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| Walk / Tour | 1.20 Miles |
50 AEG |
| | Walk / Tour | 1.20 Miles | 1 Hour | | 1.20 mph |
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| no partners | | Took a train from Edinburgh up to Stirling for the day. Takes about an hour, and we were on vacation time, so we did not get to Stirling until around 10:00 a.m., nor to the Bannockburn Heritage Centre (by bus) until an hour later.
The centre has some neat interactive displays where you "interview" various participants in the battle -- certain knights, anonymous men-at-arms, etc. -- on both sides, Scots (the winners) and English (very big losers). There are also displays of weapons in a central room while 3D battle animations -- think flying arrows -- played out around us. After that it was into the "battle simulation" room with 20 other visitors for a chance to game the battle. Luckily, I drew the Robert the Bruce character, so was in overall command of the good guys.  Unfortunately, I was no King Robert, and so we lost,  with my personal schiltron going down, surrounded on all sides, like Richard III at Bosworth Field.  Very fun! Wish we had time to stick around for another run through. Wish also that the simulation was available as a computer game.
After losing the battle, my wife & I took a walk out to the Robert the Bruce statue, and the battle memorial, where this poem was inscribed:
Here lies our land: every airt
Beneath swift clouds, glad glints of sun,
Belonging to none but itself.
We are mere transients, who sing
Its westlin’ winds and fernie braes,
Northern lights and siller tides,
Small folk playing our part.
‘Come all ye’, the country says,
You win me, who take me most to heart.
Research this morning reveals it is "Here Lies Our Land", by Kathleen Jamie.
It was cold, and getting colder, and extremely windy -- the windiest we experienced in Scotland (the Saltire was pointing straight out) -- and starting to drizzle. Frankly, miserable. So, we bailed to the bus stop. While bussing back into Stirling proper, the rain appeared to let up a bit. We were also looking short on time. So, I decided to forgo hiking the Wallace Monument hill in the hope of just getting a close-up view, but first, on the way, was Old Stirling Bridge.
Old Stirling Bridge lies downstream of the bridge which featured in William Wallace's defeat of a previous English army in 1297. That bridge collapsed during the battle of Stirling Bridge. (Inaccurately portrayed in "Braveheart", e.g. the lack of a bridge, amongst other things.  ) Old Stirling Bridge was constructed around 1550. The River Forth is quite a wide body of water, so it's a wonder how they were able to construct a bridge across it 250+ years earlier. Thankfully, they did not construct it quite as well.  It was still cold and windy when we got off the bus, but as soon as we did it started raining, with increasing volume and force. We were already at the bridge, and the bus would not return for 30 minutes or so, so we sucked it up and walked across the bridge and back. By the time we got back on the bus, I was soaked and my fingers were numb, so we decided to completely ditch the Wallace Monument in favor of hot coffee at the train station.
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I occasionally alternate iPhone and camera photos and videos. Partly to get different effects, but also as backup in case one or the other -- and likely it is the camera -- decides it wants to  me. The previous afternoon I had maxed out the storage on my 8 gig chip, so had bought a new 16 gig chip. 99% of what I shot at Stirling was on that new chip, the rest on my iPhone. The reason for such a small photoset -- and three of them are still captures from some video -- is that my camera, with 16 gig chip, got nicked Saturday evening. 
Stirling Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/8YOQ4y_AG9 ... autoplay=1 |
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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