The Off Ramp!

Today has seen us travel from Aberdeen to Edinburgh via Stirling Castle.  Yep, you got it, another castle.  

The road trip was pretty uneventful except when going to look for petrol along the motorway. This resulted in getting off a ramp too early and driving down a country lane.  Bit of a u-turn required and we were back on track to fill up and head for Stirling. Along with our little detour down the country lane, Gordo spent most of the road trip trying to keep the car on the road due to the wind and it was drizzling the whole trip.

Once we got to Stirling Castle, surprise, surprise, the car park was over full and people were parked all along the road. It doesn't matter that it is all "no parking" zones, making it almost impossible to navigate the already narrow streets.  So we got to go and hunt down a pay and display area within the town and walk back up the hill to the castle. Our calves are like rods after the work out they had earlier today (it will only get worse hoofing around Edinburgh for the next couple of days).

We walked around Stirling Castle and saw a lot of old things (including old people trying to push their walkers along cobble stone grounds). We tried to have a selfie up the top of the castle outside and just about got blown off the top.  The amount of work that goes into these castles in building and decorating is phenomenal, even by today's standards.

After walking around the castle for a bit we had to head back to the pay and display, feed it, and then go feed ourselves.  We found a little cafe that wasn't too busy, which was surprising because the food was really good and pretty cheap. Had some delicious home made veggie soup and a toastie for Carrie and some lentil and bacon soup with toastie for Claire. 

After lunch it was back on the road for Edinburgh, via slight detour due to missed off ramp, geez not a good day of driving for Gordo. Promise that the pint hasn't even been consumed yet today.

Once we made it to Edinburgh, it was time to try and sort out the drop of bags with Carrie at the apartment we are staying at and send Gordo to go and park the car. Due to the set out of Edinburgh it is quicker to walk to the carpark than it is to drive, having said that, there is no way to do it with suitcases do to the nature of the winding roads and hills and stairs involved in getting there.  Gordo finally made it back from the carpark after donating a kidney for payment (might be cheaper to replace the car for the hire company than pay the fees). The Chinese laundry has been set up in the apartment (at least we have a washing machine here) and while Gordo types this, Carrie is off on her way to the local tailor to try and get a zip replaced in her jeans. Unfortunately the safety pin that has been holding the bottom of the zip together decided that it now wanted its own holiday and gave up this morning at the loo stop while refuelling.

2 loads of washing done, now just to dry it (some in dryer at the moment). Best thing to do would probably be to go and entertain ourselves and play some cards while having a pint.

So no pint, but we did stumble into a lovely oyster bar and availed ourselves of their feast, of course with a glass of wine.  After this and a hefty trip back up a LOT of steps, we found some really good fish and chips with mushy peas, got takeaway and walked back the 3 minutes to our apartment and ate it on the couch (thanks Shaz for the top recommendations!).  We can see Edinburgh Castle from the couch while looking out the window.  It's quite surreal.