Stirling Castle

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Geo: 56.1238, -3.94743

Another beautiful warm and sunny day.

Today we headed off for a look at Stirling Castle and nearby Doune Castle. For £32 each we purchased Explorer tickets that allow us entry to 78 historical sites throughout Scotland, over a two week period.

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Photos

Cameron House, Loch Lomond
A brief stop to look at this swish resort.

Stirling Castle Great Hall
The castle has been pivotal in Scottish wars and politics. The battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn were nearby, and the William Wallace Memorial is on an adjacent hill top. The castle predates the 9th© but that ancient history is lost. Records since the 14th© are mostly complete. I was interested to learn that most medieval castle buildings were coloured with lime wash, like this one - inside and out. They were not presented as dark dingy stone.

Reconstructed "Stirling Heads"
These are replicas of the three dozen or so carved heads that adorned the ceilings of at least a couple of the main rooms in Stirling Castle.
The Queen's Chamber included three wooden golf clubs and some leather and chicken-feather golf "balls". Apparently Mary Queen of Scots was a keen golfer who was castigated for playing golf when some thought she should have been mourning her husband's recent death.

Doune Castle, Doune
15min from Stirling, this 14th© castle was never an administrative seat but was used as a hunting lodge by various Scottish kings. It was the backdrop to many of the castle scenes in Monty Python's 1974 Holy Grail movie. The audio commentary was narrated by Python's Terry Jones and it included some of the more famous movie dialogues. Parts of the "Outlander" and "Game of Thrones" TV series were also filmed here.

Highland cattle
"Hamish" came over for a snack of carrots, turnips, etc we bought from the store.