Greenock Esplanade

Offering unhindered views of the River Clyde and beyond, Greenock's Esplanade is an ideal location to view the comings and goings on the river.

At this time of year Greenock welcomes thousands of visitors on board the many cruise ships that berth at Greenock Ocean Terminal. Today was the first time I had seen MSC Splendida in Greenock.

Dredger Deo Gloria has been busy clearing the river bed around BAE shipyard in Govan and bringing the waste downriver to dump it in deeper open water.

Among the most frequent visitors to Greenock are the many container ships which have been loading and unloading at the Ocean Terminal for many decades.

As the evenings grow longer approaching the summer months others enjoy such activities as swimming and wind surfing.

A trip up-river

With the hope of seeing Renfrew's bascule bridge open, we took a trip last Sunday morning, but when we got there, there was no sign of activity.

After waiting around for a while we learned that plans had changed and that the bridge would be staying down.

The day was not wasted as another opportunity arose for us to get some pictures of dredging work taking place slightly further up the River Cart.

At one time the River Cart was dredged regularly as the river had shipyards as far up as Paisley. That industry is long gone, but the river is sometimes used by barges bringing finished goods from the manufacturing units in the background.

This is  apparently the first time in around twenty years that this section of the river has been cleared.

On our way back down the road we stopped at Erskine Bridge to see the bulker Graig Rotterdam making her way up to Glasgow.