A Wander Around My Town

How often do you walk around your own town or village and just soak it all in? Do you see new things that you'd never noticed before? Discover a hidden gem? See how that old tree ages with each passing year? Is that tree even still there?

I don't do it that often and yet I live in a small village next to a small city of huge historical importance in Scotland - Stirling. Only the there night was there a programme on TV dedicated to finding the original battle of Bannockburn battleground. This might be a spoiler but the site is less than 2 miles from where I sit typing this very blog post and you wouldn't even know it! At least I wouldn't because I don't really go venturing close to home. Sure there are bike ride along the well trodden footpaths that circle the village but actually walking around my local city? nope.

One late Saturday afternoon as golden hour was approaching I decided to go out in the car for a little run. I wasn't sure where I was going to go so heading into town. (I still call it the town but it's officially a city). I drove around then went up to an area we call 'The top of the town'. All the locals know it as that. It leads up to Stirling Castle perched high and overlooks the whole of the Stirling area and on a clear day far north towards Callander and over east to Falkirk/Fife.

The top of the town, or Stirling Old Town as the guide books might say, is all cobbled streets and hundred year old buildings. There are some new builds but in the main I think they've tried to keep the appearance as old as possible. There's a couple of hotels, a cemetery, shops, coffee shops, scout halls, the Tolbooth Theatre, Old Town Jail visitor attraction and of course Stirling Castle itself. I parked the car near the top and wandered down Broad Street (once used in a Bank of Scotland advert).

It was quiet for a Saturday afternoon but I enjoyed the walk. I walked back up around Spittal Street then up towards and into the Castle Esplanade. A few tour buses and cars were dotted around so I couldn't really get a full on panorama of the castle in all of its glory but I tried. Here are few more shots I took that day. All on the iPhone.

I'll go back for another wander with my new camera to see what hidden gems I can capture.

Angela