Up until the mid-fifties, before the advent of car ferries, cattle were walked down the piers, up short wooden gangways and with hurdles put in behind them, crossed the Clyde on the open deck.
Whiting Bay pier, the longest on the Clyde, saw its fair share of cattle being exported.

One day in the late Forties a cow got spooked and before it could be calmed down it leapt off the end of the pier and into the sea. By the time the steamer left and small boats organised to look for it there was no sign of the poor beast.
Later that night a lady had crossed the Union Bridge heading along past Seaside Cottages on her way to turn up the gully to her home in King’s Cross. It was a calm, clear night and with the moonlight reflecting off the sea she wasn’t using a torch.

Terrified, she ran round the side of the houses and in by the back door of one of them. Electricity had not reached the houses by then so it wasn’t as simple as switching off all the lights to see what was lurking outside. When the occupant of the house had calmed the terrified woman down, she went outside with a torch and a poker.
There on the lawn was a very forlorn, tired, shivering cow with long strands of seaweed hanging from its wide horns.

Being from a small herd nearby it was very used to being around people, so on hearing the lady’s footsteps approaching the bushes it had collapsed behind, it had struggled to its feet looking for a kind word and company after its long ordeal.

A Contributed Tale for Whiting Bay Memories

Remember this tale the next time you cross the Union Bridge!