Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Paisley Museum and Art Gallery
High Street • Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2-5pm • Free
Paisley's bland pedestrianized
High Street
leads westwards from the town hall to the
Paisley
Museum and Art Gallery
. Inside, it's a reasonably attractive civic building with a
decent café, but the main reason for coming here is to see the
Shawl Gallery
, which
traces the familiar pine-cone (or teardrop) pattern from its simple beginnings to
elaborate later incarnations. he
Upper Gallery
houses a small art collection including
works by Glasgow Boys Hornel, Guthrie and Lavery (see p.196), as well as paintings by
local artist and playwright John Byrne.
5
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION
PAISLEY
By train
Regular trains from Glasgow Central run to
Paisley's Gilmour Street station in the centre of town, and
they're a faster, more convenient option than buses.
By bus
#9 (First), #36, #38 and #39 (all Arriva) leave from
Glasgow city centre. Buses leave Paisley's Gilmour Street
forecourt every ten to fifteen minutes for Glasgow
International Airport, two miles north of the town.
Tourist
information
9a
Gilmour
St
(Mon-Sat
9am-5pm;
T
0141 889 0711).
Greenock and around
Newark Castle: Castle Road • April-Sept daily 9.30am-5.30pm • £4.50; HS
GREENOCK
, west of Glasgow, was the site of the first dock on the Clyde, founded in
1711, and the community has grown on the back of shipping ever since. To get there,
you'll pass through
Port Glasgow
, a small fishing village until 1688, when the burghers
of Glasgow bought it and developed it as their main harbour.
Look out for sturdy fifteenth-century
Newark Castle
right on the banks of the river;
the other main attraction is the
McLean Museum and Art Gallery
. he Neoclassical
Custom House
on the dockside is Greenock's finest building, splendidly located looking
out over the river. From the dock in front, tens of thousands of nineteenth-century
emigrants departed for the New World.
McLean Museum and Art Gallery
Union Street • Mon-Sat 10am-5pm • Free
A hundred yards from well-proportioned
George Square
,
close to Greenock West station,
the
McLean Museum and Art Gallery
contains pictures and contemporary records of the
life and achievements of Greenock-born James Watt, a prominent eighteenth-century
industrialist and pioneer of steam power, as well as featuring exhibits on the shipbuilding
industry and other local trades. he small
art gallery
on the ground floor contains work
by Glasgow Boys Hornel and Guthrie plus Colourists Fergusson, Cadell and Peploe.
ARRIVAL AND TOURS
GREENOCK AND AROUND
By train
Hourly trains run from Glasgow Central to
Greenock Central (30min).
By bus
Served by hourly Citylink buses from Glasgow's
Buchanan Street station.
Boat tours
Clyde Marine Cruises (
T
01475 721281,
wclyde-marine.co.uk) operates from Victoria Harbour, a
few minutes from Central Station; it runs a ferry link and
cruise to Loch Long and Loch Goil (May-Sept Mon-Fri
10.30am & 12.45pm; July & Aug Mon-Sat same hours).
GOUROCK
By ferry
CalMac (
T
0800 066 5000,
W
calmac.co.uk) and
the more frequent Western Ferries (
T
01369 704452,
W
www.western-ferries.co.uk) ply the twenty-minute route
across the Firth of Clyde from Gourock (two miles west of
Grennock) to Dunoon on the Cowal peninsula (£4.20), while
a passenger-only ferry runs year-round to Kilcreggan on the
north bank of the Clyde (Mon-Sat 13 daily, also 5 on Sun in
summer; £2.50 single;
W
spt.co.uk ferry).
Wemyss Bay
here's not much south of Gourock until you reach
Wemyss
Bay
, the terminus of the
southern branch of the train line from Port Glasgow. he most memorable part of the