Walking Amongst (and in) the Graves

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Geo: 56.1194, -3.93588

The joy (and fascination) with the huge Scottish breakfast had not yet worn off on our second full morning, as we prepared to finally use our rental car and leave Edinburgh. With a right proper send-off by our inn keeper -- and GPS ready and willing -- we hit the road. We were soon out of Edinburgh on a gloriously sunny and warm morning, on our way to Linlithgow Palace, which is famous for being the castle where Mary Queen of Scots was born. The GPS led us directly to the castle gates, and at first we were certain we were not supposed to enter. It was, however, too late, as we were through the narrow portal, but we had not erred, as the parking was directly alongside the castle. Not what we had expected. We were the only car there when we arrived; even the ticket collector was not at his post, though we were free to enter and explore the castle. It is technically ruins, but in excellent shape. All of the formidable stone structure is intact, but the roof and one wing of wooden floors are missing. It was great fun to just roam and explore the castle. This was only our second castle -- and we were to see more than half a dozen more -- but in the end, Linlithgow ranked at the top of our collective list of favorite visits.

We continued on to visit the Falkirk Wheel, though I'm not sure we fully knew what to expect. It was listed as a must see, and I assumed it was some ancient water wheel or such. In reality, it is a singularly unique -- and completely modern -- lock system, linking the main canals between Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands. Rather than have a long series of stair-stepped locks, the wheel system is just that -- a huge wheel, with two identical boat slips on 180-degree ends of a huge wheel. A barge or canal boat floats into the slip on the bottom (or top); and another boat can do the same on the other end. The entire contraption then rotates, raising and lowering the ships respectively. Very impressive. You could book a canal cruise and go through the wheel, but we opted to move on to the tiny town of Kinross.

While there was a palace in Kinross, the primary reason to visit was its being identified as a perfectly maintained -- and tiny -- medieval village. It is a tiny place, located far up a "firth" (inlet from the ocean), and it fit its tour-book description. While the palace gardens were interesting, our main memories of Kinross will be for the fantastic pub lunch we had the Red Lion Inn. This included the best beer we had on the entire trip; one which -- unfortunately -- we failed to correctly identify and which we never did find again.

On our way to our final destination of the day -- the village of Stirling (of Pillars of the Earth fame) and its castle -- we sought out St. Ninian's Church in the tiny town of Cowie. Katherine's Aunt Ann had identified this as a location where one of their ancestors had come, and might be buried. We found Cowie, but no church. In a Hail Mary I entered the name into our GPS, and up it popped, only a couple of miles away. We followed the GPS directions into a suburb of Stirling, and when it said we had arrived, there was no church. After a little driving around, we were about to give up, when we caught glimpse of a steeple in the trees. Voila! We'd found it. The original church building was a ruined hulk, but the graveyard was intact. Signs said the graveyard was closed, but the gate was opened and we spent quite some time exploring. It was, however, in astonishingly poor condition. Most of the gravestones had collapsed, were so old that they were illegible, and the ground was broken and heaved. After I reached the far end it soon dawned on me that you could see into many of the graves. The ground gave way in places as you walked and I was soon desperately searching for a way out as it was -- to put it succinctly -- gross. We all scoured the graveyard but never did find a McAulay -- the ancestor in question.

We continued on to Stirling Castle, which is perched atop one of the few pieces of high ground in the area, and which can be seen for miles away. We arrived less than an hour before closing, so we grabbed the audio guide and the (ever helpful) guides devised a "must-see" truncated tour. This was the castle where Mary Queen of Scots lived as a child, and which was just restored to appear exactly as it had when she was monarch of Scotland. I found it extremely interesting, and I enjoyed seeing the rooms looking so new and pristine. They were incredibly bright and colorful; very different from what we're accustomed to seeing in castles. Anna was of a different mind, and did not care for the restoration. Her unsolicited advice was to leave the castle as it was. I guess we were too late to get that little bit of advice to the Scottish Tourist Board.

We literally closed down the castle, as they closed the gates behind us as we left. Our B&B for the night was literally in the shadow of the castle, at the base of the hill. It was one of - if not our most -- favorite B&B of the trip. Jane had been going full steam all day and said she was too tired to join us for supper. Our inn keeper made reservations for us at a beautiful restaurant nearby, where we had a postcard-view of the castle. When we returned to the room, Jane was in exactly the same position on the bed as when we left, though she was now asleep. She had to have been exhausted, as with all three of us making noise, she did not move a muscle. We moved downstairs and had a well-contested game of Clue ("Simpsons" version....yeah!) and read some, before returning to the room. Jane had STILL not moved. As I was tempted to get a mirror a check for formal signs of life, she finally stirred. Crisis averted!

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Photos

Original Front to Linlithgow
Drawbridge is long gone.

Falkirk Wheel
You can see how the whole contraption moves in a circle in this picture