Photographs, route description and map of Drumpellier Country Park in North Lanarkshire in central Scotland

Map of Drumpellier Country Park

Drumpellier lies to the west of Coatbridge.

The park was formerly a private estate and given in 1919
to the Burgh of Coatbridge for use as a public park.

It was designated a country park in 1984.

Drumpellier Country Park contains two natural lochs
( one being a Site of Special Scientific Interest - SSSI ),
lowland heath, mixed woodlands and open grassland.

The Monklands Canal lies towards the southern perimeter of the park.
The lochs and the canal attract a large number of water birds,
both resident ( such as swans and mallard ducks )
and over-wintering migrants,
and the loch shores and woodland floor
provide an abundance of wild flora.

The woodlands are also rich in bird life,
small wild animals and many types of fungi.

Location: Coatbridge
Map: OS Landranger 64 [GR 704 665]
Distance: 7km [4 miles]
Time: 2hr 30mins
Terrain: Mostly waymarked paths

This walk explores the lochs and parkland of Drumpellier Country Park plus the most westerly section of the Monkland Canal.
North Lanarkshire Council recently upgraded and expanded the park’s paths along with the canal towpath east of the park and more will follow.
The westerly section of the canal path is clear and generally ﬁrm, but not yet upgraded.
From the car park beyond the visitor centre follow the path over the small bridge and around the left side of Lochend Loch. Leave the loch side for a tarmac track sign-posted for a nursery, then leave it for a gravel path on the left that brings you on to the nursery access road. Turn left, then right, on to another path into woodland and follow it to the railway. Go through a metal kissing gate and over the railway bridge. Follow the track left, then right at the next junction to cross a bridge over the canal to arrive at Drumpellier Home Farm. Scramble down on the left, to gain the gravel pathway of the canal towpath. Turn left to pass under the bridge.
The ﬁrst section of the canal is unprepossessing, but as you leave the buildings behind, the landscape becomes increasingly rural.
Roads and railways have chopped the canal into separate sections but the water is far from lifeless as occasional herons show.
This section is truncated by the railway and the return route on the other side of the canal is less attractive so you may wish to retrace your steps to the metal kissing gate by the railway bridge.
If you continue, cross the canal at the culvert below the railway and gain a grassy track leading across open ground.
As the path enters woodland keep right at the junction on to more deﬁned track ( but muddier, and rubbish strewn ). Follow it back to the railway bridge and cross but do not go through the metal kissing gate. Instead, turn immediately left on to a grassy track running parallel to the railway. It continues into open ﬁelds planted with new trees and meets a new gravel path.
Follow this to a T-junction beside ruined buildings, where you turn left to reach a high point by a round wood. Descend to a stile and woodland path. Follow it over board walks through marshy woodland to arrive on a straight section with the nursery visible at its end. Turn left to gain Lochend Loch and left again to follow the tarmac path around to the causeway between it and West Pond to arrive back at the visitor centre and car park.