Scotland, day 12, I think

[low_delta]

Doing some research, I find that it was a Friday. We had breakfast and drove the big dual carriageway. The evening before, we had been going up the valley. Out on the main thruway, we came to the highest point of the mountains, and Dalwhinnie distillery.



They had whisky to sample, but it cost money, and I only wanted one of the three in the set. Besides that, it was before 10:00, so it wasn't on offer yet.

We drove down through the mountains, and took a side trip to Aberfeldy. My dad and I went in the visitors center, but didn't feel like taking a tour, and they didn't offer us any whisky, so we went outside and wandered around the grounds. Very nice.


The home of Dewar's whisky.




I had wanted to see an old steam train on the trip, and this was it.


We had walked all the way around the building (notice the steam locomotive in the back), to find this sign. :-)

After another drive through the hilly countryside, we stopped at Blair Atholl. It was the home of some famous brand of whisky, so the visitors center was about that company and the guy who founded it. Not particularly exciting, and then a noisy group of schoolkids came through. We wandered a bit and found the shop, but it was closed, despite the hours posted on the door that said it should have been otherwise.



I was a little disappointed we didn't stop in at Edradour distillery, since we were very close by it, but my dad never mentioned it, and I didn't know it.

Then down to the old city of Stirling. We went up to the Wallace Monument. It's a tall tower on top of a hill. It cost money to go in the tower, but the shuttle up the hill was free. While waiting for the shuttle, we spoke to some Scots, there on holiday. It was one of the few times we spoke with actual Scottish people.


Along with Andrew de Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. The 220 foot high Victorian Gothic monument was completed in 1869. Inside are several floors with museum displays, including a sword which was long thought to have belonged to Wallace.



There was a great view, even on a cloudy day such as this. Stirling Castle is on the hill on the far right, which is where we went next.


We paid to park at the top, and went inside the castle gates. We perused the gift shop and the restrooms, but declined to tour the castle.


Robert the Bruce was King of Scotland from 1306 to 1329. He led Scotland to independence from the English after the battle of Bannockburn in June of 1314.

We didn't see the castle, but we did walk around the adjacent cemetery. There are graves dating to the 1500's but we only saw ones as old as the 1600's.



1696









After that walk we got some "Luxury Scottish Ice Cream," and went down to Old Stirling Bridge.


That's the Wallace Monument in the background.

In 1297, Andrew de Moray and William Wallace led the Scottish forces to victory over the English, in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. This particular bridge wasn't built until 200 years after the battle, but the original bridge was just upstream from this one.



And then we went on to our B&B.

Comments

[rivendweller.livejournal.com]

What intrigues me about European monuments is the sheer age of them. In our country, the monuments tend to be less than 3-400 years old, at best.

I was just sitting here thinking, "Wow, that was, like, over 700 years ago? Good grief."

Of course, the native Americans in Mexico have some pretty impressive monuments, though.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

There's a building in Milwaukee that is estimated to have been built in the 1400's. It was brought here from France. :-)

[rivendweller.livejournal.com]

How is that possible if Columbus didn't get here until 1492?

(My ignorance is showing here) ;-)

I vaguely know something about Vikings getting here before Columbus; and, of course, the Native Americans. Do you mean the French as in "French Canadians?"

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Scotland is a seriously pretty country. Every single photo in this entry is absolutely stunning. I wonder how much the age of things (referral to other comment) has to do with the beauty?