Stirling

Today we went to Stirling. First to the Castle, where we were able to park close to the Castle itself. Walking towards the castle is the impressive sight of a statue of Robert the Bruce, to the left a view over Stirling itself and of course the Wallace Monument.

Everyone enjoyed the castle, it was well preserved, the kids liked the Lions Den (internal courtyard) and had fun "spooking" themselves as they explored the passageways beneath the palace. We checked out the Museum of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. There were unicorns all over the castle and we tried to count them, but there were too many. In one part of the castle they are recreating tapestries of unicorns that would have been there in the 16th Century.

One of the best things we saw at Stirling Castle was the demonstration of the use of medieval weapons - mostly swords. Two guys had mock battles, discussed tactics and mucked about. They were very entertaining and funny. We talked to them afterwards and the kids got to hold some of the swords. The guy we spoke to was 23 from NZ and had been living in Scotland since he was 17, he would like to go back to NZ, but did not think it would be any time soon.


Stirling Castle towers over some of the most important battlefields in Scottish history. It was at Stirling Bridge that William Wallace defeated the English in 1297 and at Bannockburn where Robert the Bruce delivered another defeat in 1314.


Late in the afternoon we drove to the Wallace Monument

Took a picture of everyone with the statue of William Wallace, who looks remarkably like Mel Gibson. We bought our tickets and then boarded the minibus up the hill. Once at the tower we climbed the 246 steps, through the three different galleries, for the magnificent view from the top. The Wallace Monument is a fantastic building, if a bit windswept.

We had afternoon tea in the cafe and checked the visitors book. Imagine our surprise when we found that the Wallace family we had travelled across Europe with on the bus, had been at the Wallace Monument at the same time as we were at Stirling Castle.

Drove back to Edinburgh for our final evening meal. We found a nice restaurant opposite the Scott Monument. The Scott Monument is 200 ft. 6in high and 55ft square at the base; the highest gallery is reached by climbing a total of 287 steps. It was a step sort of day, although this time we chose to look at it, not climb it, food was much more interesting.

Mondo