Scotland Vacation October 2023 - Stirling, National Wallace Monument, Blair Drummond

We wanted to see so many sites in Scotland that we had mapped out our itinerary to fit in as much as possible. Sometimes things don't go to plan and you have to just roll with it. The curbs in Stirling were not rounded, they were squared off. We thought we were doing great with left-side driving until my husband hit one of those pointy curb corners and popped a tire. So, we had an unexpected delay traveling from Stirling Castle to the National Wallace Monument.

My husband was able to pull off into a grocery store parking lot and change the tire. We were thankful the rental car came with a regular sized tire instead of one of those small donut tires. 

The extended time we spent at Stirling Castle and the flat tire messed up our time frame for seeing the National Wallace Monument. I took this picture of the Wallace Monument while at Stirling Castle. We were excited to get to visit it.

By the time we got to the parking lot of the famous monument, it was 3:45 and the monument closed at 4. To get to the monument you walked up through the wooded slopes of The Abbey Craig. A sign said the walk was estimated to take 25 minutes. We were frustratingly close to making it on time.

View from the parking lot.

We quickly raced up the hill and made it to the monument a couple of minutes before 4 pm. (Ok, I did stop for about 30 seconds to take a couple of photos.) The Abbey Craig had woodcarvings all along the trail depicting the area's history from the ice age to the building of the monument.

We made it to the monument about two minutes before they closed. They let us walk into the gift shop but it was waaaaaaay to late to go up in the tower or walk through any exhibits. I felt bad because the Wallace Monument was the one place my husband had most wanted to visit. I wish we could have explored the history of The Hall of Arms, The Hall of Heroes, The Royal Chamber, the spiral staircase to the top, and The Crown views. 

The views from the overlook were spectacular. I took this picture of Stirling Castle.

After briefly wandering through the gift shop and entrance hall, we headed back down to the parking lot. We decided to take a longer way back and walked down the Stirling Trail. The sign said it would take about 35 minutes.

The Abbey Trail is a bit longer and intersects with the Stirling Trail. We got a little lost in the woods and somehow ended up off of all the marked trails. The edge of this part of the woods was surrounded by sheep fields.

We eventually found our way back to a proper trail and back to the parking lot.

We wanted to make it to our lodging for the night before the sun went down so we would have an easier time finding the place. So we left the monument in search of The Wash House in Blair Drummond. It took us a bit to find our lodging house. The Wash House was on a property shared with a church and a schoolhouse. The owners house was next door to the schoolhouse and the The Wash House cottage was behind their house. You had to go through a closed gate to find it. Luckily, the owner came out to direct us to the path to the cottage. 

This was my favorite lodging we stayed in during out entire trip. I wish we could have spent more time relaxing at the cottage. It was so cute inside and out.

There were several seating areas outside the owner told us we were welcome to enjoy.

The view from the outdoor seating looked over a sheep field with a gorgeous sunset.

The inside of the cottage was perfectly portioned and well set up. The owner had left fresh bread, eggs, peanut butter, and Scottish cookies for us. There was a record player in the corner with a bunch of old records. After a day of running around, having a flat tire, and missing out on the monument, we really enjoyed our down time here. The owner was very kind and told us where to go in Stirling to get fast, reliable service and a good price on a new tire for our rental car.

The bedroom was cute and cozy with a view of the fields.

It was 35 degree F when we got up the next morning. Our rental car did not come with an ice scraper, credit card scraping to the rescue. We wanted to get to the tire shop when they opened at 8:30. SMS Tires in Stirling was the perfect place to go to get a new tire. We were in and out of there within 30 minutes. Funnily enough, two other customers (locals) were in the shop getting their tires fixed from popping them on Stirling's pointy curbs. 

After leaving the tire shop, we went back to a road near the cottage for breakfast at Smiddy's Farmshop Butchery and Cafe. Breakfast was delicious. My husband had the breakfast platter with eggs, sausage, ham, potato scone, toast, beans, mushrooms, haggis, tomato, and blood pudding. It was a good start to our 4th day in Scotland.