Back to Scotland

I don't mean that I'm going there now, I wish, just that it's about time I went back there on the blog. Last time I relived the climb up Ben A'an. We managed that by lunchtime, you know, seeing as how fit I am.

Now I am not a mad Monty Python fan, I like them, but ever since I saw the major throwing up scene in one of their movies I couldn't get too excited about them. Lots of people come to Doune Castle because they filmed Monty Python and the Holy Grail there but I just liked it because it is a beautiful castle in Scotland. I have also read Michael Palin's diaries of the Python Years (I reviewed it here) so was keen to see it.


It was refreshing to see a castle without much done to it to make it more appealing to tourists. Maybe they don't need to, considering the Python connection, but I really enjoyed seeing its bare bones. The view wasn't rubbish either.

Wasn't the weather delightful? Maybe I wouldn't want to move there so much if we had gone in winter and it was freezing and dark for twenty hours a day. Actually, I think I could stand it.

I wouldn't have to live in a castle. This little house in the woods would suffice.


And every year we would spend a week at the Westerton.


After we left Callander and the Westerton we went to stay at a Jury's Inn......a bit of a come down. Still, it was perfectly adequate and in a fabulous location in the mysterious, atmospheric, grungy and beautiful Edinburgh. The Royal Mile was just behind our hotel. See that man in a T-shirt? Mad! It was definitely sunny but the wind was biting. We saw plenty of people dressed for summer and others in fur-lined parkas.

Just as in London, when the sun is out everyone flocks to the parks to soak it up.

This is St Giles' Cathedral, the Mother Church of Presbyterianism.

I even love the bagpipes, in moderation.