Scotland Trip

It has been a fair few years since we last made the visit north of the wall, into the land of the Picts. It is not a particularly easy journey with young children. It is a very long way, and takes a large portion of any day to achieve. Google maps has it done for about 5 and a half hours, not including any stoppages. When the children were very young the very idea of making this journey seemed a self inflicted punishment. However, they are both a little older now and are quite capable of making long trips. Provided, of course, they have their DVD players with them. I cannot express the boredom that I used to travel from Devon to Nottingham with absolutely no entertainment. Counting the number of red cars loses its interest after, oh, I don't know, twenty minutes into a 5hr drive (Pre-M42 of course). So, don't let anyone tell you that all progress is bad. It really isn't!

The journey north passed with absolutely no issue. If anything, the problem was one of sheer boredom of no discernible traffic to worry about. And, once you pass the enormous Saltire sign the traffic becomes even less busy. The one thing that also
amazes me though, is that although you pass into Scotland, you still have hours of driving ahead.It's a vast, mostly empty country. The vast majority of its population based around the twin cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Very little in between, but, in between we go: To Stirling, the old capital.

A further clue that you are in Scotland is the change of scenery; The hills are hills! If you drive through the lake district you tend to be stuck on A or B roads. If you can imagine driving through the Lake District on a wide 3 land motorway then you can picture driving through southern Scotland. The biggest problem when driving in the day light is the arresting scenery. Scotland is beautiful. The landscape is stunning. The caveat being some of the towns you pass by are not so pretty.

However, one cannot possibly sniff at the view from outside the in-laws house in Stirling (left). As you can see autumn in Scotland is a myriad of colour. It also, obviously, has an enormous monument sticking out of the tree line. The Wallace monument. The Victorian homage to their love of romanticism in regards to the myth of William Wallace. A man who helped defeat the mighty English at the battle of Stirling Bridge, but who ultimately had a particularly gruesome end in London. Google it, though after you have had your dinner. It isn't pleasant.

If the photo above fails to move your heart with its beauty then, my friend, you may not have a heart. Sorry.

So, there we were, in the ancient capital of Scotland. Surrounded by so much history. Stirling the site of two massive battles that fundamentally altered Scottish history. Ultimately, with the King James becoming James the First of England and his moving south, Stirling began to fade in comparison to Edinburgh. What is now left harks back to a more glorious, if brutal age. It is, though, damn pretty.