River Clyde Valley

Travelling south-east of the city, the M74 takes you to the Clyde Valley area and Lanarkshire, where there are many interesting places to visit.  The first is at Blantyre where the David Livingstone Centre relates the life of this famous 19th century Scottish explorer who died seeking the source of the River Nile.  Nearby are the ruins of the 13th century Bothwell Castle.  Worth visiting are also the National Museum of Scottish Country Life in East Kilbride and the extensive Chatelherault Park in Hamilton, where there are many walks, a visitor centre and a birds of prey centre.

The most popular attraction in the Clyde Valley is New Lanark, a village built by Robert Owen in the late 18th century to meet the social welfare needs of his cotton mill workers (including a nursery school, adult education classes and sick pay).  There  are exhibits of the millworker's house, a steam engine used for the mills, weaving looms, the school, the 1820 village store and an audiovisual presentation of the life of a 10-year old mill worker.  The New Millennium Experience is a high-tec ride on a chairlift which relates the village's past and Owen's social vision for the future.  The 90-foot Falls of Clyde and the Scottish Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre (look out for the bats and badgers) are nearby.
 
About 10 miles south-east of Lanark, on the A72, is the attractive town of Biggar which adjoins the Scottish Borders.  Biggar has many interesting museums and attractions, including the Moat Park Heritage Centre displaying the geology and architecture of the area, the 17th century Greenhill Covenanter's House, Gladstone Court museum, the 1839 Gasworks Museum and Biggar Puppet Theatre.  A walk up the 711-metre Tinto Hill from Thankerton provides an excuse for a meal at Cornhill House in Coulter, La Capannia Restaurant in Biggar or the 18th century New Lanark Mill Hotel..

Information
There is a tourist office in Ladyacre Road in Lanark and in the High Street in Biggar.  Trains and buses run from Glasgow to Lanark and there is an hourly bus from there to New Lanark.  Buses run from Glasgow, Lanark, Edinburgh and Peebles to Biggar.