We rose at a decent time. The decision had been made for me to walk over to the car rental place while Jess and Krista packed up the room. It was about a 3.5 mile journey. The sun was jus rising as I hit Princes Street, walking down the cobble stone. I grabbed a cup of coffee to keep my hands warm. I found that Starbucks locations we spread apart just perfectly for you to finish a drink and get another, but I resisted the urge.
Once at the rental place, I gave my information and they quickly pulled the car around. It was parked in the middle of the driveway to the business and another person was right behind me, so I needed to get on the move. I didn’t have enough time to plug in the hotel address, so I set off in the rough direction of the hotel. After wandering around Edinburgh for a while, I finally found a spot to pull over and was able to call the hotel and let the ladies know that I was a couple minutes away and would meet them in the lobby.
It had been a while since I last drove a manual transmission car, so I had to get my bearings a bit. Also, being on the other side of the car (and road) provided a new experience in driving that I had never imagined. The car, a 2014 Hyundai i10, had plenty of pep and was fairly fun and comfortable to drive. It was a bit stressful at first, mainly due to not having any bearing of direction at first and judging distances on the far side of the car.
I picked up the ladies and our bags and we were off. Jess put our next destination in the GPS, Stirling. I was expecting to get out of the city quick and hit the carriageway (highway), but were were routed to of the town via small rural roads, driving through the countryside. We didn’t question it too much as we were enjoying the scenery and the small villages we passed through, at least until the GPS tried to take us down a sidewalk. It was set for pedestrian/walking directions, so it was taking us on the most direct route, avoiding higher-speed roads. After switching modes and rerouting, we were in Stirling within a short time. We followed signs to the castle and found a place to park.
Stirling was very similar to Edinburgh, but just a bit smaller. We had picked out a couple spots to have breakfast from the Lonely Planet guide and found one on our way up to the castle. It was a cute little diner. We had our coffee and food and went on our way.
The Castle was impressive. We were able to get a three-castle pass for just a few pounds more when we toured the Edinburgh Castle, so here we checked off number two. We decided to take the guided tour this time, and I am sure glad we did. It was great to hear the history of not only the castle, but of Scotland as well. After the castle, we drove over to the William Wallace Monument on the hill opposing the castle. It was a grand monument. To get up to the top, you wound up a spiral staircase that passed through three large chambers, each devoted to telling a story, until finally reaching the top. The view was spectacular as the sun was lowering.
After a day of sightseeing, we were ready to find a place to stay for the night. We called on a few B&Bs that were in the guide and went with the first one that answered. It took us a bit to find it, as I had forgotten the last half of the directions and it was getting dark. Signage was minimal on the roads and some of the roundabouts had may exits that were hard to keep track of. It didn’t help that the GPS was late on giving directions either. We finally found the place, stashed our bags and headed out to find a place to eat. The whole town was quiet. The restaurant was dead. It wasn’t until we went to grab a cup of coffee and some dessert at a shop nearby, that we were informed that it was Guy Fawkes Day and there would be some fireworks later on at the castle and bonfires throughout the city. We took our desert back and grabbed our cameras, walking up to the castle once more to overlook the city. There were a thousand others, possibly more, with the same idea. Fireworks were launching from all over the city. Kids with sparklers, and there parents standing by with warm drink looked on as the main show started. Unfortunately, a tree stood in the way, but I still managed a couple shots.
We headed back to the B&B, feeling accomplished at a full day of activity. Day 2, check!
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