right now, there was no need for AC. Indeed we were more apt to need an extra blanket! The only thing that wasn’t large was the “kitchen” which was a cabinet with a micro-wave and mini fridge and some utensils for wine, coffee/tea and simple, take-away eating. Catherine had kitted the “kitchen” out with milk, granola, coffee and tea. It worked fine for us. We learned Catherine lives in the flat downstairs and that unit has the real kitchen - so obviously the house was split up at some time. The unit was plenty large and I can already tell we will be tromping around looking for our stuff when we leave.

The bedroom is spacious with plenty of room for us to lose our crap!

We were able to park and charge our bikes in the entryway.

Large bath with separate tub and shower.

Catherine was lovely and we met her two dogs, Delia (a bit old and cranky) and Scout (young and perky). She has a restaurant nearby and we may try to eat supper there one night. The first night we just walked down to the local pizza place which provided a very good wood fired pizza. We beat the average age of everyone in there by about 50 years! A lot of students…..And we also stopped at the local artisan liquor store where Dave bought a wee bottle of local Scotch (Dave: Kilchoman for those of who want to know. A favorite Islay whisky of mine as well as of my friend, Robert).

We had a few appointments and chores to do, so the first morning we got right to them. We (or should I say Dave) had to do laundry .We looked up the nearest place, Park Road Launderette, only a few blocks away. Even laundromats are now in the tech age. There was an app where you book and pay. You drop your laundry off and they text you when it was done. After dropping our laundry off we rode over to Dale’s Cycles where I had made a reservation for service back when we started the trip. It was a two mile ride through some okay but not that great parts of Glasgow. Dale’s Cycle’s is on the edge of downtown in a mixed industrial/commercial area. It was a beautiful store and while we were getting our bikes checked in we gawked at the latest in e-bikes. We had a good discussion with one of the mechanics, Dougie. Dave had a bunch of stuff he wanted done but all I cared about was getting a mirror on the right side so if I get sideswiped, at least I will have seen it coming.

Jill's strange expression was due to poor timing on my part when I took this shot.

After the bike drop off we walked over to Tiso, which we learned was an outdoor store like REI (for those Americans reading this).

Tiso is an excellent and complete outdoors door. It even has a decent coffee shop/restaurant in the upper floor.

We went over there to get a coffee in their cafe but when we saw they had outdoor stuff, including a selection of merino wool clothing, we went shopping. We are already sick of our clothes and were excited to purchase a few new items. This will require me to ditch a few things in my panniers to make room, but I am willing! My current long underwear are on their fourth tour and threadbare. That night we both wore new tops to dinner. We had coffee in Tiso’s cafe and met Nevis, a pretty adorable 13 week old Weimaraner.

Nevis was as boisterous as he was adorable and wanted to meet everyone in the cafe.

Afterwards we visited the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the signature Glasgow museum. The building itself was built in 1901 and it has an amazing central hall with an organ. We were there right in time for the 1 pm organ concert which is in Dave’s wheelhouse as he particularly loves organ music. (Dave: As a kid. I was required to take music lessons and my dad made the mistake of telling me I could play any instrument I wanted, and, thinking I'd pick trumpet or the triangle. I chose the organ. I was never all that good at it, but I developed a healthy appreciation for the complexities of coordinating multiple keyboard, pedals and stops. I learned on a humble Hammond organ but grew to love hearing the live majestic organ in our church, and that continues to this day. The organ at the Kevingrove is awesome and the acoustics in the main hall of the museum were awe- inspiring.)

The organist was amazing and he and his instrument truly rocked the place! Note the lower left and right where you could watch his feet dance on the pedals while his hands played on the several keyboards.

The Museum is huge and we only saw two exhibits: the first on Scottish artists, such as the Glasgow Boys (who painted between 1880 to 1895) and art relevant to the Scottish identity: tartans, Scottish landscapes, Scottish heroes like Robert the Bruce, William Wallace and Mary Queen of Scots. The second exhibit we looked at was on Glasgow architecture and the work and influence of Charles Rennie Macintosh, who was the seminal architect in Glasgow in its heyday around the turn of the twentieth century. Afterwards we had lunch at the Brewdog Brewery and sampled some Scottish beers. It was kind of a college hangout but we sat at the bar and Dave had a fun conversation with the bartender about whisky and he wrote out some good recommendations for pubs to visit.

Dave had a 3 pm appointment at Westend Hair because he has been looking a little shaggy. Unfortunately there turned out to be two hair places called WestEnd Hair on Great Western Road so naturally he went to the wrong one. There was a fair amount of wandering around trying to work out what happened. He finally arrived 15 minutes late to the correct WestEnd Hair but it wasn’t a problem; they gave him a coffee and chalked it up to clueless American syndrome.

His haircut looked great, fyi.

That evening we had dinner at Catherine’s restaurant, the Left Bank. It bills itself as modern European, and the cuisine was a fusion of (East) Indian and European flavors. Our sea bass cooked in the tandoori style was really good. Catherine had called ahead letting them know we were coming so we got an extra set of starters complements of her! We had a fun conversation with the maître d', Callum, who was pretty well-traveled (having just returned from Crete and the US) and he gave me a good tip on a place to stay in Crete (Artemis Apartments). (We don’t know what we are doing the last six weeks of our trip so I am open to all ideas, whether or not they are bike-oriented). Callum said the hospitality industry is struggling in Glasgow, things haven’t recovered fully from Covid, and the state of the world has discouraged travel and discretionary spending.

Callum writing down some travel tips for Jill.

The following day we walked the two miles to pick up our bikes at Dale’s Cycles, hoping to get some exercise on a non-cycling day. Our bikes are now a thing of beauty.

Jill now has a mirror on the right hand side, and is a much happier rider as a result.

As it turned out I didn’t have to buy a new mirror; Dougie, our technician, worked out how to move my existing mirror I have to right handle bar above the handlebars, rather than below. It works great. I also had a bent kickstand which has now been corrected. It was an extremely positive experience at Dale’s and they were very professional.

We rode our bikes over to MacIntosh at the Willow where I had booked a tea at 2 pm. I wanted to do a formal tea at least once while we are in the UK and my research suggested that Macintosh at the Willows would be a good bet. Dave had low expectations of this experience and he turned out to be pretty amazed.

Back when Glasgow was a hopping, growing place in the late 19th century, it was starting to be acceptable for women to work outside the home. At the same time, the suburbs were growing and people didn’t have the time to go home for lunch. Catherine Cranston, a local business women, developed the teahouses to allow women to meet in a respectable place. Because she was a strong advocate of the temperance movement, the teahouses were alcohol free. She worked with Charles Rennie MacIntosh, the famous architect, to develop a number of teahouses and they became a unique part of the Glasgow identiy - due to Macintosh’s Art Nouveau style. Macintosh worked in partnership with his wife, Margaret Macdonald Macintosh, who was an artist in her own right. The Willows opened in 1903, strictly for women. The teahouses went out of vogue by the 1940s but a foundation was formed to recreate the teahouse. The Salon de Luxe, where we dined, is an exact reproduction of what it looked like, down to the furniture and china, during its heyday.

The five course menu with the first course of savories.

(Dave: While visiting the MacIntosh exhibit at the Kevingrove, Jill was approached by what she described as an extremely handsome young man who was clearly well versed in the styles of the MacIntosh husband/wife team. He proceeded to take her around and explain several of the exhibits to her including this beautiful panel created by Margaret MacDonald MacIntosh for the tea room and a replica of this work is part of the tea room's decor.)

The panel looks like much of Gustov Klimt's work.

The tea meal itself consisted of one glass of champagne, three pots of tea (all different blends created on-site), and five courses: starters, scones, sandwiches with the crusts cut off, cakes and petit fours. We waddled out of there after 2 and a half hours in a food coma. It was way too much food but they let us take home several takeaway boxes. What was interesting was the talk that Jamie our server gave in between courses. We learned all about the history of the teahouses and fun little details about the furniture, chandeliers, bathrooms, personalities etc. It wasn’t something we ever need to repeat but it was an original experience. Afterwards we met Adria and her son Jasper from San Francisco, also cyclists, but not on this trip!. They were in the UK for a solstice event at Stonehenge.

We rode back to the flat through downtown Glasgow. They have a nice bike trail through downtown on Sausqual Avenue. It was very busy on Great Western Road, due to it being rush hour, but we managed. We had a few hours to digest our food before going back out to the Kings Theatre to see a musical, “Restless Natives.” This turned out to be the perfect play to see in Glasgow. It’s the story of two young restless men in 1985 Scotland, only marginally employed and feeling like there were no opportunities in an economically stagnating Britain. They start robbing tourists buses in Scotland filled with predominantly American tourists who come across looking foolish and naive. They become romanticized as a sort of a Robin Hood pair and become local folk heroes. A female Texas Ranger and her colleagues come over from America to “help” the Scottish police solve the case. There are lots of jokes about Americans and Scots and our cultural differences. The audience was all Scottish and they thought it was hilarious - and we thought it was pretty funny too. We had a very nice conversation with the family in front of us. We have found Scots to be friendly and open.

After the play we walked down to the Bon Accord bar, recommended by our bartender at the Brewdog Pub. Oddly enough, the bartender to serve us was an American, and not only that, he was from Denver, Colorado (as is Dave). In the way of the world they determined they went to the same elementary school? It’s a small world. Why we travel: To meet people from our hometowns…

This pub had a dizzying array of whiskies to choose from. So many whiskies. So little time!

Our bar tender Michael and fellow Denverite.

(Dave: I sampled two whiskies at this pub. The owner recommended Longrow, a Cambletown expression, after I mentioned how much I enjoy the peaty Islay whiskies. It was wonderfully smokey with a distinct peaty back note--an excellent recommendation.)

I also tried the pub's whiskey which they have distilled at the Linkwood distillery in Speyside. This dram was much smoother and had notes of fruit and vanilla and was aged in sherry casks.

Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 1,943 km (1,207 miles)

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