Milngavie

"Milngavie" may mean windmill (Gaelic muileann gaoithe) or windy hill (meall na gaoithe). Local lore derives it from muileann Dhàibhidh, "Davie's mill", but that was somewhere else and Davie was some other guy who wasn't even called Davie. It was a small farming village, sometimes allocated to Stirlingshire and sometimes to Dunbartonshire, before becoming industrial in the 19th century with paper mills and bleach works. It became a leafy well-to-do suburb once the railway arrived in 1863, then was heavily urbanised from 1950 to re-house those bombed out along Clydebank during the war. For a time the Glasgow trams even ran this far out. Those were axed in 1956 but Milngavie retained its rail and bus links to the city, and is now mostly a commuter town.

Milngavie pitched a daring bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Somehow the decision went to Tokyo, then Paris pipped it for 2024. Huh, it's obvious money changed hands... better luck for 2028?

By train: Trains run daily every 30 min from either Glasgow Central or Glasgow Queen Street, taking 25 min via Bearsden. Many of these run direct to Milngavie from Edinburgh or Motherwell, but along slow lines — it's quicker to take the fast train from Edinburgh to change at Queen Street, and from Motherwell to change at Central.

1 Milngavie railway station is central in town. There is a staffed ticket office and machines, coffee kiosk, waiting rooms and toilets. There is step-free access to all platforms.

By bus: Glasgow Citybus 15 runs from Glasgow North Frederick St via Hillhead, Kelvinside, Anniesland and Bearsden to Milngavie, taking just over an hour. It runs every 30 min M-F, hourly Saturday.

Midland Blue X10 / X10A runs from Glasgow Buchanan station via Maryhill and Bearsden to Milngavie (40 min) and continues via Balfron, Aberfoyle and Blairdrummond to Stirling. It runs hourly M-Sa.

McColls Bus 47 runs between Milngavie and Kirkintilloch M-Sa every couple of hours.

By road leave M8 at jcn 16 (from east) / 17 (from west) and follow A81 north through Bearsden.