Fantastic Stirling: Good weather (for Scotland)

We made it to Stirling after figuring out the public transport system this morning. Glasgow has a great subway loop.

My Scottish friend met us at the station and took us round to all the best tourist places to go. After walking over the River Forth on Stirling Bridge, she drove us up the William Wallace Monument, which we climbed up, learning lots about Scotland's rather bloody history and getting some fantastic pictures from the top - although it was rather windy and cold. Went to Cambuskenneth Abbey, but it was closed for the winter, so we took a drive around the Stirling University and looked at the Aithrey Castle which used to be a maternity hospital. It has some nice wooden panelling. The university grounds are really pretty with a couple of lochs. There are lots of wildlife too, although we didn't see many today. Apart from the grey squirrels, heron and birds we encountered yesterday, we only really saw some more birds, a squirrel and plenty of molehills today.

We went to Alva for lunch, a mill town at the foot of the Ochil Hills, where we tried haggis and black pudding as part of a full Scottish breakfast. It was quite good, if a little rich.

We headed to Bannockburn to see the statue of Robert the Bruce, but it had started raining so we drove back to Stirling where the weather cleared up. Strange weather, all round. We walked up to see Stirling Castle for a while - without going in, then wandered through the main part of town, before seeing the Smith Gallery, which is only a wee gallery, but really interesting. We saw part of a DVD about 'Auld Stirling' which showed many of the places we'd been that day.

My friend invited us over to her place for a while for a cuppa tea out of the cold in a cosy, firelit room before dropping us back at the station. All in all, I think I'd like to come back to Stirling some day and see it in other seasons. It's only a small place, but really scenic and lovely.

We've been really lucky with the weather, as it was snowing in Stirling only last week. We returned to Glasgow in the rain and it looks like more rain tomorrow