Once again, we got up and out of the apartment early and headed back to Stirling, directly to Stirling Castle. We used our Scotland Explorer Pass to get right in and found that there was a free tour at 10am. The tour was really interesting and the guide was funny. We walked all around the beautiful castle which we learned had been built and torn down and rebuilt many times over the centuries as it passed from one King to the next between Scotland and England. This was obvious from the various types of architecture.
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| The whole next group of pictures are of Stirling Castle |
After we left the Castle, we drove "across town" to see the Wallace Monument. (Wallace was the character played by Mel Gibson in Braveheart). The monument is high on a mountain. Since I'd read that there are almost 250 steps inside, we decided to only hike up TO the monument, not hike up INSIDE the monument.
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| View from the Wallace Monument. That's Stirling Castle in the distance |
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| That's Wallace on his monument. |
After the exhausting climb to see the Monument, we drove over to see the Kelpies, a giant sculpture of two horse's heads visible from the highway. Up close they were so impressive!
By now we were starving so we drove to the nearby town of Falkirk and found a small cafe where we had delicious burgers and fries.
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| This was my burger with fresh mozzarella, tomato, arugala, proscuitto and fries! |
Our next stop of the day was the Falkirk Wheel. As boaters who've taken many European boat trips (not cruises - just us with friends on a rented boat for a week), we were excited to see this. It's an engineering miracle to continue a canal down over what would be a waterfall. One part of this canal is much higher than the rest of it and this boat lift allows a boater to travel down it.
The way it works is a boat goes into a kind of giant tub. Then the whole mechanism rotates in a circle. Another giant tub of water with or without a boat in it circles in the other direction - one goes up, one goes down. Then they both sail out.
The way it works is a boat goes into a kind of giant tub. Then the whole mechanism rotates in a circle. Another giant tub of water with or without a boat in it circles in the other direction - one goes up, one goes down. Then they both sail out.
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| The Falkirk Wheel |
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| The orange boat came in on the bottom |
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| You can see the orange boat is going up |
Watch the Falkirk Wheel in motion!
While we were sitting there watching, we started chatting with a nice American couple from Mississippi. Their trip involved WALKING 135 miles across Scotland. They had someone who drove their luggage and they slept in hotels each night.
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| Our Mississippi friends |
Next stop, about 50 minutes away, was the town of Falkland. Another Outlander stop for me. This was the small town that doubled as 1942 Inverness in the first episode. It's a popular spot for fans like me (can you tell I'm a fan?) While there, we stopped in a quaint shop and bought a few goodies, including eggs for breakfast tomorrow.
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| If you watch Outlander, you know where this is. If not, it's the center of the town of Falkland. |
Finally we drove home to rest, shower and change. Then out to dinner at a pub called The Orchard. We both had zucchini soup and steak pie (both very good!) I had a gin and tonic and David had a "wee dram of whisky".
