One last day out
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2006
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93
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Trip End
Sep 08, 2008
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Callander, Scotland, United Kingdom
Saturday, August 16, 2008
We farewelled those that were left at Strathallan before making our way to the train station for a train down to Stirling. From there it was a 45 minute bus ride out to Callander. While we were waiting for our bus, the news headlines grabbed my attention, informing me "Russia threat to nuke Poland". The conflict with Georgia had died down, but now even Ania had her head into the papers finding out what was going on!
Once we rolled into Callander I realised we had both actually passed through the town before. On a day trip we did the previous year our bus made its way down the main street, with our guide pointing our "Campbell's Butchers", an ironic name given it was the Campbell clan who massacred the MacDonalds in Glen Coe. We jumped off the bus opposite here, and made our way into the Rob Roy and Trossachs Visitor centre where we asked about walks in the area. As usual in Scotland, the staff were very helpful and showed us a short route, taking in the Callander Crags and Bracklinn Falls. It was just what we had planned to do.
After having some morning tea we soon found the start of the trail up to the crags. It rose steeply at first, passing through pleasant woodland. Upon reaching the top we were afforded great views over the surroundings, not only Callander but out over the plains as far as Stirling. A little further up the geographical border became obvious, with the lush farmland of the lowlands to the south, and the sparse highlands to the north. We spent about half an hour up here, taking in the views and having a bite for lunch before continuing on down the other side of the crags towards Bracklinn Falls. Whilst not the most spectacular falls I had ever seen, they still made for some nice photos, despite the yellow colour of the water, caused by the woods upstream.
We had a little time to wait before our bus back to Stirling, so we went for a short walk around the town, down Church Street to a footbridge over the Teith where we could get a few good photos. It was a nice enough day, and thankfully the rain stayed away. On making it back to Perth we had one final meal at Wetherspoons before making our way back to Strathallan for our last night. It felt a little weird to be back to an almost deserted school after the life of the summer, but we were looking forward to what lay ahead - a few days in Glasgow followed by five in Barcelona!
