We were a little pressed for time today because we really wanted to do some last minute shopping in Fort William before heading out to Steall Falls at the foot of Ben Nevis and then driving a few hours on to Stirling where we wanted to go see Stirling Castle.
We have been looking for something specific since we saw it in Edinburgh and figured we could get it pretty much anywhere with so many tourist shops around. But we were wrong, it was almost impossible to get what we were looking for (a brooch to go with my tartan stole) but the final store we decided to visit had what I needed; a beautiful brooch that matched the colours of my tartan stole to keep it in place.
After purchasing the brooch we left to Steall Falls, this waterfall is located at the foot of Ben Nevis, and from the parking lot it’s a 45 minute hike over rough terrain and small waterfalls to get there. We followed directions giving to us by tourist information and parked our car. We found a path that according to a local would lead us to the waterfall. So climbing up the mountain following the river we walked for a good hour when we came to… a parking lot. Apparently the “end of road” sign at the parking lot we parked our car at didn’t really mean end of road, it just meant “the road will eventually end in another parking lot that will get you to the right path to Steall Falls”
Yes, and the local didn’t really mention the second parking lot either. I really don’t think complaining about the extra hours walk would do us any good so on we went onto the path leading to Steall Fall. They had a lovely sign up to warn us about the dangerous path ahead and that it could be lethal but that didn’t scare us away. Keeping an eye on the time we decided to walk until we could see the waterfall in the distance, take some photos and turn around, as by now we had another hour and twenty minutes to walk back to our car and Stirling was a few hours drive away too.
As much as I regret not walking all the way up to Steall Falls it was a beautiful hike and I got to see some amazing views and climbed a few waterfalls along the way so it was worth it.
The drive to Stirling itself was pretty uneventful apart from all the beautiful views, all around Scotland the views are amazing it doesn’t matter where you are.
We could see Stirling Castle arise in the distance and before we knew it we drove into Stirling.
Stirling Castle is fantastic, it really is a great place to visit with kids too! They have games all throughout the castle for children to play and employees dressed up in period clothing doing tours and giving out information in different parts of the castle.
Speaking of period clothing, they not only thought of entertainment for the children; adults can have a laugh too. They have period clothing you can dress up with and take silly pictures with 😉
I think Stirling Castle is the best castle I’ve seen on this journey. It’s a full castle not just a ruin (although they were awesome too) and it was very pretty, well kept and throughout you could find a lot of information about the castle, its history and battles it witnessed.
Stirling itself is pretty picturesque but we didn’t get to see much, it was getting a little late and we still had to find our hotel. We tried walking into town but some funny person apparently switched some signs and we were directed out of town instead.
Luckily our hotel wasn’t too far away and easy to find. But to my surprise when I went to check us in, the door was locked. After looking around for a bit I noticed a letter next to the door directed to me, stating it was unfortunate they couldn’t put us up for the night and a phone number of a bed and breakfast in the area that was able to give us a room for the night.
I called the number and got directions to the bed and breakfast, which was a mere 5 minutes away. I have to admit the bed and breakfast was a great place, the owners are very friendly, the rooms were big and clean and the bathroom was perfect too. It was a really homey feeling to be there, and not being able to stay in our booked hotel but in this quiet bed and breakfast instead wasn’t a bad thing after all.
I have to say thumbs up to booking.com who really helped me out with confirmations and checking up to see if everything was in order for us. And of course to the owners of the B & B for being able to put us up on such short notice.
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