Photographs, route description and map of a walk around Neilston Pad on the South West of Glasgow

Location: East Renfrewshire
Map: OS Landranger 64
Distance: 4 miles ( 6km )
Time: 2-3 hours
Grade: Moderate countryside walk

The oddly-named Neilston Pad ( 260m / 853ft ) is a lump of a hill overlooking the town of the same name on the outskirts of Glasgow.
This walk begins at Neilston railway station since it’s the most convenient point, especially with the excellent train service from Glasgow Central, and while this means a suburban section at the start and end of the walk it gives you an opportunity to warm up and provides an easy ﬁnish.
The area is well used by residents and has a multiplicity of paths and tracks so follow the directions carefully — though you are unlikely to get seriously lost.
The OS map shows half a dozen reservoirs, two of which, Snypes and Craighall, feature on the walk. Others can be seen from the summit of the Pad. The main panorama, however, is over the city of Glasgow to the north, extending to the Campsie Fells, and west into Ayrshire.
You might even spot Arran on the horizon on a clear day.
To the east, looking over Harelaw Dam and Long Loch, the skyline is dominated by the massive Whitelee windfarm, the UK’s biggest and seemingly still growing.
Much of this walk is on good tracks with a decent surface. The central section on the Pad itself follows paths which are inclined to be a little squelchy. Decent boots are therefore a prerequisite. Needless to say, as the view from the Pad is one of the main attractions of this walk, try to pick a good day to enjoy it to the full.
A judicious study of the OS map will suggest further extensions to the walk described here, including possibly a leg out to Harelaw Dam, an attractive sheet of water well used by both birds and anglers fishing for trout.
Neilston itself is not without interest. It has a history stretching back nearly 900 years when the wonderfully-named Sir Robert de Croc built a chapel here linked to Paisley Abbey, and following the industrial revolution it became a centre for cotton manufacture.
All that has gone and today its main attraction is perhaps the varied countryside which surrounds it, part of which is explored on this walk.

Route:

Take one of the regular trains from Glasgow Central station.
From Neilston station, turn right on High Street. which becomes Kingston Road.
In 800m, where the pavement ends, turn left on a track and follow it to Craig of Neilston Farm.
Go right through a gate and follow the track across a field to another gate.
Leave the track here and go ahead, uphill then left on a path which contours the hill at the edge of the wood. The path climbs steadily to a junction. Turn right here to cross a stile over a fence and climb the Pad.
Return over the stile to the path and follow it down through woods to a track.
Turn right and follow this track, passing Craighall Reservoir, for nearly 2km through several gates to meet the outward path,
Go back through the farm and out to the road, and turn right to return to the station.