The Greenock Cut was the Idea of an engineer called Robert Thom who developed it to supply not only drinking water for the inhabitants of Greenock but also water to power the local mills and engineering industries that survived at that time. It was officially opened on the 16th April 1827 and runs for approximately 8 km at a height of 165 metres. One of It's greatest feats was to drive the 21.3 metre, (70'ft)  x 180 ton Great Wheel of the Spinning works of Messrs.Neil, Fleming and Reid  and power more than 34,000 individual spindles in their factory.

The Cut was given protection as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1972. A popular walking route, it was gifted by its owners, Scottish Water, to Inverclyde Council in 2005. The Council immediately began a £1 million project, in collaboration with the Heritage Lottery Fund, to restore the structure to its original condition.

It was nice to see not only our usual Ramblers today but also a couple of local Erskine residents namely Mr.Laurence McWatt, and his son Tony, Hopefully we will see them both out with us again in the future.

Joe Roche