"Braveheart country" Stirling by iaint

I've been visiting Stirling for various reasons most of my life, but until 2-1-12 I'd never done any of the tourist stuff.

As usual with these things, it was showing a foreign visitor around which opened my eyes to what I'd been missing.

Deepest mid-winter is not ideal for these things - leaving aside weather hazards, daylight is a precious commodity.

We managed the Wallace Monument, the Castle and Argyll's Lodgings all in the space of 4 hours.

The sword - well, Stirling is a lot to do with William Wallace so his sword deserves pride of place on this page!

view from the Castle - yep, a midwinter sky

My brother has lived up the road from Stirling for at least 20 years, so I've had a few visits to see him.

My son had occasional trips there for ice hockey, so more fleeting visits.

Last but not least, I have several clients based there so business trips come along too.

I suspect one reason I missed out on the tourist stuff before is that my son visited the castle with his primary school - probably in the Braveheart era - so I had no reason to take him there.

inside Argyll

Loved the Castle - better than Edinburgh. The Wallace Monument was great, but would be better in summer. Argyll's Lodging was fun too.

I'd like to see a bit more of the old town - it was too dark and wet to take that in by the time we'd done the rest. I'd also go back to see more of the Castle - another experience which would be more rewarding in better weather.

• Pros:central; historic
• Cons:a few grimy areas
• In a nutshell:worth the trip