Lunderston Bay

Lunderston Bay claims to be the nearest sandy beach to Glasgow and it's in between Gourock and Inverkip.  One sunny Wednesday, I took a trip (during the school holidays) with just the two boys (3 years and 3 months).

The bay is very scenic with views across the firth of Clyde.  The beach is sandy but with lots of shingle too.  I think the southern end of the beach may have been sandier than the spot where we were as I could see lots of castles being built.  If you want fine, golden sand, this isn't it.

It's a small stretch, may be 200 metres at the most.  In between the car park and the beach is a small area of grass with some picnic benches.  There are also toilets.

 We threw stones in the water, spotted crabs and shells (I think the rockpooling there might be good), built a sandcastle, had a picnic and a paddled.  The water was very clear and waves gentle.  The beach was very clean with no litter.  Our fellow seasiders were friendly.  We also walked along a short section of the coastal path.

After all this, we went across the (fast) road to Cardwell Garden Centre, which has a large cafeteria, for ice-cream and a go in their sandy play area.  The road was quite hairy to cross with the pram and a three year old, especially as everyone had parked clear across the pavement.  The Garden Centre seems to be in a 70s time warp and the service wasn't too good but the homebaking was excellent and they had  good range of ice cream.  Angus could have spent a long time in the play area.

We arrived at 10.45 and left about 3, so it was a full day out.  There was lots of parking early on but very busy when we left, so my tip would be to get there early, play and then have your picnic.  It was a very easy drive from Glasgow and took 45 minutes.  You go straight along the M8/A8 and then it is residential roads and my sat nav was definitely needed.

You can get lunch in the garden centre and there was an ice-cream van in the car park but no other catering.  The toilets were terrific, very clean with hot water.  Logistically, I found the trip tricky as my travel system couldn't negotiate the beach.  It would have been much easier with friends.  There were lots of dog walkers, so if your child is worried about dogs, it's not the best beach for them.