Scotland, Pt. 7

Slept poorly thanks to a heavy snorer in the room. Oh well, we had an early wake-up time, anyway. At the train station we got tickets to Stirling. As we boarded the train, Jason chatted with a cyclist who had ridden 3000 kilometers across Scotland! I guess he must’ve had enough.

The ride was much more smooth and pleasant than the bus, though it seemed to take longer. I watched the scenery pass by listening to LCD Soundsystem. Jason nodded off at some point. We routed through Glasgow at Queen Street and, after a hectic transfer to the express train and an amusing/embarrassing few minutes of me trying to cram my bag in the luggage compartment to the chagrin of the commuters, it was only twenty minutes from Glasgow to Stirling. A guy from the car rental company picked us up, and in no time we were driving our own vehicle through the Scottish countryside.

The weather cleared just as we arrived at Doune Castle. We remarked on our good fortune. It turned out that this was probably the best castle of those we’d visited. We had access to just about every room, including living chambers, great halls, and the gigantic kitchen hearth. The banquet hall was closed due to a wedding party taking photos. I didn’t realize that Doune Castle is famous thanks to being featured in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The man who sold us our tickets thoughtfully provided us with coconuts to carry around as we explored.

The castle sits above the River Teith, the banks of which we reached by following a path in the surrounding woods. The charming burgh of Doune is not far from the castle. I was intrigued by the contrast of old and modern architecture – a field of turbines spinning lazily in the hills behind Doune’s beautiful bell tower.

Next stop, Inchmahome Priory: a 12th century monastery ruin located on a small island in the middle of the Lake of Menteith (a genuine lake, not a loch). With no ferry in sight, we flipped a hanging board so that the white side faced the island, signalling the ferry operator to come pick us up. We enjoyed the quietude of the area while waiting. When the ferryman returned, he told us the priory was closing soon – taking us there now would give us only fifteen minutes on the island. We followed his recommendation to fully enjoy the priory the next morning (and Jason hoped for clearer weather, to which the ferry operator laughed, and replied “dress appropriately”).

It was time to check in at the hostel near Callander. We met Mark and Janet, who built the place twelve years prior with the intent to live there and rent out the other spaces. The hostel is essentially a large country home with a big common room, a refreshing change from the dormitory-style hostels we’d been staying in. Mark spends a lot of his time in their bike rental shop doing maintenance. Janet invited us to have a cup of tea in the sun room, so we had a chance to put up our feet.

She suggested a few places to eat, so after cleaning up we headed out to the Lade Inn. On the way, we drove over a bridge near a meadow and, after parking, decided to walk back up there to check it out. The sun returned as we watched the water churn below.

We treated ourselves to Shepherd’s Pie and fried haggis balls. The flavor of haggis was not objectionable, especially since it came from that great equalizer, the deep fryer. Everything was made with local ingredients and they brewed their own delicious ales (Lade Back, Lade Out and WayLade).

Afterwards we explored Callander a bit, getting dessert at an ice cream shop. A Californian working there seemed happy to have some Americans to talk to, but not even she seemed entirely sure how she’d ended up in Callander (I’m joking, but it was a convoluted story). The visitor center was closed, so we walked through a nearby park, listening to the sheep bah’ing across the river.

As we relaxed in the common room at the hostel, I found it hard to believe that the days had gone so quickly, and that we’d traveled so far in such a short period of time. Even though I was aware of how much we wouldn’t get to see, I knew, in a way, that I’d be glad to go home and start my next adventure. Luckily, we had one more day to enjoy in Scotland, and I was ready to make the most of it.