Visitors - Day 4 - The Bruce

We did a little bit of whip cracking to get everyone up early enough for one of our classic day trips. We're finding that it's an economical way to see this country, as there are so many things that are within an hour or two from Aberdeen. If you leave early, plan on coming back late and pack a good lunch you can string several of them together to make an interesting day.

Normally our day trips have an over-riding theme - Loch Ness, the East Coast - and the plan for this started out similarly - Scottish heroes. By the end of the day it had turned into a little bit of a hodge-podge, but we started out with the intent of getting to know William Wallace and Robert (Big Bob) the Bruce.

Once we dropped Casey off at the kennel, we made our way to Stirling Castle. Unlike previous day trips, we had to fight some pretty bad weather. There were periods of heavy rain, interspersed with periods of lighter rain and the occasional bout of drizzle. Not an auspicious start.

The drive to Stirling is easy and quite scenic. The first dip into the valley with the castle on the hill can take your breath away. You wind your way through the narrow cobblestone streets up to the top of the hill where the castle lies imposingly over the valley. We spent a few hours touring around - highlights include the Great Hall, where we all felt comfortable on some royal thrones, discussed 17th century royal politics with a docent, marveled at the tapestries and cursed our luck that the Royal Palace was under renovation. I think Stirling Castle stacks up well against some of the other castles we've seen, with its valley views moving it high up on the overall list.

We grabbed a quick lunch at the castle and moved on to our next site for the day - the Wallace Monument just across the valley at Abbey Craig. Built in 1869, it is a tower with multiple levels of museum-like rooms about Wallace and other Scottish patriots. They even have Wallace's broadswoard, a massive weapon that could only really have been used by a pretty big dude. I'm not sure Mel Gibson was the right choice in Braveheart. We climbed the 246 steps to the top and made it out onto the viewing deck. By now the weather had started to clear and we got some really impressive views. Unfortunately the reason the weather was clearing was a blasting wind (70+ mph at the top) and they quickly shut down the upper deck.

Post-monument, we stuck with the Scottish warrior theme and headed to Bannockburn, where Robert the Bruce routed the English army of Edward II, freeing Scotland from English overlordship. The battlesite has a great interpretive centre where the little kid inside everyone can come out and play, trying on battle helmets and chain mail. The Bruce monument on the site is quite impressive. Hard to imagine this formidable warrior dying of leprosy.

Slightly depressed by the scale of the slaughter at Bannockburn, we decided to use feats of engineering to lift our spirits. In nearby Falkirk is an interesting, modern alternative to the canal lock called the Falkirk Wheel. In essence, the wheel moves ships from one high canal to another low one (or the other way around) by parking them in a big tub and rotating the entire tub up or down. The whole thing can be powered by the energy required for only 8 toasters. I was expecting a giant squealing, grinding, smoking monstrosity, but if you're not paying attention you'll miss the movement, it is that quiet.

If we told you that Annie and Rinus are big golf fans, you'll probably guess where we ended up next. St. Andrews, and the Old Course, the home of golf. We parked and wandered across the 18th fairway and past the first few holes. Although it was blustery and a little cold, the course appeared to be full, with some people toughing it out in shorts and polo shirts. Even this late in the season the course looked great. There were some white tents going up here and there, I think they are part of the preparations for the British Open, which will be played here in July of 2010. We resisted the urge to steal a club and hit a drive and instead made our way to the club house where we left some money behind.

We finally straggled across the finish line at home at about 10:30, a full 14 hours after we left. Needless to say there were no dominos that night.