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Published: September 9th 2012
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After four days in Edinburgh it was definiatly time to get out of the city, so we hired a car in search of Loch's, Scottish Seas and Vaughn's new found hero William Wallace (he's dead btw). Driving out of Edinburgh deserves a blog entry all in itself, but I will refrain...
After an awesome cooked brekkie with the Cuzzies (thanks Zoe you are amazing!) we headed towards our first destination Stirling. We found Stirling Castle up on the hill and loe and behold a statue of William Wallace which started Vaughn off on his mission to learn everything and anything about the guy that fought for the independance of Scotland from British rule. If you would like to know more, watch Braveheart....but apparently this is not a good interpretation of what really happened so Vaughn tells me. From Stirling Castle we could see excellent views of the area and off in the distance a large tower....which yes of course happened to be the William Wallace Monument......back in the car and towards the tower thingy we went. The tower is a decent trek up a hill and as in true Scottish form it was raining, so we opted for the free
coach. The Tower itself is massive and houses rooms which on each level tell the story of the battles between the Brits and Scots and how William Wallace fought. So as Vaughn went round with his wee headphone set which told him every single detail of the days of William Wallace, Anna and I strolled around and eventually made it up the winding staircase to the top of the Tower which gave 360 degree views of the whole district which was cool. The monument is well worth a visit and because I had my own personal travelling William Wallace fan club history extrodinare I now know more about the guy than I ever thought I would need to know, interesting as it is.
We stopped for a very average cuppa before heading off to our destination for the night - a wee town called Killin. As the trip wasn't that far we decided to take the longer more scenic route looping around Loch Lomond and heading up the West side of this famous Loch. We certainly were not dissappointed and the whole region made me question why as the very patriotic kiwi I am, why we seem to think
we have most beautiful country in the world. Yes New Zealand is beautiful, but Scotland certainly gives it a run for it's money.....pity about the weather. The roads narrowed while driving through the National Park and reminded me of Arthurs Pass on the way to the West Coast. Following along the side of the Loch we stopped at a random track that lead us to an amazing waterfall and as we travelled we saw more of these waterfalls cascading down the hill sides. I finally found my traditional stone walls that only Scotland can have, however Anna was quick to inform me that they weren't stone walls, they are in fact called Dry Stain Dykes and they are called this because they do not have mortar holding the stones together.....thanks Anna for that amazing piece of information and correcting me when I called a regular stone wall a Dry Stain Dyke when it obviously had mortar holding it together...ignorance is bliss. On the way we stopped at many wee Loch side areas, one complete with another castle, closed for renovations. The whole area was so pretty.
We arrived at Killin early evening and checked into our B & B
which was very nice. I highly recommend this wee town, which I didn't have huge expectations for, but was somewhere Zoe and Dan had stayed for one of his triathlons. It is soooo cute, complete with the Falls of Dochart which run through the middle of the village and under a cute wee stone bridge, not to mention the wooden water wheel on the side. By the bridge there is a Clan burial ground dating back hundreds of years and the wee houses lining the street of the village are very cute. Loch Tay is nearby, but we didn't end up seeing this. Killin would be a really nice place for a relaxing weekend (if it was fine weather for a run and decent look around the area). We had tea at the local pub/restaurant, and judging by the prices, expected fine dining food, however it was not to be....on the upside we got free dessert due to the piece of plastic found in Anna's chocolate mousse! Next stop Oban...
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