Water, power and pedals
A stopover in Glasgow and a bike ride beyond the city reveal how climate change and slavery flow through our family history.
It's around six years ago, and we are sitting on a train tilting its way through the Lake District. We are heading, ultimately, over the Sound of Mull for our family holiday: cycling to Calgary Bay for walks on white sand, glimpsing a sea eagle.
But first a quick stopover in Glasgow, to break the long journey north from our home in England, and for my wife, J, to search for ancestors in the city of her birth. Having moved away aged two, she remembers little of her Glasgow childhood but is proud of her connection to the city and curious about her family’s history here.
After a night’s rest in a hotel, we divide up: J heads to the Mitchell Library to scour the records while I take our young son, G, to the confluence of the Kelvin and the Clyde. There, under the Riverside Museum’s zig-zagging roof, we watch models of famous Clyde-built ships circling a large glass cabinet. G rates each one, picking his favourite; I find it hard to comprehend how the vessels’ life-sized counterparts once slid down the now-silent slipways.