The Wallace Monument
We reluctantly pulled ourselves away from Stirling Castle and started for the Wallace Monument. We made a brief stop for lunch and then followed the GPS to the foot of the hill and the Wallace car park. I know that we call them parking lots but we were in their country so we will use their terms. We bought our tickets and made a brief tour of the gift shop. There was a long line of people waiting for the minibus so we decided to walk "up the gentle slope" of Abbey Craig. Gentle is a bit of an understatement but not too bad. We made it just fine.
When we reached the top, we needed to catch our breath a bit before ascending the 246 stairs to the top of the monument. There was an actor in period costume delivering a monologue from the perspective of one of the Scottish warriors that fought that day and later with Bruce. He was very entertaining and it was interesting to hear a true Scottish perspective untarnished by Hollywood. We went inside the base of the monument and received the audio tour handsets. We had the opportunity to speak with the gentleman who delivered the monolog for a few minutes. My wife asked him if the Scots still had anger or animosity for the English. He replied with an anecdote of a tourist from London who came to the monument. "He was a nice lad but he remarked how the Scots didn't seem to be as friendly as he had expected. It was then that I realized that you shouldn't hate a man but you can hate a nation."
Educated on current English/Scot relations, we proceeded up the first of four sets of steps to the top of the monument. Every 65-70 steps brings the visitor to a new level depicting the Wallace story and Scottish history. The steps are an extremely steep, narrow, and winding circular staircase. There is little room for two people to pass and we discovered who was claustrophobic and who wasn't. The first level has a display of Wallace's life, the battle of Stirling, and his trial at Westminster. It is the display of the 700 year old Wallace sword that everyone was drawn to.
Onward and upward to the nest level which is called the hall of heroes. It contains the busts of 16 prominent Scots. From Bruce to Burns and more. It was interesting to learn of new heroes. I think that my wife and I were far more interested than the kids. So we trudged up yet another set of stairs to the third level.
Here on the third level is a geographic map called the Diorama that points out specific points of interest and battlefields around the tower. It was very helpful to help us find our bearings from the summit. We left the room and climbed the last few steps to the summit, or crown, of the monument.
The view from the summit is breath-taking. The views of the Ochils, Stirling, and the Trossachs are some that I'll never forget. A quick storm blew in and chased us from the crown a bit too soon but it was clear and sunny once again when we reached the bottom. We exchanged pleasantries with the workers and our new actor friend and proceeded down the mountain. We managed to catch the minibus and saved ourselves the climb down the mountain.
I must admit that there was one disappointment in the trip. At the base of the hill and the top of the car park, there is a stature of Mel Gibson as Braveheart. I understand that the movie brought out a new sense of national and ancestral pride from Scots around the globe. However, to have it here commercialized the monument a bit much for me. No one else seemed to be bothered by it.
We left the monument and returned to our B&B in Saline. Originally we had wanted to go to St. Andrews and if time permitted to Inverness and Loch Ness but our detour to Luss that morning negated any possibility of going anywhere else. We at dinner in Dunfermline again and walked around the beautiful, charming, and historic city. This was probably the first time on the trip that I relaxed. Finally we returned to a sound night's sleep at the Kirklands.
When we reached the top, we needed to catch our breath a bit before ascending the 246 stairs to the top of the monument. There was an actor in period costume delivering a monologue from the perspective of one of the Scottish warriors that fought that day and later with Bruce. He was very entertaining and it was interesting to hear a true Scottish perspective untarnished by Hollywood. We went inside the base of the monument and received the audio tour handsets. We had the opportunity to speak with the gentleman who delivered the monolog for a few minutes. My wife asked him if the Scots still had anger or animosity for the English. He replied with an anecdote of a tourist from London who came to the monument. "He was a nice lad but he remarked how the Scots didn't seem to be as friendly as he had expected. It was then that I realized that you shouldn't hate a man but you can hate a nation."
Educated on current English/Scot relations, we proceeded up the first of four sets of steps to the top of the monument. Every 65-70 steps brings the visitor to a new level depicting the Wallace story and Scottish history. The steps are an extremely steep, narrow, and winding circular staircase. There is little room for two people to pass and we discovered who was claustrophobic and who wasn't. The first level has a display of Wallace's life, the battle of Stirling, and his trial at Westminster. It is the display of the 700 year old Wallace sword that everyone was drawn to.
Onward and upward to the nest level which is called the hall of heroes. It contains the busts of 16 prominent Scots. From Bruce to Burns and more. It was interesting to learn of new heroes. I think that my wife and I were far more interested than the kids. So we trudged up yet another set of stairs to the third level.
Here on the third level is a geographic map called the Diorama that points out specific points of interest and battlefields around the tower. It was very helpful to help us find our bearings from the summit. We left the room and climbed the last few steps to the summit, or crown, of the monument.
The view from the summit is breath-taking. The views of the Ochils, Stirling, and the Trossachs are some that I'll never forget. A quick storm blew in and chased us from the crown a bit too soon but it was clear and sunny once again when we reached the bottom. We exchanged pleasantries with the workers and our new actor friend and proceeded down the mountain. We managed to catch the minibus and saved ourselves the climb down the mountain.
I must admit that there was one disappointment in the trip. At the base of the hill and the top of the car park, there is a stature of Mel Gibson as Braveheart. I understand that the movie brought out a new sense of national and ancestral pride from Scots around the globe. However, to have it here commercialized the monument a bit much for me. No one else seemed to be bothered by it.
We left the monument and returned to our B&B in Saline. Originally we had wanted to go to St. Andrews and if time permitted to Inverness and Loch Ness but our detour to Luss that morning negated any possibility of going anywhere else. We at dinner in Dunfermline again and walked around the beautiful, charming, and historic city. This was probably the first time on the trip that I relaxed. Finally we returned to a sound night's sleep at the Kirklands.
posted by Moneyman at 11:17 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home