These last stops are mainly designed to retrace the footsteps of some Scottish history based on some of the iconic names from the past – William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, and Maureen the Paterson, as she was known then.
On the way we had a night in Callendar, a nice village in the Trossachs that was notable for (a) getting to see some Highland Cows, some of my favourite animals for their hairy cuteness, and (b), for getting to watch the headliners from Glastonbury on TV. This involved two favourite performers: Cat Stevens and Elton John. Being in the country and watching it live was the nearest thing to being at the festival. Actually better, in my humble opinion, unless camping out and sharing portaloos with half a million others is your idea of fun.
Not far from Stirling we visited the Battlefield of Bannockburn where, in 1314 Robert the Bruce took on England in a home game. King Robert wasn’t just nicknamed ‘the Bruce’ by his drinking mates. He was descended from a Frenchman named de Bruce, who was one of William the Conqueror’s knights. His statue sits at the centre of an expansive green field that was part of the battlefield. The visitors’ centre looks out to the field. It has been upgraded extensively since our last visit with the kids 20 years ago.
They still have the battle costumes that the kids dressed up in (and which we still have a photo of somewhere) but the museum and interpretive side has gone to another level. We went on a guided tour. The guide had a voice that if it was a radio, you’d turn it down for fear of annoying the neighbors, but he was very good. The best part was the large battlefield map that the group looked down on from a circular gallery above, while the guide walked us through the action, complete with a pointer, like Churchill directing operations from the Cabinet War Rooms.
The battle was fought 709 years ago almost to the day. Though heavily outnumbered the Scots prevailed mainly through local knowledge of the terrain and a particularly nasty hedgehog spear formation called a schiltron, that the English cavalry failed to deal with.
From Bannockburn we drove to the Wallace Monument, a 40-metre high triumphal tower built in honour of 13th century Braveheart William Wallace. The tower is built on a hill overlooking town. We paid to get into the tower and access interpretive displays on various floors. It was wet and on the extremely narrow winding slippery stairwell the rain and strong winds penetrated through ports in the tower. Add to that the need to avoid people coming down and the lack of handrails it was a bit hair-raising.
At Stirling Castle our guide was a Scot who was happy to conduct the tour in the pouring rain with no umbrella. After the previous week’s heatwave he was relishing every drop (putting me in mind of a Scottish saying, ‘today’s rain is tomorrow’s whisky’.) Much of his commentary was based around the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, where William Wallace’s army routed the English through a mixture of cunning and audacity. (They destroyed the strategic bridge over the Forth River as the main body of English cavalry charged over it, and it was pretty much game over from there.) There was the odd scuffle over the centuries that the Scots didn’t win of course, but that didn’t seem to rate a mention.
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