Time on Feet

Route details

There is a big car park at Drumpelier country park. From here head clockwise around the loch and pick up the trail through the woods instead of running along the lochside. After 1 mile take a smaller trail straight ahead of you instead of turning right down the ‘red road’ back towards the loch. This will bring you out onto Gartcosh road. Turn left and cross over the motorway, taking a trail to your right once you have dropped down the hill on the other side of the bridge.

This section of the trail is quite twisty but easy to follow for about a mile to Bishop loch. The next portion of the trail is clearly way-marked and easy to follow all the way to the huge Fort shopping centre. Turn right once you get here down to the junction and get onto Tillycairn Road then Darnaway Street, this will take you to Cardowan Moss nature reserve. Follow the trail markers again to Hogganfield loch, complete a lap, and then return by the same outward route to Drumpelier.

Most of this route is on some really nice dirt trails that don’t ever get particularly sloppy so can be run in road shoes all year round (some big puddles after heavy rain but nothing too bad). It really is a hidden gem that I stumbled across during the COVID-19 summer lockdown in 2020, and I have been churning out mile after mile on it every time I am back in the east end ever since.

If you wanted a shorter option then just stick to exploring Drumpelier, you can make good 4-6 mile loops mostly on trails if you head towards the Coatbridge end. Both country parks are also good locations for tempo runs, fartleks, and road reps, and Drumpelier has a Parkrun on a Saturday.