Crown Hotel, England, United Kingdom
Lovely countryside again from Callander to Stirling, we had decided to go thru Stirling on the way to Wetheral, as we wanted to see the William Wallace monument which Lukas had done a project on.
It’s a very steep 15min walk up a sealed road to the monument ........ we took the shuttle bus ;) there were 295 steps in a turret, quite narrow, leading to 3 floors and then up to the viewing crown. WINDY, it was not pleasant, so a very quick run around in the blustery gale.
William Wallace - Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In August 1305, Wallace was captured - only because her had a price on his head and a fellow countryman turned him in!, in Robroyston, near Glasgow, and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn, and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.
Braveheart was based on William Wallace, but is a fantasy more than accurate history.
I remember our tour guide around LochNess saying that Mel Gobson wore a kilt but that kilts were never as we know them until the 17th century - "There are two major wardrobe related errors in the film. Probably the most discussed and well-known is the portrayal of Scots wearing kilts in the 13th century. In actuality, kilts did not become a popular form of men’s wear until well into the 17th century, which means that the film’s portrayal can be considered grossly inaccurate".
We deviated past the Pineapple Folly near Falkirk, the. Continued down between Glasgow and Edinburgh, such a densely populated area that we took to the M74 almost in desperation. We like to travel off the main highways as we see more, but this, not even being due to a Sunday, was so bedlamic that we just gave up, it wasn’t even interesting, just houses and houses.
Suddenly saw the sign GRETNA GREEN, have to drop off here, bit of history. Extremely touristy, buses of Japanese, we do not see a lot of asians as in NZ.
Suddenly, we're in ENGLAND!
Arrived in Wetheral around 5.30pm at the Crown Hotel, very nice, bnb $62. A very good deal, large room. We dined in the bar before bed, roast of the day, Kev, beef me pork. Huge meal Corey, you’d have loved it.
Jasha
2018-10-04
In England. What wonderful, interesting journey you have had. Great to see Scotland through your blogs.