Culloden and Bannockburn, 19 and 20 June

Culloden and Bannockburn, 19 and 20 June

These two days ended up focussed around historic battlefields, to the detriment of the other stuff that had been part of the original plan As a result we didn't get to Fort George or to Stirling Castle except to have a quick (free) look around the outside. We did manage quite a few back road drives with excellent scenery, although sometimes raining.

Anyway, on Sunday morning we spent a couple of hours in the museum at Culloden and then wandered the battlefield. When we were last there 30+ years back there was not much more than a paddock, so todays set up was extremely impressive and provided a good overview of the 1745 battle and why it took place. Of course the Scots lost and suffered a grim tally of about 1,500 casualties on the day plus ongoing reprisals, compared to 300 or so on the English side. The memorial stones were placed about 60 years after the battle to mark the graves of the fallen from the clans. I found them still quite moving today.

Culloden memorial.

MacGillivray, MacLean, Maclachlan, and Athol highlander clan memorial.

After Culloden, touring the nearby Fort George which is a "live" army base today, did not have so much appeal. We trekked over there but in the end the entry fee put us off and we abandoned the idea in favour of a scenic drive to our next stop at Pitlochry. Arrived at the unheard of early hour of about 5pm.

Pitlochry is a cute little town and it trapped us the next morning with its shops. After much exploring and not a little buying we managed to get back on the road about midday and took another long scenic route to Bannockburn through Queen's View, Loch Tummel, and Dochart Falls.

Queen's View - very moody.

Dochart Falls near Killin.

The "Battle of Bannockburn Experience" is completely different from Culloden and from any other museum/historic place we have so far visited. It uses 3D film clips to set the historical scene and provide background on the main players, then takes groups of 24 or so visitors into the battle room to replay the battle using a simulation. It was great fun and a very effective way of presenting the detail of what happened. The visitors are assigned command roles in the battle and get to make decisons on troop movements etc. Guess who was selected as the English King Edward and Scottish King Robert(a) the Bruce? Yes! And the English won the day on this occasion - more by luck than anything else I should add.

Bannockburn is very close to our next overnight stop at Stirling, so after completely revising the outcome of a piviotal event in British history, we went to check in. It was early, promising a beautiful fine evening, and we were feeling bad about not achieving our tourist quota for the day, so set off to tick some boxes. Nosed around the outside of Stirling Castle, walked up to the base of the (William) Wallace Monument for a view, cruised over to the Falkirk Wheel, fed the kelpies, and had fish & chips on a road side bench. Not too bad for an evening's work!

P.S. Kelpies are apparently Scottish water spirits that can change shapes and often take on the appearance of horses.

Wallace Monument.

Falkirk Wheel.

Stirling castle from cemetery next door.

Feeding the kelpie.