Whatever happened to me?: U.K. Trip Anniversary Posts (Day 3)

Scotland... Day 3!

(Photo of Wallace Monument as seen from Stirling Castle)

Still jet-lagged, we hit the road early for an especially long but delightful day. We almost felt a touch of rain at Bannockburn, but the weather smiled upon us for the whole week despite a forecast full of clouds and chances of rain. We only experienced a little rain later in the week at Blenheim Palace.

Our first stop was at the Bruce Monument and then on to Stirling Castle. I'm remembering how windy it was when we walked up to see the monument and statue of Robert the Bruce. The first picture is to provide perspective. It was a bit of a trek from the car park.

Below are quite a few shots taken at Stirling Castle... my favorite of the two we saw in Scotland. We walked all the way around the wall walk (I hope that's the correct term). I confess, I never made it inside the castle. We'd been in enough dank old buildings that being up top and looking at the scenery was the most satisfying. I absolutely loved the masonry at Stirling and would love to see it again. I took far too many photos. At each bend in the walk, there was an intriguing angle or configuration of stone that begged to be photographed! One of the gals in our group was an artist and she spent time sketching the view of the Wallace Monument. It was wonderful up there.

Here we go... the first from the car park as we got out of the coach ... the view of the Wallace Monument would be off to the right.

Are these for cannons?

The castle "park" below. The raised area in the grass had been prepared for a monument, but it had been moved at some point.

Farther to my right, a pastoral scene, with the roadway wrapping around a large hay field.

A turret.

Graveyard and church or abbey below. I think a couple of our group might have walked down there and poked around.

More old worn steps.

This is inside the Great Hall... looking into the courtyard.

One of my favorite photos from the trip. I guess I have a love affair with steps and trees. Both in the same picture really get me excited. ;-) Beyond that... an image like this is evocative and symbolic.

Behold, the Scottish pussy cat! :-)

You can see the Wallace Monument off in the misty distance through this opening.

I laugh when I look at my jacket in this photo. It had many pockets and I loaded up all of them with camera supplies, food, passport and money, etc, etc. We knew we'd be off the coach for awhile. It was cool and windy up there, which is why the jacket is even still on and not tied around my waist.

After Stirling, we headed out for the Bannockburn Heritage Centre, where we watched a film about the Battle of Bannockburn. They had a lot of displays there and I tried to photograph many of them. There was not a lot of time to really soak up all of the information.

Joe Binetti tries on the helmet. It was a little large, but fetching. ;-)

Of course, I have to search out all of the loo's when traveling and this one was quite interesting. So... out came the camera. This was one of the more entertaining setups I saw during the week. We had all manner of toilets... some with pumps you had to push a few times before a flush would happen. Others had an egg shaped, two-part button with the larger half being for a large flush and the small side for a water-conserving one. It's interesting to see how different cultures handle the same problems. What I'm wondering about here is what that middle part is for... is that a head or shoulder rest? Maybe not such a bad idea. ;-)

We've left Bannockburn and are on our way to Loch Katrine through the Trossachs (our guide said they'd be like a tiny sampling of the Highlands). They stopped the coach to let us walk up to a vantage point and we got to study the local plant life on the way up the trail.

A genuine Scottish thistle. It is seen as a symbol of strength and beauty.

This photo was taken on Chris Gregory's camera (gal to the left) and I had a friend take one on mine at the same time. I liked Chris's angle a little better. She put this on her Christmas card last year and some people asked her why the gal on the end wasn't wearing a jacket when everyone else was all bundled up? Her reply was, "Behold the power of hormones." In truth, I was warmer than everyone else but it wasn't only that. They had the heat cranked up on the coach at times to where I could hardly breathe. I jumped for joy when they let us out here and it was cool, fresh air! The road was really curvy and hilly and some of us were on the verge of motion sickness at this point.

We've arrived at Loch Katrine and are going to take an hour-long ride around the lake in a boat (restored at great cost).

I can't read it this small, but that should be the Sir Walter Scott. If we'd been a month sooner, the hills would have been covered in mauve. As it was, most of the heather had turned brown. It was neat seeing some of these plants in their native habitat. While in the U.K. I noticed mountain ash in the wild, heather (only in these high places) and not as much "Scotch Broom" as I might have expected. They've had a large influx of Rhododendron ponticum (I believe an eastern U.S. native). It's become an aggressive weed in the U.K. and there are people trying to eradicate it.

A pretty outcropping of trees along loch's edge.

A nice gal took our photo. It was pretty breezy in the back. Some of the heat loving folks rode in the enclosed cabin to the front. I had a nice chat with a few folks and helped an elderly lady once in awhile with her scarf. It kept blowing down over her face! You'll see her below here.

Here she is... with her caretaker, who was a really friendly gal (she took our photo). I wish I could have sent them this photo, but I didn't get any names.

From the glare, I'd say this is one of the pictures shot from the speeding coach! Some turned out kind of pretty despite the challenge of windows and blur. ;-)

As we sped through this little village, our guide pointed out we were going to see a "bit" of an ancient Roman wall... even older than Hadrian's Wall. I frantically snapped a photo as we passed and actually GOT THE WALL! That rarely happened in those circumstances.

Here is some info from Wikipedia: The ANTONINE Wall:

The Antonine Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. The northernmost frontier barrier of the Roman Empire, it ran approximately 39 miles (63 km) and was about ten feet high and fifteen feet wide. Security was bolstered by a deep ditch on the north side. The wall was the second of two created by the Romans in Britannia; its remains are less evident than the better known Hadrian's Wall to the south.

Construction began in AD 142 at the order of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, and took about twelve years to complete. Pressure from the Caledonians may have led Antoninus to send the empire's troops farther north. The wall was protected by sixteen forts with a number of small fortlets between them; troop movement was facilitated by a road linking all the sites known as the Military Way. The soldiers who built the wall commemorated the construction and their struggles with the barbarians in a number of decorative slabs, twenty of which still survive. Despite this auspicious start the wall was abandoned after only twenty years, and the garrisons relocated back to Hadrian's Wall. In 208 Emperor Septimius Severus re-established legions at the wall and ordered repairs; this has led to the wall being referred to as the Severan Wall. However, the occupation ended only a few years later, and the wall was never fortified again. Most of the wall and its associated fortifications have been destroyed over time, but some remains are still visible. Many of these have come under the care of Historic Scotland and the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

Looking back toward Stirling Castle on our return to Edinburgh.

Here we are... I love the Waverley Bridge. :-)

Angie and I opted out of a ghost tour we'd both paid to take (and I'd wanted to go) because we got back late and would have had to forfeit our walk up to Old Calton Hill. It was on my Edinburgh "wish" list and we were to leave the next morning. She wanted to go there because in his youth, her father had made a sketch of Edinburgh from that point. He'd fairly recently passed away at the time we took the trip. Although she was born in England, it was her first time to visit Scotland. So... we finally made the decision and took off on our walk. I have to say, that was one of the high points of the whole trip for me (no pun intended). The view was breathtaking and I really felt like I was in Scotland (countryside). I wish we'd had more time before having to get back for dinner and packing up.

This was looking east from Calton Hill toward the Firth of Forth.

Someone decided to build this replica of the Parthenon at the top of Calton Hill... but they never got it finished. At the time it was a source of embarrassment.

Nelson's Monument. It's built in the shape of a telescope and there is an observation deck at the very top. The line at the bottom was much too long so we didn't bother with that... not enough time.

The Dugald Stewart Monument. This view was on the big mural as we entered the Edinburgh airport.

We've hurried down but I wanted to fulfill one more thing in Edinburgh and that had to do with red phone booths. ;-) Ever since I saw "Local Hero" (movie set in Scotland)... I've been charmed by the old style red phone booths in the U.K. So... I wanted a photo with one of them early on. The new ones are not nearly as distinctive or charming. There is so much masonry in the old countries, that these bright touches of color really add something.