Adventuring with MaryLou: 05/17/25

5-16-2025 Rabbie’s Tour (the name of the tour company)

Our tour started at 9:00. Our guide was Maggie. She drove the16 passenger bus and was also our guide. This one was booked as Stirling Castle and Loch Lamond. Here’s a general rundown.

Stirling Castle

Records show that something was on the site of Stirling Castle since the 1100s. The castle in its beginning form(s) was built between the 14th and 16th centuries. Over the decades and centuries, it grew and changed. Along the way, it served several royalty in various ways and there was a lot of back-and-forth with wars, and take-overs between England and Scotland. Some of the more famous events and people include

1) Robert the Bruce who fought and won Scottish Independence in the early 13th century. This is the time period when my early ancestors lived in the area. William Sprewl was the seneschal for the Earl of Lennox.

2) The early Stewarts took over the castle and it became an early center for royalty.

3) The castle was involved in the Jacobite uprising which was the downfall of the Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745.

4) English forces and the British royalty took over and there you have it—until it became a tourist attraction of course. (Whew!)

Here are some pictures I took on the tour….

The castle…and the guide

The banquet Hall. When it was renovated, they made it like the original without any nails or screws in the ceiling. It keeps itself up by….heck I don’t know…it just does.

The chapel. One of the newer buildings.

The courtyard with the gold building…

The kitchens—after the tour, I went to see the medieval kitchens. I got carried away with photos.

I also took a little walk-about around the outside wall of the castle. Here is what I saw…

…and that’s it.

Coos at Aberfoyle

And what is this, you ask? We stopped to see Scottish Coos. In the United States, they are called “cows.” In Scotland, they are still spelled “c-o-w-s” but pronounced “coos.” And what’s so special about Scottish coos you ask? Well, I be telling yous. First they are hairy, and second, they have horns. If the horn points grow up, it’s a girl coo. If the horn points are down, it’s a boy coo. If it has no horns, well the horns are missing on the head because the balls are missing on the…., you know. AND what if the horns are growing horizontally? Well, you decide what that one is. Hmmm. Is that possible!? Here’s a visual. Boy or girl?

We walked around this very small place called Aberfoyle and looked at things Scottish…like this sign that says “Hamish. Apparently, Hamish is one of the friends of the coos.

I saw something very interesting. I ask you…why is there a picture of a Scottish coo under a woollen mill sign? Do coos make wool? Huh?

And I know you’ll figure this one out..What are these little dark blobs on this barbed wire fence? Yea, a no-brainer.

Onward we go into the countryside…

The Callendar House, built between the 14th and 19th centuries….redone in the French Renaissance style— probably during the French Renaissance. It hosted some famous people in its day. Now it’s a fancy hotel??? I don’t remember.

And then it was time for lunch. Teresa and I ate with Denise who is from Australia and Canada but currently Australia. I had Fish and Chips and Denise had…

Next was a fabulous tour around Loch Lamond…the largest lake in Scotland with dozens of islands. Here’s what we saw…

A steamboat from the Victorian era (obviously not working).

More castles and etc…. (No pics of the etc)

Here’s what I learned… There is a very long fault line that runs through Lake Lamond. It officially separates the lowlands from the highlands. The most interesting thing about it is that you can see the division in the land at the fault line. The lowlands are lush and green and, well, low…while the highlands are barren, rocky, mountainous and, well, high. Take a look at these pics and you can see the difference.