Walks you can reach from Cardonald by train

Highly recommended: wonderful views out across the Firth of Clyde to the islands and the Cowal Peninsula. Walks almost entirely on quiet tarmacked back lanes with verges and hedges full of wild flowers and well above the busy coast road. Easy going overall with a few quite steep uphill sections. Wemyss Bay has one of the most beautiful railway stations in the country.

Lunch: No facilities along the way (other than a bus stop north of Skelmorlie Bridge); cafe and toilets at Wemyss Bay and plenty at Largs.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A very direct, varied urban walk full of contrasts, mixing main roads, residential streets, high streets, footpaths, parks and greenspaces through old and new and upmarket and downmarket neighbourhoods. Some steps at the Shettleston end. Passes the Hovis factory and over the St Enoch subway station; intersects many bus routes.

Lunch: Many shops, cafés, takeaways and restaurants, especially around Glasgow Central and Argyle Street; a wide choice of eating around the halfway point near Duke Street, then options thin out until Shettleston.

Warnings: The wooded entrance to Greenfield Recreation Ground may feel daunting for solo walkers at quiet times. Some steps, including at Shettleston station.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

A fairly direct urban route on pavements that climbs out of Bishopbriggs to Springburn Park, then drops through Springburn and follows the main road into central Glasgow and weaving cleverly through underpasses and flyovers around the M8 junction. Includes a number of steps. Connects Glasgow's two main railway stations and the bus station, passing George Square; Springburn station is also on the route.

Lunch: Shops and facilities at Springburn around the halfway point.

Warnings: A short stretch runs along the busy A803, and the footways negotiating the M8 junction can be fume-filled and tricky to navigate.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Time: 4h30

Warnings: Can be very muddy or boggy.

Walk details: Railwalks.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

An easy, well-surfaced city walk with lovely sections beside the Clyde and through Glasgow Green and following the Clyde Walkway. Straightforward to navigate. Follows the Clyde Walkway and the main cycle route; a riverside stretch near the Police Scotland building was under repair (April 2022) but easily detoured via the road bridge.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Follows good paths all the way between the two town centres and sticking largely to the vehicular route with one quieter stretch beside Thornley Dam. Some exposed sections can be tough in strong wind.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

the views however are excellent. A largely road-based route, fairly dull in places, leaving Bishopton on pavemented roads and a short estate path, then about a kilometre on pavement-less Drumcross Road before good pavement leads up onto the Erskine Bridge. The bridge crossing is safe behind barriers, with a few short diversions onto the cycle lane and a fairly simple but one steep downhill section into Old Kilpatrick. Crosses the Erskine Bridge. A garden centre at the south end of the bridge has toilets and a cafe.

Lunch: Garden centre with toilets and a cafe at the south end of the Erskine Bridge.

Warnings: Drumcross Road (after the M8) has no pavement or verge for about a kilometre, with bends requiring crossing sides; care needed with constant traffic. One steep downhill section into Old Kilpatrick.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

One of my favourite routes so far; an interesting and attractive route; incredible how lovely the route is; so many great scenes of natural and man-made beauty. A pleasant, mostly leafy and largely accessible walk along the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Kelvin Walkway, following the river on good, shaded, mostly paved paths through parks and Glasgow's more attractive districts and with only one road crossing. A little steep in Kelvingrove Park with a few cobbles onto Elderslie Street. Follows the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Kelvin Walkway, passing through Kelvingrove Park and Glasgow Botanic Gardens (including the arboretum). Good for wildlife watching; dipper, grey wagtail and kingfisher have been seen. Note the navigation switchback at the Kelvin Aqueduct where the walkway meets the canal.

1 lunch spot: the Inn Deep

Warnings: Long stretches of the riverside route are unlit, so it can feel lonely, especially in the evenings. Botanic Gardens and some parks are gated and close around dusk, so it is not a 24-hour route.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

really good views along the river; the wonderful Glasgow Central Station. A short, straightforward and functional urban route through south-west Glasgow, taking a necessary long way around to avoid motorways, railways and sometimes-derelict industrial areas and before reaching the River Clyde and crossing the traffic-free Tradeston (Squiggly) Bridge into the city centre. Past the grand tenement houses of Pollokshields. Passes the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed Scotland Street School Museum (recently under renovation). Crosses the Clyde on the Tradeston 'Squiggly' Bridge.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

particularly good views north to Ben Lomond. Follows the main road for most of its length and so fairly noisy with many side roads to cross. There are good views and one high point near Elderslie Golf Course; an adjacent cycle path offers a quieter but lonelier alternative.

Walk details: Slow Ways.