Scotland Trip - Stirling Castle, Doune Castle and Glencoe

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Saturday, June 24, 2006

Charlie The Tour Guide - get in his group!

We began the day with a tour of Stirling Castle.  Stirling Castle was once the residence of the monarch of Scotland.  The tour was outstanding!  We had a tour guide named Charlie - he was absolutely fantastic.

The oldest part of the standing structure dates to the 14th century.  You can see the Stirling Bridge from anywhere on the castle wall.   Stirling Bridge is known as the gateway to the Highlands and the famous battle that took place here is considered to be William Wallace's masterpiece.

In one of the buildings (the King's former home) is a museum run by and devoted to the Argyle and Sutherland Highland regiments which were stationed here (as recently as the 1960s).  The museum was really good, it's too bad that we had to leave in such a rush to catch the beginning of our guided tour (which begin at the top of each hour).

Stirling Castle as seen from the road below

We ate lunch at the Unicorn Cafe in the castle and it wasn't bad at all.  We then had a decision to make...

It was a little past 1 PM and we wanted to see Argyll's Lodgings (his townhouse near the castle that is restored as it was in 1680) and Doune Castle which was built by Robert Stewart (Robert the Bruce's grandson) and used in the film,  Monty Python and The Holy Grail.  We were also expecting a two hour drive to our B&B in Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness.


I really wanted to see Doune Castle, so we skipped Argyll's Lodging.  Doune is 7 miles out of Stirling and we got there in no time.  When you approach the castle, it looks exactly like it did in the film.  More recently the castle has been used as the castle of the MacKenzies in the television program "Outlander".

The front entrance of Doune Castle

There was no guided tour, but the castle in still in tact and hasn't had any major alterations since the Middle Ages.  This castle is perhaps the best I've seen in terms of actual access.  You are permitted to roam around at will - except for some portions of the roof.  There was a wedding going on in the Great Hall, but it ended while we were there and we got to see the Great Hall as well.

The view from the courtyard of Doune Castle

The Great Hall was breathtaking with the wedding decorations

Me storming the Castle

One of the interior chambers

Entering Glencoe

We then got started towards Loch Ness at about 4 PM.  We ended up stuck behind a car going 30 mph and didn't arrive until 8:30!  Passing through Glencoe was really special - it reminds me of the Glengesh pass in Donegal except there are no houses and no animals here.  The weather has been great so far!  Bring it on Loch Ness.