Scotland - Saturday 3rd May - Stirling

We only have one day in Stirling so we are off to fit in some historic sites, and follow the footsteps of Robert the Bruce (above) who is possibly an ancestor of mine. (There are millions of people who claim they are descended from Robert the Bruce, I googled it once).

 

Sterling Castle

 

 The problem with castles are they are usually on top of a big hill.

This makes them easier to defend and you can see the approaching enemy miles away. 

 

So although not far from our air B&B it was a huge uphill walk for my poor hip. 

 

 

 

 

The fun thing is that its the VE day 80th anniversary this week so the castle is holding some special events to celebrate, including people dressed as land army girls and a 1940's fashion parade.

They are having a swing dance tonight.

 

We took the guided tour which was great. 

But we needed to get on our way early because we had tickets booked for Bannockburn in the afternoon.

 This cannon is taking aim at the Wallace memorial. Not a fan of Mel Gibson then.... (the Braveheart movie cops a lot of flack in Scotland, and maybe everywhere).

Then after wandering around and trying to catch a bus to Bannockburn we gave up and took a taxi. We are usually pretty good at navigating public transport systems in new towns,  but this one was confusing and we were short of time. The taxi driver gave us his number and said call me when your finished and I'll collect you, which worked out really well.

Bannockburn

They are not really sure if this was the site of the battle.

But this is where there is the memorial and museum.

There is Stirling Castle in the distance, weren't we just there a minute ago!

Its cool, but not so cold that we need our winter coats that we have been lugging around everywhere.

Here's Robert again. My might be ancestor. 

 Then we visited the Battle of Bannockburn experience.

Its one of those round movie theatre things where there are images on all sides and you are suppose to feel like you are in the battle. (We did something similar at Waterloo and it was wonderful).

This time it broke down, or the computer went offline or something so we didn't get the full experience!

 

While sitting outside the museum waiting for our taxi to come back we saw the news from home. Anthony Albanese has got back in, following the federal election, with a huge majority. Its the first time in our lives we haven't voted. We arranged an exemption as we were going to be away. (voting in Australia is compulsory and you are fined if you don't turn up).

Tonight we went to a local restaurant which was easy to walk to.  T.Js,

 There is a pub next door to our B&B called 'The Wall' but we are sick of pub food, all the menus are the same.

Tomorrow its a short train trip to Glasgow. 

Poor Graham has to get the bags down all those stairs again...