Running in Abronhill and Palacerigg

I grew up, went to school, and lived for nearly 30 years in Abronhill, Cumbernauld.  I was back last week visiting my Gran and Granda, and so packed my trainers with me to take the opportunity to run a route not on my normal rotation of Edinburgh runs.

Showing Gran how to take a selfie!

I decided to run to Palacerigg Country Park where I haven't been in more years than I care to imagine.  I had no idea how far away it was but I guessed around 2 miles (not bad guess - it was 1.8 miles).

The route

It was strange to be running around Abronhill and Palacerigg.  I ran on pavements that I haven't been on since I was at school.  I know it's a cliche, but everything seemed smaller!  I am sure I am not much taller now than I was when I was 16, but probably my most vivid memories of the area is playing there when I was around 10?

Familiar gates

The run itself was right in the middle of my running apathy and I found it hard.  It was all uphill on the way there and right at the start as I went through one of Abronhill's many underpasses, I got very wet feet - I couldn't avoid running through a giant puddle.  Come to think of it, I think that giant puddle has been there for 30 years as well!

Homeward bound

Although the run itself was hard, I did enjoy my trip down memory lane and did take a lot of photos.  I ran past ponds where I used to collect frog spawn.  I remember walking this way with my Granda and having to turn back at a certain point because we weren't allowed to go any further with his dog.  I used to just wander up to Palacerigg with my friends of an afternoon, back in the day when they used to come around to your house and ask if you were coming out.  The answer was never, "Why?"  :-D

Palacerigg Golf Course.  Just missed out on hosting the Ryder Cup to Gleneagles (possibly).  

The actual Memory Lane (possibly).  

I can see the petrol station from here! 

Home!

I've mapped out a 10k route that I can run next time I am over and need to keep up 10ktober.  Here's the route.  I vaguely remember running this route before years ago when I was a part-time runner.