Doune Castle (see previous post) is built on a promontory just above the River Teith. The river’s banks are pretty overgrown now so it’s not easy to see the river till you get quite close to it.

It must be fine for fishing though as there was an angler there the day we visited:-

The Teith flows on to join with the River Forth just upstream of Stirling. Curiously, the Teith is the wider river at this point but the merged river is called the Forth.

Doune Castle is in Doune, Stirlingshire. It has been used for filming Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Outlander.

We visit Doune quite a lot as it has an antique centre near by. One day we took the opportunity to have a look at the castle.

From access road:-

From approach path:-

Oncea again a building was shrouded in scaffolding when we visited:-

It’s possible to walk right round the outside of the castle, though the path dips a bit:-

Castle courtyard:-

Somebody still hopeful in Doune. Yes and EU flags. They had a Catalan flag too the next time I passed.

Willows Deli, Doune. We’ve had lunch there a few times. They do evening meals as well:-

Kilmadock Parish is in Stirlingshire and I believe Doune is its biggest settlement.

The obelisk style memorial on a square plinth with broader base base is prominently situated by the A 84 road between Stirling and Callander at its junction with George Street, Doune. The World War 2 Memorial pillar is to the extreme right here before the set of external stairs.

Closer view. The inscription reads, “To the glory of god and in memory of the men of the Parish of Kilmadock who gave their lives for King and Country in The Great War 1914-1919. See ye to it that these shall not have died in vain.”:-

World War 2 Memorial pillar (to right of the earlier Memorial.) The inscription reads, “1939-1945. During those years when our native land was in mortal danger these young men gave their lives for us. Ne Obliviscaris” (Ne Obliviscaris = Forget Not):-

World War 1 names, first plaque:-

World War 1 names, second plaque:-

From Menstrie we moved on to an antiques centre just outside Doune in Stirlingshire where both the good lady and myself bought books.

The one I stumbled upon was Recent English Architecture 1920-1940. Published by Country Life, the content was “selected by the English Architecture Club.” Its cover is shown below.

Lots of great Art Deco buildings are pictured inside. The cover illustration is of Woodside Ventilation Station, Mersey Tunnel, Liverpool. It’s one of those brooding, monolithic, Stalinistic edifices.

From Doune we retreated to Bridge of Allan where we dined out (which is to say we dined inside, of course.)

Afterwards we took a stroll through the town and over its eponymous bridge where I spotted this heron in the Allan Water.

This bird is a bit scruffy looking but they’re fascinating creatures. I don’t remember it moving at all while we were watching it.

If you travel down (or up) the B824 between the roundabout at the northern end of the M9 (where it turns into the A9 for further travel north) and the small town of Doune in Stirlingshire you can see off the road the statue of a lone figure. The signpost names it as the David Stirling Memorial.

Who was David Stirling?

Well, he was the man who started up the Special Air Services Regiment, otherwise known as the SAS.

This is the statue:-

One of the plaques on the statue’s base names Stirling, the other is a memorial to those SAS men who died on active service.

Two more photos of this statue are on my flickr site.

It’s in a lovely location on a rural hillside with views of rolling hills. And a wind farm. (I don’t think wind farms are eyesores, by the way. People who moan about them probably wax lyrical about windmills to which they are the modern equivalent.)

Why site the statue in such an out of the way spot?

Well; Stirling was a local. The Parish of Lecropt, where he was born, lies between Bridge of Allan (over the M9 near the town – now city – of Stirling) and Doune. There is a Carse of Lecropt and a Lecropt Kirk signposted as you leave Bridge of Allan heading towards the M9.

David Stirling’s Wikipedia entry shows a family connection with the Lord Lovat who led a brigade on to Sword Beach during the D-Day landings. Lovat famously ordered his personal bagpiper to pipe the commandos ashore. The defending Germans reputedly didn’t shoot him (the piper) because they thought he was mad.

That last bit about the Germans may be an urban myth but makes a great story.