Eaglesham Moore, a twenty minute drive from Glasgow’s city centre and home to the UK’s single largest on-shore windfarm: Whitelee.
When I was first made aware of the site, I knew that it was a windfarm with a visitor’s centre situated on its edge, which offered exciting and interactive educational programmes for children, had newly built mountain biking tracks which were perfect for beginner riders and family fun, and hosted kid’s activities and trails for long family walks.
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However, when I was invited down to have a look for myself, I was only really interested in standing at the foot of a wind turbine, as this would be a first for me.
The scale of the site was un-comprehendible until I stood beneath one of the mammoth spinning blades attached to one of the towering turbines- the many rocky paths snaking in and out of the marsh land, littered with the beautiful colours of Scotland’s native heather plant. 
It’s hard to imagine that this beautiful and breath-taking area of land was unused and ignored until 2009 when ScottishPower Renewables opened the windfarm and visitor centre.
I took a short walk up to the picnic benches located at the beginning of the four week old mountain biking tracks’, and saw a trio of mums from Glasgow- enjoying a picnic, while their children where running around in the marsh land wearing the clumps of mud that they would soon throw at their siblings.
“If the kids aren’t going home muddy then they haven’t had a good time”- says one of the mothers.
A quick double back in the direction of the visitor’s centre with a quick cut off when I reached the centre of the car park, took me to the ranger’s hut, where I was able to have a good chat with one of the rangers on his shift.
One of the great things about the mountain biking tracks at Whitelee is that they have been pitched at beginner’s to intermediate level with a space further down the course for skills practice. I thought this was a great idea for the track because it continued on the family outing theme which was one of the most prevalent features of the complex.
I had already been over at the tracks prior to my visit with the ranger, but headed back on over after our chat to see if any families had turned up, and if so, to ask them what they thought of the tracks at Whitelee. I was in luck as a family of three pulled up at the picnic benches to take a pit stop for lunch.
The father spoke to me about his thoughts on the mountain biking trails: “The tracks are really good for the kids who are just beginners. I’ve been up here four times and in comparison with the other tracks I’ve visited, it’s definitely one of the best for the young one. The trails are also great to blast around for 4 minutes and then rest.”
At the end of my visit to Whitelee, I had stood at the foot of a wind turbine, which was great, however my time at Whitelee was so much more than ticking an item off my ‘to do’ list. My time at the windfarm had shown me exactly what Whitelee was really all about- a peace resort for families wanting an enjoyable and relaxing break.
It felt good to know that I was able to experience Whitelee for what it is, and was able to see for myself what families got out of it – unconditional fun.
