Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

Callendar House, Falkirk, Scotland

This evening, I am focusing on Falkirk, a historic town in the centre of Scotland with a long heritage dating from the Romans (Antonine Wall) through to Medieval (church) through to latest engineering technology manifested in the Falkirk Wheel.

Here is a listing of some of the key visitor sites in and around Falkirk:

• Antonine Wall, a World Heritage Site dating from AD142.
• Avon Gorge Trail, a 9 mile scenic trail between Avonbridge and Linlithgow.
• Barbara Davidson Pottery.
• Bo’ness and Kinneil Steam Railway.
• Bo’ness Motor Museum
• Callendar House and Park, over 600 years of history. Refer image at top of post.
• The Dunmore Pineapple ( 18th century architecture).
• Falkirk Steeple. See image no 3 below.
• Falkirk Wheel. The world’s only rotating boat lift.
• Jupiter Urban Wildlife Centre. 10 acres of special habitats.
• Kinneil House Museum and Estate. Spans 2000 years of history.
• Falkirk Old and St. Modan’s Parish Church together with old graveyard with memorials from William Wallace era, Battle of Falkirk (1298) and second Battle of Falkirk in 1746.
• Polmont Hill dry ski centre.
• Indoor Go-Karting at Lochlands Business Park.

Remains of 12th century Sanctuary Cross in church.

Crosshead Falkirk Old and St. Modan's Parish Church, Falkirk

View of Old Parish Church. Here  is a video clip of the interior.

Falkirk Old and St. Modan's Parich Church, Falkirk, Scotland

Falkirk Steeple. Dates from 1814.

The Steeple, Falkirk, Scotland

Modern, town centre shopping.

Town Centre Shopping, Falkirk, Scotland

Modern town centre shopping.

Town Centre Shopping, Falkirk, Scotland

Robert Burns (Scotland’s national poet) connection.

Robert Burns Connection, Falkirk, Scotland

Falkirk Wheel

Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk, Scotland

13th century battlefield site.

Site of Battle of Falkirk 1298

Clearly, a wide choice choice of places to visit in this central Scotland location.

Today our prime objective was Loch Ness. We departed our Dunkeld hotel at 9.15am and then drove up to Inverness. First call was the prehistoric Clava Cairns which date back about 4000 years. These are probably burial places for high status leaders with each cairn surrounded by a stone circle. Although some of the stones have been robbed out the substance of this important site remains.

Clava Cairns, Highlands, Scotland

Next to the nearby Culloden battlefield site. We had lunch here and then a short tour of the battlefield which is the site of the last battle on British soil-in 1746. Here the forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie were finally defeated by the British Army redcoats and thereafter the Highlands enjoyed a long period of peace.

Battlefield, Culloden, Scotland

Next to the Clansman near Drumnadrochit where we joined the 2.00pm boat trip on loch Ness down to Castle Urquhart where we alighted and explored the castle, viewed the film on the castle’s history and browsed  the gift shop before rejoining the tour bus. Unfortunately, the weather conspired against us with persistent rain prevalent during most of the afternoon.

Tour Group, Loch Ness, Scotland

Castle Urquhart, Loch Ness, Scotland

Castle Urquhart from Loch Ness, Scotland

Finally, we returned to Dunkeld in central Scotland just after 6.00pm in time for dinner and a brief exploration of this pleasant town on the banks of the River Tay.

(Apologies for quality of images  which are from a cellphone owing to camera malfunction.)

Today we travelled from Inverness to Dunkeld taking in the following sites and sights:

Clava Cairns: A concentration of prehistoric stone circles and burial cairns dating from around 4000 yrs ago.

Clava Cairns, nr Inverness, Scotland

Culloden Battlefield and Visitor Centre. Location of last battle on British soil which witnessed the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s attempt to take over the thrones of Scotland and England for the Stewart dynasty. Excellent visitor centre.

Culloden Battlefield, nr Inverness, Scotland

Cawdor Castle. Long standing family home with well maintained garden. Loose links with Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Thane of Cawdor).

Cawdor Castle, nr Inverness, Scotland

Garden at Cawdor Castle, Scotland

Aviemore. Town in Cairngorms focused on outdoor activties. We had lunch here.

Edradour Distillery, Pitlochry.. We joined a tour of Scotland’s smallest legal distillery learning about malting, mashing, fermentation,distillation and maturation.

Edradour Distillery, Pitlochry, Scotland

Dunkeld. Here we paid a short visit to Birnam, dinner at the Atholl Arms Hotel and then retired to our lodgings.

Beatrix Potter Garden at Birnam

Birnam View, Scotland

Overall, a good day benefiting from mainly dry weather.