Blogs from Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 4

The weather was pretty dreadful again this morning as we headed off for the Breadalbane Folklore Centre at Killin at the western end of Loch Tay. Family records indicate that Bernie's 6x great grandfather, Finlay Campbell, was living in Glen Lochay, at the western end of Loch Tay, in the early 1700s. According to the family history, the Campbells were a powerful family in the Breadalbane area at that time and we expected to learn quite a bit more about the Campbells at the folklore centre. Well ... it turned out that the displays focussed mainly on Clan McGregor and their allies Clan McLaren and Clan McNab, before they were supplanted by the usurping Clan Campbell. There was only one interpretative board devoted to Clan Campbell and it pretty much said that the Campbells came from ... read more

This morning we returned to Stirling Castle - some 13 years after our first visit in 1997. The last time that we visited they were restoring the Great Hall and it was shrouded in scaffolding which somewhat spoiled the image of the castle perching on its bluff. We have always wanted to return to get a better impression of what the castle looks like when it's not obscured by restoration works. We almost drove up to Stirling in 2009, but when we checked the web site we discovered that, while the Great Hall has been reopened, the State Apartments were closed due to refurbishments being undertaken!! After checking the web site on Saturday we were pretty confident that most of the site would be accessible today. We decided to walk up to the castle via Gower ... read more

Geo: 56.1194, -3.93588Two awesome movies. Two days of learnin aaaaaaaaalll about it!We got to Stirling pretty late the first evening... it was only 4:30pm, but still too late to check out any of the monuments or castles or anything. So we pretty much just got dinner at a pub since that was all there was left to do. I FINALLY got to try some traditional Scottish food- haggis! So haggis is minced sheeps heart, liver and lungs mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet (whatever that is?), spices and salt, and traditionally served in a sheep's bladder (mine wasn't in the bladder tho). And its usually served with tatties (which are potatoes) and neeps (which is rutabage and tasted like butternut squash). I was very very nervous about trying this... lol, it sounds terrible right? It was freakin ... read more

The bus left for Stirling Castle at 2:15. The weather was improved in the mid afternoon, and we could see beautiful Scottish countryside from the bus. We arrived at Stirling Castle at 3:30. The Scottish guide gave us 1 hour and 30 minutes for us to look round the castle or stroll through the town. With English Heritage membership cards, we were given the discount for the admission fees. We didn't hire the audio guide, and tried to look round the historical buildings as much as possible. Like Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle sits atop the volcanic crag, and it is thought to be one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland. Having been given a strong defensive position, the Stirling Castle was involved in a series of battles and the backdrop of wars of ... read more

Photos of Stirling and Falls of Dochart...... read more