Saturday May 11 On the road again (still)

Saturday May 11.

Our plan was pretty straight forward: Go to the Drummond Castle Gardens, a magnificent garden from the 17-1800's, then back to Stirling to tour the old town and the castle. Our last castle.

Well, we got to the Gardens at 11:00 only to discover they did not open until 1:00. And this after navigating some tricky 'side roads, scenic roads' a.k.a terror tracks. So much for detailed research.

And what is around the corner of this two way road? At speed?


Pretty but deadly



Sooo, back to Stirling (about 40 minutes) but on the 'big' roads. On the plus side, we stopped at Morrisons, a gigundo superstore. We bought food supplies for two nights eating in and plan to eat out another two nights.

As we returned to the house to stow the goodies, we just had to take these pictures from the car as we drove down the road.

Posing alongside the road. Never moved. Lots of pheasant in the fields


A marvelous home for a week. Heated floors and more.

After the morning fiasco, the afternoon had to be better. And it was.

Drove 15 minutes into the Old Town section of Stirling and was able to park right at the top of the hill in the castle parking area. With the traffic and tourism here, finding a place is nigh impossible but we lucked out by getting one of the last two open spaces.

Stirling Castle is one that has to be seen to be appreciated. It is largely intact after more than 600 years of building, destruction, rebuilding, multi-purpose uses (royalty, army barracks, changing hands, etc.) and the tour guide who gave us a 30 minute overview while walking around was very fun to listen to. She had a unique perspective on the property.

Main Gate


Statues around a palace


Date of one palace built as a chapel for a baptism.

Queens throne room with re-enactor answering questions


Queens bedroom

During renovations in the 1990's, a kitchen was discovered and renovated. This kitchen area apparently was used to feed the masses, not the royalty. It has been very nicely restored with figures and food depicting the various tasks performed on a daily basis.




We spent two hours in the castle, then drove back down into Old Town. A lunch, then back to the house to chill.

Yes, two beers. Toni is coming around......

Tomorrow we tackle Falkirk (the Falkirk Wheel, look it up) and several spots yet to be determined. I am sure there will be a garden or two somewhere in there.

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