Searching our roots

We landed in Glasgow yesterday at 9:30 am and we were in downtown Stirling by 1. Taking good advise from a lovely woman at the tourist office, we took a bus to our B&B, stowed our packs in the garage and walked into town. Had a latish lunch, and then walked through the various rooms of Sterling castle. Enjoyed the room and were very surprised to see copies of the unicorn tapestry series that we had seen the originals of in New York last year. Cool!!

We kept moving until we finally crashed at 9:30. 

Breakfast this morning was great. Porridge with fruit and then a fried egg sandwich to take on the road. We were greeted warmly at the bike store. We found out later that they are a charity, encouraging folks to be active and walk or cycle......they don’t usually rent bikes, but they liked our story of cycling where our ancestors lived. 

So we left Stirling at 11 and started our adventure. With lots of starts and stops and beautiful trails and views, we finally got to Denny cemetery by 2. And found our great great grandparents......and their view. 

Our egg sandwich was great! Saved the day. 

We headed to the canal to see the Falkirk wheel and managed to see a couple of barges being lifted down. Very impressive. We watched this while eating an ice cream. 

Between the wheel and the kelpies, I managed to fall off my bike but no great injury....just to my dignity. 

Turning north towards Stirling we were peddling as fast as we could to pick up the chargers for our ebikes. Yes folks, we are loving these electric bikes. Much of what we did today was flat but we tried the “assist” for the hills and also to speed up our return. We loved it!

By 5:30, we were in Alloa, and I knew we’d never get to Stirling by 6. I stopped a young man (16?) and asked if he’d call the bike store. The woman suggested we get on the train, the young man gave us directions and we made it with 4 minutes to spare. 

We are now clean and rested and it’s after 8pm and we are thinking of dinner. It’s light here until after 10pm. 

We’re having a great time and will plan tomorrow after some food.