TREKS AND THE CITY

Explorer Kat finds little-known gems where you'd least expect them...a stone's throw from housing estates and industrial towns

- DAN VEVERS

MEET Kat Jones - the woman on a mission to flag up the hidden country pathways snaking their way through Scotland's industrial heartlands.

I took a weekday morning out to join Kat on one of her epic walks, which took us from Loch Ardinning near Strathblane to Lennoxtown, in Dunbartonshire and featured the iconic Campsie Fells as a backdrop.

This is one of 25 hikes Kat has identified around Glasgow - all within striking distance of the city's housing estates and surrounding towns.

She's covered a huge 125-mile stretch, spanning all the linked green belts in the Greater Glasgow area and has covered areas including Dumbarton, Milngavie, Cumbernauld, Motherwell, Hamilton, East Kilbride, Newton Mearns, Bridge of Weir and more.

Kat's voyage has seen her wading through wilderness and bogs, scaling deer fences and discovering unlikely hidden gems everywhere from Airdrie to Kilsyth to Port Glasgow.

Green belts exist around Glasgow to ensure those in urban areas can access the countryside - and prevent cities sprawling into the rural environment.

And Kate has made it her mission to raise awareness of the beautiful trails that are close but often unknown to people living in busy urban streets.

As we got our hike underway, Kat, 49, told me: "A lot of people don't realise green belts exist - and also, there are green belts of a variety of different qualities.