Sunday, July 11, 2010

29th June. Off to Dollar.


Spent most of the night listening to the water pipes rattling. Got up tired and on with the packs and walked back into town to catch the bus. Told we had to get off at Dundee and catch another bus to Dollar. Get to Dundee and told, no, we had to go to Stirling then get a bus to Dollar. Bugger. The bus we just got off was going to Stirling. Off to Stirling on the next bus. I guess someone has to keep the Scottish economy afloat. Arrived in Stirling and left Annette with the packs and off to find the Info Centre with one of those stupid maps which are so cutely drawn but show jack shit and are not to scale. Anyway after asking directions twice I found an Australian pub. Don't ask. Got directions from the staff to a back packers and booked in for tomorrow night. Bit of a dive but right in town. Back to Annette and in time to catch the 1.10pm bus to Dollar. Asked Annette to get return tickets from the bus driver if she could. She came back and said she wasn't game to ask her and if I wanted to know why to check her out. I could see what she meant. Reminded me of someone. Anyway we must have been 10 minutes late because we made that much time up getting to Dollar. In Dollar and off to the caravan Park. Now it hasn't been the best of days and it just got worse. Arrived and it was a dive. Apparently the management was changing tomorrow and the toilets were dirty and there was no toilet paper, that sort of thing. Tent up and walked back into Dollar and nearly got my head taken off by a bit of flying stick when I took this photo. Just ducked in time.





Good looking potato crop.


The reason for being at Dollar. The Campbell castle. Annette said it was only a bit of a ruin just up the hill. Found the sign. No distance marked on it. Should have had 1 mile up. Got up to the top hot and sticky and that's without any packs. Campbell Castle is  a bit more than a ruin and well worth a look. They are currently fixing it up. The ghost who walks.


Guard duty.


One of the halls.


Up on the top.



View down into the court yard.


Another view.


Yes that's us.

The castle


Pretty houses in town. Dollar has the reputation of being one of the prettiest villages in Scotland.


These were just the other side of the fence to our tent.



When we were up at the castle we could see buildings across the valley near the caravan park so  after dinner we went for a walk. They had a new subdivision but the houses were so like Yank houses they were a disappointment. They were in the grounds of this lovely old house. Now I could live here. This house had been renovated and turned into apartments. There was still one for sale.


Got back to the caravan park to find the toilets a bit cleaner with toilet paper. Will be glad to leave tomorrow. At least the ground was flat and the toilet septic tanks weren't over flowing our way.



No comments:

Post a Comment