We are now half way through our trip. My suitcase is definitely past its best but it is still doing the job.

We left Whitby by a road we had not been on before, that took us through a seaside place, Sandsend that was also very attractive, then inland to join a main road . The GPS is nice here as otherwise we would probably have taken the main road from the start. It took us across rolling countryside with sheep, cattle and stone walls as we went west through to Cumbria. We stopped for a cuppa at a small tearooms in Brough. These are so much cheaper than others and usually have interesting and sometimes odd local information. This one was advertising a local save the red squirrel group.

We made our main stop at Stirling castle. We have been here before with Irene. I would have liked to have gone to Edinburgh but we knew that it would need more time than we had plus involved parking issues.

Stirling actually seemed different from our last visit. We realised it was partly because we didn't walk around the outer part as much this time, mainly because of the cold wind but also because some parts were closed. They had suffered in the extra cold frosts over the winter and were considered unsafe.

There has been a castle here since the 11th century but Robert the Bruce destroyed it to stop it getting into enemy hands after the Battle of Brannockburn . We had intended to go to Brannockburn on our way but we didn’t see any signposts and we didn’t have time afterwards.

We also think the castle seemed different because there is a process of restoration going on and new displays being put out. These gave us some of the history as we had decided not to do the tour or use the audio guides today. The displays told us the castle was rebuilt in 1356 and the first fireworks in Scotland were let off after the 3 days to celebrate the birth of James in 1566. The Royal Court moved to London when James became James 1 of England and the army moved in. The castle was the base for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders until they moved out in 1964.

We visited the Great Hall while one of the free tours was in operation. The guide said the army had made this into 3 floors of barracks. He pointed out the musicians’ gallery and the place where the trumpeter would stand. It was built in the 16th century and its size was a symbol of power .

The Royal Palace was closed for restoration but the Royal Chapel was open. We saw this last visit but there are now more tapestries in here. There is a Tapestry studio in the castle where they are making the replica tapestries using as close to the original methods as possible. We did head in this direction but it was soooo cold. The chapel is big but rather bare although there are still frescos on the wall.

We visited the Great Kitchens which had been done since we were here in 2005 and enjoyed the models here. I hadn’t realised that a medieval kitchen would have been unlikely to have a woman in it and the sheer number of people there first surprised me until I thought about it. The replica fish were suitably wet and the cat in the kitchen seemed real.

We finally visited the museum of the regiment that used to be based here. They have a permanent exhibit although they are not funded by the castle entrance . There was a lot here, tracing the regiment over the years. I noted the key and padlock to the castle which are now only used when the Royal Family visits. There was a lot of regimental silver and crockery on display, some very ornate. In the WW part I saw the trench mirrors, something I had never seen before, and also a Princess Mary tobacco pack – for the days when cigarettes were given to soldiers. John especially noted the story of the man who had his arm amputated. One of the others told him that arm would never hit anyone again at which he asked for it from the doctor and swiped the soldier with it. It was a lighter touch after looking at the medical kits.

We found our first Scotland cache at a spot with a good view of the castle and headed for our BnB. We had said we would arrive at about 6pm so stopped at a very small cemetery on the way for another cache. We drove past a place that had a sign to 'Rob Roy’s grave’ but didn’t have time to visit then and it was also raining . Our address for this BnB was not detailed and the village was bigger than we had thought so we had to ring to find the spot. Of course, we had already driven past it twice but it was on a corner and not easy to spot from the directions we had taken.

The room was very nice, with a king size bed, a small dressing area and a large bathroom. There was also framed embroidery on the wall as Diane is a keen craftsperson. We found these all through the house so there must hare been more than thirty, all done extremely well to my untutored eye. She now does mainly patchwork and has a quilting machine which she uses to finish other peoples quilts as well.

We had dinner cooked here by Matthew, who is a qualified chef who also does relief cheffing in the area. We had opted for this when we thought the town was more of a village and food might be hard to get. In fact there were a few pubs and restaurants but we were delighted by our choice. We had a salmon salad starter, venison in a wine and mushroom sauce with parsnips and asparagus, lemon tart and then cheese and crackers. We ate too much as we cleared every plate. The bed was also very comfortable so we had a great nights sleep.