Does the title of this blog sound like a crazy combination? Well....let's just say that it has been a crazy kind of day.
We started out taking a morning stroll along the River Teith.........in the rain.
Marty was on the lookout for trout....
But ne'er a one was spotted, although we did see a few ducks.
We didn't get too soaked, but it was obvious that the day was going to be a wet, cold, and windy one.
So, we filled up on a nice hot breakfast supplied by our B&B, then hopped in the car, umbrellas in hand, and headed to Doune.
Our destination was Doune Castle:
Does this look familiar? Here's a hint......."We are the Knight who say....'Neee'."
Or, how about....."We're knights of the Round Table, we dance whene'er we're able."
One more hint: "One day, lad....all this will be yours."
"What? the curtains."
Well, I'd say that if you are a "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" fan, then you've guessed the answer to the question. Here, at Doune Castle, the famous movie was filmed. And the audio tour entertained us by interjecting many of the quotes from the movie as we toured the castle.
The weather was miserable. Freezing cold (literally) and rain pouring down. Since I misplaced (Ok, I really LOST ) a glove, my fingers were freezing. So, when I saw a pair of Lamb's wool gloves in the tourist shop as we were exiting, I grabbed a pair to buy. The best decision of the day!
After spending quite a bit of time at the castle, and managing to capture some outstanding views
We hopped in the car, and returned to the Old Rectory Inn
where we warmed up with a cup of tea in the room before venturing out into the town.
We had decided to see the Bracklinn Falls which were on the East Side of Callander, so we bundled up, found the road to the footpath, and trecked through the woods, with the cold wind blowing, until we came to the falls along a gorge.
Do I look cold? Windblown? Crazy? (you needn't answer that last question.)
There was an interesting footbridge across the falls which gave one a great vantage point of how the water has literally worn away the rock along these falls.
Here you can see Marty posing next to the bridge.
In this case, the hike was worth the end result, and the photos really don't do the grandeur of these falls justice.
We decided to head back to town and plan the rest of the day. The sky had finally stopped raining, although there was no sign of the sun, and the winds were nearly gale force. We thought that we'd probably have to opt for something inside.
But, as we were walking back to the B&B, we spotted something in the distance that had been hidden by the clouds until then
Can you see that in the distance? It's a mountain....with snow on the top. The cloud had blended right in with the top, and we had no idea! We then decided that we would hike the Callander Crag walk, up to the top, to see if we could admire those mountains from a different vantage point.
Ok, so that sounds like it would be an easy idea. But, once we found the trail, it was obvious that this walk might be just a bit more challenging that what we had expected.
Marty kept saying, "I think we're almost at the top", at least a half a dozen times. The trail would no sooner level out, and we'd see another hill to hike just around the corner. We focused on finding the top because it just seemed like we should be there. We were concentrating on our footing, as the trail was steep AND slippery, when we looked up and saw that we were definitely being watched.
Can you see that sheep at the top? She never took her eyes off of us. I'm sure that she thought that we were crazy. But, we kept on climbing, and then, we just couldn't decide what to do. Remember how I said earlier that I have this problem where I just don't know when to call it quits and turn around?
Well, Marty was sure this time that we just couldn't keep on walking and that we should probably just give it up and go back down.
I turned around, for some reason, to check out the way back down, and I looked up and saw this
I let out a gasp, and began laughing while I told Marty to look. We just couldn't believe what we had missed because we were busy looking for the top of the Crag!
We took a celebratory photo near the top. (Note the sheep in the background.)
Then we decided to go a "wee" bit further, just to see if we could get an even better view.
Marty was able to capture this photo, just as the sun decided to bless us by peeking through the clouds.
Is that awesome? The water in the distance is Loch Vanachar, which, by the way, is the name of our room at the B&B.
We climbed a bit more, determined to find the top, as it sure appeared that we should be at the top, and we took in the beauty of the town, which was on the opposite side of the mountains.
By now, the sun had yet again disappeared, and the winds were blowing at extremely high speeds. I was concerned by all of the uprooted trees along the trail, and I surely didn't want to have to worry about one deciding that it was time to fall on the trail, or, even worse, fall on one of us!
So we made the trip back down the crag, which was, by the way, far easier than the climb up!!
Here we are, excited to have accomplished the feat:
After all of that unexpected excitement, I decided that it was time just to stay put at the Old Rectory Inn, relax, and just have a bite to eat in the restaurant downstairs.
The staff here is extremely entertaining, and there was a local, Danny, who was more than happy to strike up a conversation with Marty which lasted through our dinner, and, as a matter of fact, is still going on. I gave up and came up to the room.
But, if you're wondering just what type of temptation is keeping Marty occupied, let me just give you an idea.
Those are bottles of whiskey. Countless types. But Marty insists that tasting them must be educational, because the word, Library, is involved.
I'll let you know how that turns out.
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