Wally World – Scotland, Glasgow/Stirling

After a very long five hour flight from Halifax to Glasgow we arrived in Scotland as the sun was rising. In order to enter the country we needed to go through customs. This is usually a non-event, but our trip is not a usual one. The customs agent asked who we knew in the country and we said no one. Then he asked us for a physical address of the place we were staying. We told him we did not have solid plans yet and that we would be traveling with spontaneity. This did not excite him as we thought it should. We told him about how we were traveling by train around the country and we would be making arrangements along the way. He asked numerous questions and cross questions to verify our story. We gave him Chloe’s hand written itinerary and the Great Britain rail passes. At the end of it all he still could not wrap his mind around traveling the way we were going to travel. He let us into the country reluctantly and wished us a lot of luck. We were the first to enter customs and the last to exit!

A Mosaic

Backpackers R' Us

We took a bus from the Glasgow airport to what we thought was our train station. It turned out there was another train station in town that we needed to walk to. Before doing that I called the canyoneering company that we were going to go play with on Sunday. They answered the phone, found out who I was and then dial tone. I tried calling back, but their phone was no longer working. We did not understand it, but are good with however God wants to direct the steps of this trip. So, instead of heading to Fort Williams, we left for Stirling instead.

The whole experience is turning out to be a learning one. Britain is new to the country wide train pass, so the train people do not know what to do with us. I have done train travel in the rest of Europe using a Eurorail pass with no problems. Once we got to Stirling we went through Stirling Castle. They did a renovation to make it look new, which loses a lot of the cool factor points from Chloe and I. However, it was a lot of fun to see the locations that are famous to us from reading the history of William Wallace. After the castle we started looking for a place to stay for the night (11:30a). The two hostels were booked solid and we were also told we had to have a private room as Chloe is a minor. We started praying and knew that God had a plan for us, even if it meant getting on the train and heading to a less “busy” city for the night. Turns out that it is a school holiday in Scotland. After we prayed, we found a information office that sets up accommodations for tourists. They found us a wonderful little bed and breakfast with a lady who is excited to help us with this adventure. We came here for a two hour rest before trying to make it over to the Wallace Monument. Both Chloe and I are dragging from jet lag, so we are looking forward to a cozy bed tonight.

Stirling Castle

Will You Fight???

We literally had to drag ourselves out to go see the Wallace Monument, but we got to leave our backpacks in our room. The Wallace Monument turned out to be incredible. We are so glad we went and did it. We were allowed to climb the super steep tower stairway. While climbing through the four different levels their were rooms that talked about Wallace and that time period. In one was Wallace’s sword! The sword was so much longer than I imagined. To be able to weld it properly would have been beautiful to behold. At the very top of the tower we got to share in some excitement. Someone was filming the tower illegally using a quad-copter. They tried to fly the quad-copter all the way around the top of the tower, but as soon as the pilot lost sight of the quad-copter, the pilot sent the quad-copter straight at us and it crashed within fifteen feet of where we were standing. One of the blades broke on it, but the pilot kept trying to fly it anyway. It was pretty dangerous to have that thing flaying about and fortunately no one got hurt. I grabbed it and was going to take it down (4 stories of stairs) to it’s owner. When I got to the bottom security started questioning me and thanked me for bringing them their “new” quad-copter. We decided to walk the couple miles back to the bed and breakfast. This allowed us to walk over Stirling bridge where Wallace won a major victory (same bridge)! It was a good full day and now we are ready for a good full night (7:30p – lights out).

Stair Master

Chloe’s take:
I miss you. Daddy and I are so tired. But we did make it to Stirling. And then we had a tiring time to find a bed for tonight. We were so tired. But we still could not find one. We prayed and we prayed again. And after all that (baby) suffering we got a room! And the lady who owned the place was willing to help Daddy with some trip logistics for our (GOD’s) GOD Adventure! God let me and Daddy go through (baby) suffering, and then get blessed! GOD IS SO GOOD!!! And now we are off to Wallace’s Monument!!!!!!

Wallace’s Monument and the bed and breakfast we are staying in, are my two favorite things of the trip (so far). In Wallace’s Monument a little air planish thing that takes pictures crashed. Daddy picked it up and carried it down the stairs to give to it’s owner. It’s owner not knowing daddy was carrying it could have turned it on and sliced daddy’s fingers off. I prayed all the way down the stairs that daddy would not be hurt, if God willed it “and let it be your will God”, I said. God answered my prayer, so daddy was not hurt a bit. Praise Jesus!

A Stirling Moment

Wally World