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After a night at what I can only call the Scottish equivalent to Fawlty Towers, we left Loch Ness and headed back south to Stirling. If it wasn't so annoying it would have been hilarious! I was expecting Basil Fawlty or Manuel to appear at any time! To quote the scots - "it was Dooooin' mah heid in"
Anyway back to the day! After something that passed as breakfast we left Drumnadrochit and drove the length of Loch Ness to Fort William then onto Callander and Stirling. Along the way we stopped at a very small town and drove 2 miles into the forest to a small church and churchyard that houses the grave of Rob Roy McGregor. Again - another Scottish hero whose stories I have read about and seen on movies since I was a kid. It makes travelling worth while when you can see things like this that hold some meaning in your life.
From there we headed to Stirling, home of Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Monument. If you don't know who Wallace was you better go watch the movie Braveheart. We climbed the hill that the monument stands on and the view was amazing. We saw the site of the battle of Stirling Bridge and miles around it.
Following that we headed to the castle which was once the home of Scottish royalty. It has been preserved really well and it too has some amazing tales to tell.
All in all a great day for this history buff! I have seen things that have brought stories to life and places I only dreamed of seeing.
The hotel we are in certainly makes up for last night. We even scored a premium room! Had a great (expensive) dinner to celebrate. I will be recommending this place to anyone.
Tomorrow we head back into England. It's FA cup final day which is huge here of course. It will be great to watch it in the afternoon instead of 2 or 3am back at home - so I'll be perched up in a Pub in Carlisle watching with the locals! I am a little torn on who to cheer for - Arsenal (my grandfathers team) or Hull who have never made an FA cup Final. I'm thinking I will just enjoy it. However being in Northern England I think that Hull may have my support against the London team. I will want to walk out of there after the game.
Finally - goodbye Scotland. What a wonderful country with amazing sights and wonderful people. I hope to come again sometime but the memories of this visit will last my whole life.
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