The Carse of Stirling

The Carse of Stirling lies to the west of the town and I cross it often when going north - there is a shortcut that allows traffic coming from Loch Lomond to join the M9 without touching the town itself.

Unusually for Scotland this road is largely unfenced on either side, and the flat , fertile fields of the carse stretch away to the hills south and north without any interruptions to the view.

On a sunny autumn day with a touch of mist in the distance, a blue sky above and the stubble of the hay beneath it is a wonderful sight and an unusual part of the great variety of landscape which makes up Scotland.

(By the way the Scots word Carse mans - again from the dictionary - an area of low-lying, typically alluvial and fertile land occupying certain Scottish river valleys, )