The Falls of Clyde – Waterfalls, Dippers and Otters
A few hours.
The route
Above the old mill village of New Lanark, the Clyde pours through a deep wooded gorge in a run of great waterfalls, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust looks after the woods on either side.
Dippers, kingfishers, ravens and otters live along the river. It's a fine walk for anyone steady on their feet, with lunch back in the village at the end.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
New Lanark
A walk up the gorge to the falls and back, watching the river for dippers and kingfishers, then lunch in the mill village.
About three and a half hoursAbout 3.5 miles on foot
The Falls of Clyde
An attraction
Park in New Lanark's main visitor car park at the top of the hill, following the brown signs by Hyndford Road; the postcode for a satnav is ML11 9BY. Ignore any route by The Beeches, a farm track not meant for cars. It's £3 for the day at the time of writing; bring coins, as card and app payments can fail where the phone signal is weak, though RingGo will take payment for 48 hours afterwards. From the village, by the New Lanark Visitor Centre, steps climb into the reserve, which is free and open in daylight. The Clyde Walkway runs up the gorge past Corra Linn, the biggest of the falls, to Bonnington Linn: 5km there and back, so allow two hours of daylight. Over a hundred kinds of bird have been seen here, dipper, kingfisher and raven among them. Otters are sometimes seen along the bank, most often from January to March, and in autumn the woods turn and the fungi come up. Stay on the waymarked paths and behind the barriers: there are steep drops, high cliffs and deep, fast water, and the paths are muddy and slippery after rain or frost, so wear boots. Keep a dog on a lead by the gorge. The Trust's own visitor centre has closed; toilets are in the New Lanark Visitor Centre, open every day 10am to 5pm, and its New Lanark Café serves lunch until 4pm. The falls are free: the New Lanark Experience ticket is only for the mill exhibitions.
If it rains
The gorge path is out in the weather and slippery after rain; the falls are at their fullest after it. The New Lanark Visitor Centre and its café are indoors.
Duke’s Deli, a restaurant in Lanark.
Make it a weekend
More days out in Glasgow.
Photographs by Pawel Wilkolek and Josep Sarmiento via Google