Set on the edge of Coatbridge, Drumpellier Country Park is centred on two fine natural lochs - Woodend and Lochend. This popular walk encircles Lochend Loch and explores the woodland to its south.
Good paths and tracks.
None to start, but 2km from Blairhill railway station.
Drumpellier Country Park visitor centre.
The walk starts from the large car park on the east side of the visitor centre for Drumpellier Country Park, just off the minor road on the north side of Lochend Loch. The visitor centre has more information on the park and also a cafe and toilets. There is a blue waymarked trail around the loch here, and our walk follows both this and the additional red waymarked loop to the south. Begin the walk by following the path east along the shore of Lochend Loch, soon passing a sculpture of a whale's trail.
When a fork is reached take the path on the right to stay closer to the water, soon crossing a footbridge to reach the Crannog adventure playground. Crannogs were originally Iron Age dwellings constructed on stilts in lochs; coloured buoys on the water mark the site of one here. Keep right at a fork to pass to the right of the adventure playground; eventually the path rejoins the main path left earlier.
A junction of paths is reached near the far end of the loch; turn left here to leave the loch shores, keeping to the left edge of the Peace Garden and to the left of a house. Continue along a tarmac lane through the trees, ignoring paths off on either side, until a turning area is reached. Take the wide path that leaves the end of this turning area on the right, marked with a red waymarker. This area once belonged to the Monks of Newbattle Abbey, and the name Monklands derives from this.
Eventually a path junction is reached just short of the railway line. Go through the metal bike barrier but don't cross the bridge over the railway, instead turning right along the path that runs parallel to it. At the next path junction, ignore a path turning off right into the woods, but at the following junction do turn right - there is a red waymarker. The path now runs between areas of young trees. When a larger path is met at a t-junction turn left along it.
The path passes through a wooden chicane and then meets another; turn left and then immediately right here. Keep right at the next junction and then straight on at a cross-paths - still following red markers. Soon the route returns to the shores of Lochend Loch. Turn left along these to follow the path back to the visitor centre.
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