Your Mother was a Hampster and your Father Smelled of Elderberries

4.11.19

The weather looked slightly inclement when we woke up, not so much cold as damp! No worries! We set off from Kenmore heading south over the mountains along another exceptionally pretty sheep track. Descending into Glen Qualch was gorgeous.

We drove for 40 minutes before joining up with the main road, without passing a single car! We felt like we were the Lairds of Loch Freuchie!

Just after driving through Crieff, we noticed a sign off to Dunblane.

Those old enough would have the name of this little town etched in their memories as the site of a horrendous shooting in 1996 at the local primary school where 16 children and their teacher were killed by a lone, crazed gunman. A further 15 people were injured. We wondered how a small community coped with such a tragedy. The little children were only 5 and 6 years old at the time. About the same age as our own kids.

There are several memorials in the town, but the one we wanted to see was in the Cathedral. Created by sculptor Richard Kindersley who was a local, the monument is simple, yet absolutely perfect. The memorial is supposed to represent a standing stone, common in Scotland. Richard was inspired by a Celtic stone already on display in the Cathedral, and I tried to take a pic of the new memorial with the inspiration behind it in the background.

Along with the individual pew sculptured handrails, the cathedral also had another feature I’d never seen before, but which I thought was really apt. Perspex silhouettes of people sitting in the pews were placed strategically in the nave. It served as a reminder that this was a house of worship and contemplation, not just a another tourist attraction.

We left Dunblane glad we had made the detour.

Perhaps it was time for something to lift our spirits?

Doune Castle!

Can you hear the coconut shells clicking as the Monty Python knights approach the castle in search of the Holy Grail? How about Jamie and Claire entering Castle Leoch?

Oh dear, here I go again. What a movie tragic I am.

For an unimposing looking castle, Doune Castle packed a punch. We spent a couple of hours there, totally enthralled. The self-guided audio tour was a clever mix of Monty Python’s Terry Jones, Outlander’s Jamie, and some random historian telling the real tales of the walls within.

It was interesting to compare the two productions…. Monty Python used both the exterior and many interior rooms for filming, very frugal, quick and time constrained, whereas Outlander, lavish from start to finish, no expense spared, only used the castle for exterior shots, specifically the inner part of Castle Leoch. Although they did recreate the enormous fireplace and kitchen scene in a studio to portray Mrs Fitz’s domain! The difference 50 years makes in the funding of film world!