TERRAIN: surfaced footpaths, all flat
Dog-friendly route
Buggy-friendly route
GETTING THERE: The walk starts and ends at Strathclyde Country Park ‘south’ car parks. Closest train stations are in Hamilton (1.5 miles walk – join route at start point), Motherwell (1.2 miles walk – join route at SE corner of loch) and Bellshill (2 miles walk – join route at the ‘sandy beach playground’)
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From the car park at the southern end of Strathclyde Loch, head towards the loch and then turn left to follow a good footpath around the edge. The loch should be on your right-hand-side.
After approx 1.5 miles at the eastern end of the loch, the path takes you away from the water and into some trees to by-pass a fenced-off area (waypoint 1 on the map). On reaching the other side of this, keep right to head back towards the water.
From here and for the remainder of the walk there are lots of different path options. My route sticks as close to the water’s edge as possible, in other words keeping right at all of the junctions.
Approx 2 miles into the walk, at the northernmost point of the loch, the path takes you away from the loch again in order to get around and across the South Calder Water. Cross the South Calder Water via the footbridge then turn right towards some stone ruins – the Roman Bathhouse (waypoint 2 on the map).
From here keep the river close to your right-hand-side to return to the loch. Again, choose the path options which keep you closest to the water’s edge, eventually passing a kids play area and small sandy beach (usually with lots of geese and swans on it!).
When you reach the main road through the park, walk through the Sailing Centre to arrive back where your walk started.
WALK REPORT – 22nd July 2024 & 17th June 2025
The first time I looped around Strathclyde Loch was whilst biking with my sister, starting at Chatelherault Country Park just to the south. It was a 22 km ride so I thought a bit too long to add as a walk, although I do intend to add a couple of shorter circular walks at Chatelherault at some point so watch this space!
Biking makes it a bit more difficult to take photos, and as a result this lovely wildflower display was the ONLY picture I snapped that day! It was taken towards the northern edge of the loch – near the Roman Bathhouse. So beautiful! I knew I’d need to get myself back to the park soon on a mission to capture more photos of the trail for this report…..
Which I did almost an entire year later, this time on a walk with a friend. To my surprise the colourful wildlflowers had been replaced by thousands of Oxeye Daisies – equally as lovely but not quite the rainbow display I had remembered. There were lots of midges around this part of the walk too – the downside of walking on a warm, muggy morning.
This is a nice easy route, perfect for a stroll to catch up with friends or for a brisk walk or run. It would also be a brilliant Nordic walk route. The paths are surfaced throughout so no muddy shoe risk, although it should be noted that there are LOTS of Geese and Swans here and the paths are often covered in poop!
With a choice of car parks, several kids play areas and picnic benches, as well as a range of water sports in the summer months, Strathclyde Country Park would make a great family day out! Not forgetting the fact that it’s right next to M&Ds theme park…
