IT has already hitched rides on planes, trains, bikes and boats - and now the Queen's Baton will take a trip on a Clyde puffer.

Kayaking coach Gerry Gallagher will carry the baton on to the replica puffer, Maryhill, for a lap on the Forth and Clyde Canal at Clydebank on Friday.

But it won't just be a special moment for Gerry, who is a member of Drumchapel and Clydebank Kayak Club.

It will also be a highlight of the baton's 248-day international journey for Glasgow 2014 chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin.

It was Lord Smith who commissioned the Maryhill, a reduced scale replica puffer, from the Ardmaliesh Boatyard on the island of Bute.

Launched in 2004, he and his family used the 42ft vessel, named after the Glasgow community he grew up in, for leisure before he gifted it to Forth and Clyde Canal Society.

Maryhill will also take part in the Commonwealth Flotilla on the Clyde on July 26 when 250 boats will create a boating spectacle.

Lord Smith said: "The Glasgow 2014 Queen's Baton Relay has been full of memorable moments.

"But I was particularly delighted when I learned the Maryhill was going to feature in part of the baton's journey."