Doune Castle

A car alarm kept going off all night – we didn’t sleep well .  We made it to breakfast, but rather bleary eyed.  I didn’t enjoy my hotel breakfast very much, too many reasons to list, but my choices were very disappointing.  TT was happier with his.  Some friends had a similar  experience to me. 
 
The weather was pretty awful, but TT had decided we would walk to Doune.  We couldn’t persuade anyone to join us, though others went off to explore the town.  The start of our walk was all downhill, followed immediately by what felt like a long uphill.  It wasn’t really, but I think I was walking too soon after my breakfast and my energy was channelled into digesting my breakfast.  Once we were on our way proper to Doune, I settled into the walk.  Although there were a few wee showers, the weather generally improved to the point that the sun came out.  All in all it was a lovely easy walk, with  ever changing views of the rolling countryside.  Before we knew it we were in Doune.  We looked around the village then walked to the castle.  Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed there.  The audio guide was narrated by Terry Jones, with bits of Monty Python thrown in for good measure.  While we were inside the castle, there was a heavy rain shower, so we stayed put.
 
Once the rain wasn’t quite as heavy we decided to walk back into the village.  We had  lunch in a lovely café, although we weren’t sure that we really needed to eat.  We then continued our walk to our destination – Deanston Distillery.  The others were already there.  I was planning to sit quietly and read my book in the café while they went to a whisky tasting, but somehow I got swept along with them and ended up in the tasting – though I tasted nothing.  The tutor was very good though, and everyone enjoyed the five whiskies!    Afterwards some purchases were made in the shop.  TT and I then set off on our walk back, and were joined by one friend.  The walk back was really lovely, and J was really [pleased that he joined us.  The sun was out and there was no rain.  When we got back into Dunblane we stopped to buy a few provisions and I checked my phone, as I had been receiving updates on BB’s rugby match from friends who were at it.  BB scored another  hat trick this afternoon and they annihilated the opposition.  I also spotted on my phone that a former First Minister had died suddenly  - which was a shock to us all.
 
Our friends had already taken up residence in the bar when we got back, but we headed back to our room to freshen up, then joined them for a pre-dinner drink.  Dinner was very nice, and we were joined by a couple of friends who live in Dunblane.  All was going well until dessert – when things just seemed to go very wrong.  We eventually ended up getting our desserts free.
 
Most of us went back to the bar for a night cap, but again we didn’t hang around for too long.
 
This is a view along the River Teith to Doune Castle.