Central Scotland
(Tourist Board website: www.visitscottishheartlands.org.) As well as the country’s two major cities, the populous central area of Scotland contains many other places of historic, scenic and general interest. Almost anywhere in this region is within easy excursion distance of either Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Despite the urban nature of much of the central area, attractive countryside is never far away. In the west are the Firth of Clyde and the Dunoon Peninsula, to the northwest lies Loch Lomond, and to the east are the small villages and rugged coastline of the former county of Berwickshire.
Huge Stirling Castle sits dramatically atop a volcanic promontory above the town. The nearby Wallace Monument similarly dominates the surrounding countryside. In the town centre is the Old Town Gaol, while close by are the battlefields of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn, where William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace and Robert Bruce respectively inflicted humiliating defeats on the English in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
Blair Drummond Safari Park, the little cathedral city of Dunblane, Doune Castle and Callander, site of the Rob Roy and Trossachs Visitor Centre, are all well worth visiting.
|
