We had beautiful sunshine for our walk to St. Giles Cathedral. It looked so promising. John Knox ran St. Giles with tight purse strings, so when he died they buried him in the parking lot, thinking he’d appreciate the frugality of it. Parking stall 23.
St. Giles is where we caught our bus for our day trip to the Highlands. On the way we stopped at Stirling and toured the castle. It had started pouring rain almost as soon as we got into the bus and, after driving past fields of sheep, cows, horses, fields full of giant hay rolls, and many road signs with unpronounceable place names, it was still raining when we got to Stirling.
Inside the castle there were actors dressed in period costume, lots of period decoration, and the ceilings in particular were magnificent examples of Scottish carving including large silhouettes of faces and upper bodies, brightly painted. It is where James VI of Scotland (James I of England) lived.
DH and I are so steeped in history that right now we can’t agree on any historical facts.
This is Queen Anne’s garden. Simply beautiful.
We returned to the bus, very cold and none the wiser.
Next stop was for lunch. A sandwich stop with a large amount of tourist trove and plenty of sheep. The food was good. Some of the sheep were rare breeds.
After lunch we drove to Loch Lomond. We first stopped at a spot along the West Highland Way trail, and watched several people striding past with their packs and poles. Next week that will be us! On a different trail, but still…
They’ve had a lot of rain here this summer, and the Loch was into the trees. Along the way we saw rivers that had breached their banks. Totally the opposite of some peoples’ summers this year. And yes, they played that song in the bus on the way.
Here’s our little bus.
Next came a stop at a whisky distillery (without an “e” in Scotland) which included a tour, a 12 year taste and an 18 year taste. It was a beautiful spot. They’ve been distilling there since before it was legal, but officially 1833.
They don’t mind rain in Scotland because today’s rain is tomorrow’s whisky.
The colour of the whisky depends on the type of cask that is used, and we learned how the smokey and peaty flavours get into the whisky.
Edinburgh traffic can be rough. We’re glad we’re walkers.
Dinner on the Royal Mile when we got back. Big day tomorrow!
Keep smiling, even when your feet are wet.
Wandering 
You guys are troopers!!
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