jamesq | Scottish Adventurrres 12 - Whisky + Ale = Gooood

Day 5 – With a bit of time to explore the castle this morning we then head off on a loop around the "Trossachs" (or Braveheart country if you choose) – hear the history of Wallace and Bruce, Doune Castle, Rob Roy Macgregor’s land, waterfalls and short walks galore – then back to the castle to relax in style!

Today was the day we explored Stirling, which is also where F is from, so we got the insider's view.

Checking our kitty, she found we had a little bit to spare, so she swung a deal with the Stirling Old Town Jail for a tour for all of us (or maybe she just paid the standard fee - I like to imagine she pulled strings as she used to work there).

Now the jail wasn't that exciting in itself. It was a great time though because the actor who gave the tour did a fantastic job playing about five different parts during the presentation, shifting between them effortlessly. He was also funny and sarcastic in a way that I haven't seen in many Scots. For example, he (playing the role of Victorian reformer who spearheaded the prision) said: "This prison will become a beacon of enlightenment to the English speaking world and Dundee". Dundee, of course, having a "Surrey-girl" reputation to the rest of Scotland.

F knew the actor, so she told him to pick on LF, which he did. Again, she was a good sport about it (and he did double check with F beforehand to make sure the joke would be taken well).

The rest of the exhibit was meh. It consisted of showing off the first "modern" jail and compared it to truly modern Scottish jails.

Our next stop was the Wallace Monument, which had a statue of Mel Gibson at the base. The story behind that is that the sculptor was inspired to make the sculpture after watching the movie immediately before recovering from triple-bypass surgery. That being the case, I'm willing to ignore the historical inaccuracies.

Now the Wallace Monument is where the Scottish troops stood waiting for the English. The English on the other hand charged across the Stirling bridge (which subsequently collapsed). It was a stunning victory for the Scots.

We saw the modern bridge next and then we broke for Lunch. I was getting my fill of Scottish cuisine at this point so I jumped at the chance for a veggie burger that was advertised at one restaurant. Bad news was that this was a Scottish veggie burger. That is to say, they took peas, carrots, corn and onion, mixed it all into batter, flattened it into a patty and deep fried it. Gah!

After lunch we went to the Tullibardine distillery for a tour and a tasting. I'm not a whisky fan, but this was fascinating stuff. I did find some good good stuff there though. First was their whisky cream. It was tasty and I plan on cracking it open at some point after I get back to town. The next was their whisky ale. Now I don't like whisky and I'm not too fussy about ale (though I have discovered some OK stuff here in Scotland) but this stuff was better then the sum of its parts.

We got back to the castle for our last night together. I went and explored the Castle gardens, which was 3.5 acres of amazing. I was once again transported to the fey realms. The owners had but an awesome amount of work into the gardens. My original intent was to spend five minutes snapping photos. I was there for over an hour, still finding little nooks and recesses with amazing easter eggs.

Too bad my camera is a PIECE OF SHIT, I snapped over a hundred photos and not one got recorded to memory. FUCK.

Of course, I didn't know that at the time. Instead I rejoined my friends in the castle and we got together for supper. A few things happened. First, it was CF's birthday (actually a few days after the tour, but this was our last chance to celebrate it). Second, I had one bottle of the aforementioned whisky ale. It knocked me on my ass and it was damn tasty. I have two more bottles of that which I will crack open when I'm back in town.

Tipsy, happy and well socialized, I went to bed.