Lopez Blogs

Part two of an occasional series which I'm going to call "A tourist in my own country".

Yesterday was a rarity - a beautiful, warm, dry day. Faithful travelling companion and I headed off to the conservation village of New Lanark, which is now a very popular tourist destination and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was my first visit to New Lanark (although faithful travelling companion had visited before).

New Lanark is best known as a revolutionary social experiment of its time. A number of cotton mills were built there, back in the 18th century, and the village was subsequently developed by Robert Owen, a pioneer of social reform who had houses built for the mill workers, developed childcare and education and improved working conditions. If you want to know more about Robert Owen and the history of New Lanark, here are some links worth checking out:

http://www.newlanark.org/index2.shtml
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lanark/newlanark/history1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Lanark

After having a look around, we headed up through the woodland trail - I particularly enjoyed the little riverside boardwalk, then we began an energetic climb up to Corra Linn, the first of the Falls of Clyde. Much more fun coming down :)

http://www.swt.org.uk/visit/reserves/FOC/Falls%20of%20Clyde/

As we were only there for a couple of hours, we didn't have time to explore the visitors centre - we'll do that another time, as there's no doubt we'll be returning. New Lanark is a unique and rewarding day out destination, and a great place to get away from it all.

Above: one of the restored buildings.

Above: Wise words indeed: Robert Owen's quotations are as relevant today as when they were first written. We could do with more like him today....

Above: Looking down towards New Lanark, on the way to the Falls of Clyde.

Above: the wild woods.

Above: Corra Linn, one of the Falls of Clyde.

All in all, a fabulous day - beautiful weather, beautiful scenery...and I walked 4½ miles too!