Culross and the Stirling Castle

  On Wednesday evening of our trip we rolled into the delightful midieval village of Culross (which we discovered is pronounced Koo Riss.  As we drove into town we were enthralled at how old it looked.  We stopped for a bite to eat at The Red Lion Pub before making our way to the little B&B that we had booked for the night.  The proprietor of Stay B&B was very friendly and accomodating.  Her name was Elaine and he home was very quaint.  She rents out only two rooms out of her home which keeps it small and intimate.  We were the only couple there for the night.  We were tired after a long day so it was nice to just relax in our room even though she invited us to make a fire in the sitting room and enjoy some time there.  We both had a good nights rest there:)

                                                 Isn't it just a cute place?

We awoke to a wonderful full Sottish breakfast again.  It's a great way to start the day and kept us filled until the evening came.

Culross is located on the north side of the Forth of Firth and in family search records shows that Rick's third great grandfather came from here.  That is why we came this direction to stay in the place that they stayed but on further research and too many holes in dates we are thinking that it may not be so.  In George's marriage record it lists him as being born in Ireland so that is where we are thinking he is from.

Even so we had rented this room thinking that Culross was a place for family history for us.  While it may not have any direct connection to us we absolutely fell in love with it and loved exploring the town.  

It is built on a hill so there are a lot of steps and steep roads.  As you get higher there is a beautiful view of the Forth of Fifth and you can even see to the other side of the bay.

Here are a few pictures from our morning of exploring....

We also went up to the Culross Abbey which was up on top of the hill.

We drove to that:)

We also spent a little time in the graveyard checking out the stones for any drysdales.  None:(

As we were driving out of Culriss we stopped at this amazing field of flowers.  We still haven't found out which crop it is but we are thinking it is flax.  I will find out...

At the suggestion of Elaine we drove up to Callendar, on the east side of the Trossach National Park.  It just so happened that just past calendar is a town called Kilmahog. We had seen this town name on a different map early in the week and kept teasing about it but then we actually drove right to it so we had to get a picture.

These cool highland cows (coos) were at a roadside shop.

We ended up buying a few items in the shop plus spending time with the cows.  Rick got to feed them some potato which they loved! They are really cool looking animals.

The area was mountainous and beautiful with hedgerows dividing the land and sheep grazing all over.

                                   We stopped at a woolen mills gift shop and bought a few souvenirs.

On our way back from Kilmahog we stopped at Sterling Castle.  It is the castle built by James IV and is very magnificent.  Mary, Queen of Scots lived here for a few years before she was married to a Frenchman.  It is a beautiful castle that was very opulent for it's day.  Many bloody battles took place here for the overtaking of the castle.  It went back and forth in it's ownership from the English to the Scots.

The big battle with William Wallace (Braveheart) leading the Scots against the Brits took place just next to the castle.

We also stopped in Callendar and did a little window shopping.  We had to buy this beautiful loaf...and a few pastries.😀

After our drive through the beautiful countryside we headed south toward our next nights stay.

We drove to the little town of Bonnyrigg to stay in a CASTLE! 

Next post coming soon....