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.

Stirling - Delayed

We arose the next morning to what my kids described as, "...the best breakfast ever!" Gill is an incredible hostess and she prepared a stupendous breakfast, all from food grown locally. Awesome. After Breakfast, my youngest son wanted to take some pictures of grounds. They really are breath-taking when a 12 year old boy thinks they are cool.

While he was taking pictures, he accidentally opened the back of the camera. We now had a dilemma. All of the pictures from Luss were on this roll of film. We didn't want to chance loosing them since it was unlikely that we would ever be able to return so we jumped in the car and headed back to Luss, on the other side of Scotland. We went and took all of the same pictures that we had taken the day before and a few of things that we hadn't noticed. We wanted to stay longer but had to leave to be able to tour Stirling Castle and the Wallace monument. If we ever get the chance to return to Scotland, we will not adhere to as tight of a schedule. It is too beautiful of a country try and see in just 3 days.

We arrived at Stirling Castle around 1030. It is an amazing structure. Built over 500 years ago, it has been and is being refurbished to its former glory. The primary political and personal apartments/chambers of the king and queen are far smaller than most Americans would imagine. That's the hazard of a perspective formed by American movies. The Great Hall and the Chapel Royal however were incredibly impressive. It is easy to imagine the opulence of the 16th century court. Standing in the great hall one can easily picture James IV and his queen Margaret Tudor presiding over magnificent banquets and feasts here.

It should be noted that the refurbishment greatly altered the appearance of the palace. Having seen pictures before the restoration began, I'm sure that would have made a far more significant impression on me. The chambers of the palace are quite a bit larger than those of the king's and queen's apartments. However, since these were finished by Mary de Guise after King James IV death in battle, the majority of political use came from the King's apartments. Still I had an incredible sense of history as I stood here and marveled at everything around me.

The grounds within the castle walls are as beautiful as the facility itself. The views are spectacular. By far, this was my favorite experience of the entire trip.

We ate lunch in the gift shop restaurant (haggis for those who wonder is actually quite tasty) and then drove the short distance to the Wallace monument. That deserves a post all on its own.