From Castle to Castle - Edinburgh to Stirling

Today's journey was short in travel time, but immensely rich in the history of this fascinating country. The route may look a little strange, as we used side roads rather than motorway, to travel from Leith to Edinburgh, from Edinburgh to Stirling and from Stirling to the Gleneagles Hotel. (NB - I've not forgotten Tom Kitchen's resteraunt, but that post will take a bit longer to write than this one, so expect it soon.) 

Leaving Leith

I had a late start this morning, not waking until 5.30 am - believe me, this is late for me - I must be relaxing into the holiday. I'd slept very well in the comfort of the Premier Inn, Leith and after showering and dressing we went for breakfast which is served in the Brewer's Fayre place right next to the hotel. A Premier Inn breakfast may not be 'fine dining' in the technical sense, but its range and selection is very good idea. And the bacon and sausage taste like real bacon and sausage, not like wholesale bought processed food you get in some establishments. So we had a lovely breakfast and then went for a walk around Leith which, having been a working dock, is now converted into little areas for boats and lots of accommodation. It clearly was a wealthy place in the Victorian era with large four or five story mansions along the shore front and up into the town.

Edinburgh

Leith is to Edinburgh what Cardiff Bay is to Cardiff - the old docklands, now gentrified into residential apartments and offices. I find this interesting, as my second degree was in Social Geography and the nature and impact of history of the use and re-use of social, especially industrial spaces. As I looked around I was reminded of Professor Doreen Massey, who I had the pleasure of getting to know during Summer Schools on my degree. Her Marxist interpretation of the spatial division of labour has a lot to say about places like Leith and its gentrification. Doreen died earlier this year, but I could hear her voice in my head describing this landscape which she would have called 'the integration of working locations into the capitalist drive for profit'!

So leaving Leith and going to Edinburgh City Centre is really like moving from one part of a City to another. We headed almost due south to reach Edinburgh and found a convenient car park under John Lewis where we parked and walked into town.

Arriving early into Edinburgh - it was about 9.30 am - was great as the large numbers of tourists were not yet making the whole of the town busy, so we had a lovely walk along Princes Street (named for the two Princes who were the sons of King George the Third). We spent some time looking at the Sir Walter Scott memorial, of which Charles Dickens said:

I am sorry to report the Scott Monument a failure. It is like the spire of a Gothic church taken off and stuck in the ground.

- on reflection perhaps he had a point!

We then went up the quaintly named: 'The Mound' and on to St. Giles Cathedral, also known as The High Kirk, and along the Royal Mile. If you look at our Flickr photos you will see a lot of stained glass in St. Giles, all be it a Presbyterian Cathedral. Robin, one of our regular blog readers, is a fan of Stained Glass.  Drew now regularly spends time taking plenty of photos of it whenever we arrive anywhere. 

By this time the City was vibrant with people; there were tour groups from Spain, Italy and Germany, large numbers of young people trying to sell the evening's tickets for The Fringe and general crowds of people walking about. We continued our walk along the Royal Mile, crossed above Waverley Station.

We then came to the Catholic Cathedral of St Mary, a lovely Church with an unusual design. The Church includes a statue commemorating Cardinal Grey, who I met when he was giving a retreat. I loved this statue as it captures Cardinal Grey's nose really well. I always remeber Archbishop George Patrick Dwyer of Birmingham saying of Cardinal Grey - "you have to put a lot of Whisky back to get a nose as red and bulbous as old George."

Having enjoyed our visit we went back to the Car Park and headed out of the City. I would recommend a visit to Edinburgh its bustling, multi-cultural, environment is a pleasure and its dark stone buildings and small windy streets are distinctive and special.

Across and along the Firth of Forth

As mentioned earlier our journey today was not a long one, but had been designed to experience this area of Scotland. We left Edinburgh just before 12 and followed a non-motorway route towards Stirling. This had the benefit of taking us across the Firth of Forth and driving along the Fife Tourist route along the northern-side of the Firth. 

The road brought us back across the river on the Kincardine bridge and along to Stirling.

Stirling

Just before entering the town proper we saw, and stopped at, the site of the Battle of Bannockburn. While I was aware of the historical events around the battle I didn't have the detailed knowledge which Drew possessed. This 'knowledge' based on a film, I've not seen, called Braveheart!

The site of the battle is very well laid out, with amazing views and lots of opportunity to celebrate Scottish history and to highlight the perfidy of the English (there words not mine!)

Drew was even more amused by the fact that the tour groups, unlike us the independent travellers, were all, at the end of the tour, invited to shout 'FREEDOM' to re-enact the feelings of the Scots at the time.

From Bannockburn we travelled the two miles into the town of Stirling itself. The town, an ancient centre of life in this country, is built around the castle at the top of a steep hill. Like much of the architecture around here; the town is built of dark rugged stone which seems to glisten as it is touched by rain - though thankfully the rain held off for our visit.

We wandered around Stirling taking in the sites and reading the historical placards before popping into a local bakery for lunch. Drew opted for a beef sausage roll and I went for something I'd not tasted before - a Scotch Pie - it was warmed mutton meat in a crusty pastry. It made a good light snack, to save us up for the two Michelin star pleasures of tonight.

The Gleneagles Hotel

From Stirling it was only a 30 minute drive to our destination for tonight. We progressed through the rolling hills of Perth and Kinross and arrived at Gleneagles just after 3. We checked into our room and were amazed by its size, splendor, and fantastic view back over the hills. After settling in it was time for a walk, but more of that in a later post.