Day 3 - Edinburgh — Wayfaring Abroad

Today we decided to a day trip. This meant that I was going to get to drive for a second time. Our trip was 40 miles northwest to Stirling, to see the Castle and the Wallace Monument.

We got up at a more manageable hour and went across the street for another egg roll. It felt like we were regulars at the little corner café. Once we had our rolls we started out across Edinburgh, taking a slight detour to see the Forth Bridge, Forth Road Bridge and Queensferry Crossing Bridge.

At this point I was beginning to feel more comfortable driving on the opposite side of the road and having to react differently. But even better was that we were driving on a motorway, which meant I didn’t have to worry as much.

The sun poking through the clouds on a small country road.

We arrived to Stirling without any trouble and found that while the sun hadn’t penetrated the clouds in Edinburgh, the sun was pouring over Stirling and the countryside surrounding it. We drove up to the castle and found that there were only a few other cars in the parking lot.

When we made it inside the castle we found it sparsely occupied so we took our time slowly walking through every inch of the grounds. We walked up along each wall, through gardens, among the grand kitchens and the King and Queens quarters.

The Powder Rooms at the back of Stirling Castle.

The view from above Stirling was beautiful, the sun was illuminating the small town and the clouds in the distance hung so low and thick that they looked like a long snow covered mountain range.

After spending a couple hours in Stirling Castle we made our way across town to the William Wallace Monument. We enjoyed the hike up to the top of the hill that the monument sits on. The view was even better than the castle. We were able to see the castle from afar and look down on all the houses and businesses in the town.

The Scottish flag flying at the base of the William Wallace Monument.

It was pretty late in the afternoon now so we needed to grab some lunch. This meant that we drove up to Bridge of Allan where we found a couple small cafes and restaurants.

After enjoying our lunch and the small rest that came with it we made our way to the Old Stirling Bridge to watch the sun go down and enjoy a little walk.

The Sun was striking the bridge perfectly and it looked magical. From the bridge we decided to quickly run up to Doune Castle, which was the castle used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. There was no one at the castle and the sun was almost completely set by the time we arrived but we walked around the castle and took in the view. The Ardoch Burn River was flowing right around it and the clouds in the sky looked incredible with the low light.

After a little time walking around we got back in the car and began our slow drive back to Edinburgh. We hit a bit of traffic when we got to Edinburgh but nothing too bad, which mean we got back to the apartment and were able to take a breather before heading back out for dinner and the end of our Edinburgh adventure.

Tomorrow we leave in the morning to drive to Glasgow and quickly take in everything we can.