Outdoors in Cumbernauld · parks, paths & countryside
87% of Cumbernauld’s residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Footpaths add up to 284 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 5.3 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Cumbernauld add up to 5.3 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical town in England and Wales has 2.1. Cumbernauld has no Outdoors Grade: Scottish towns aren’t graded on the outdoors yet.
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (87%)Further (13%)
Cumbernauld87%
North Lanarkshire towns85%
Towns in England and Wales83%
About 7,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 70 playgrounds are mapped in and around the town, about one for every 722 residents.
National Parks & National Scenic Areas
The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park is 16 mi away
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the locality; circle size shows each one’s area. National Scenic Areas are Scotland’s finest landscapes, chosen by NatureScot.
National ParkNational Scenic AreaThe 5 km the grade counts
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park covers 1,861 km² and has been a National Park since 2002.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Cumbernauld is on the John Muir Way
284 km of footpaths, tracks and core paths are mapped in Cumbernauld and the kilometre around it, 5.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical town in England and Wales has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the town.
NationalRegionalLocalOther waymarked
John Muir Way (Croy to Falkirk)10.2 km
Forth & Clyde/Union Canal Towpath10.1 km
The Antonine Way9.5 km
Up the Hill To Banton5.8 km
Abronhill and Palacerigg Circuit4.8 km
Coach and Horses Canter4.6 km
Camp Castlecary Circuit4.3 km
Frog Trail2.9 km
John Muir Way (Strathblane to Croy)2.0 km
Woodpecker Trail1.8 km
Strathkelvin Railway Path1.2 km
The John Muir Way, a national route, passes Cumbernauld. The regional route here is the Strathkelvin Railway Path.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Scotland has no rights-of-way register: everyone has a right of responsible access to most land, so tracks and councils’ core paths count. Paths are only as complete as the map in each area.
When to get out
The best walking months in Cumbernauld: May to September
The town’s 1991–2020 averages (Met Office HadUK-Grid) and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15 °C or more and little rain for the town.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Daylight (h)
7.6
9.5
11.6
14.1
16.3
17.6
17.0
15.1
12.6
10.3
8.1
7.0
High (°C)
6
7
9
12
15
18
19
19
16
12
8
6
Rain (mm)
142
114
106
72
78
92
111
118
106
139
135
144
April is the driest month (72 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 144 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 62 nights a year. The climate in Cumbernauld →
Things to do
6 viewpoints, 70 playgrounds and the nearest beaches
Mapped within 2 km of the town in OpenStreetMap. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Cumbernauld
What is the biggest park in Cumbernauld?
Palacerigg Country Park, 335 ha (827 acres), with 19.3 km of path. Cumbernauld Community Park (73 ha) is second. 8 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is Cumbernauld near a National Park?
Yes. Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park begins 16 mi north-west of the town’s edge. It covers 1,861 km² and has been a National Park since 2002.
What are the best walks near Cumbernauld?
11 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the town, including the John Muir Way (Croy to Falkirk), Forth & Clyde/Union Canal Towpath and The Antonine Way. Palacerigg Country Park alone has 19.3 km of path.
What is the nearest beach to Cumbernauld?
Sandy Cove (Old Picnic Spot), 11 mi from the edge of the town, then Sandy Bays (11 mi). Cumbernauld itself is inland.
How many people in Cumbernauld live near a park?
87% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (NRS Census 2022 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical town in England and Wales is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Cumbernauld?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
How is the Outdoors Grade worked out?
From five measures, each placed among UK towns of 1,000 or more: public green space per resident, the share living near a park, National Park or National Scenic Area within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Cumbernauld’s overall grade.
National Parks and National Scenic Areas: Scottish Government and NatureScot boundaries (Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, Cairngorms; the 40 National Scenic Areas), clipped to land, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Photo: David Bremner · CC BY-SA 2.0