Road Trip! Crieff Is Nice

I'd be surprised if I haven't already told you, but I passed my driving test a couple of weeks ago!  Yes, I'm a little late to the party, but I was just never interested in it before.  

Obviously, the next thing to do is go buy a car.  Quite a few people had quite a lot of advice on buying your 'first car'.  It seems sensible to choose an older car in case you bump it, a cheaper car because of the expensive insurance.  Of course I ignored this and popped out for a bright yellow Fiat 500 Lounge.  I wanted the shiny wheels, blue-tooth & sun roof, what can I say? 

Since the obvious thing to do with a new car is go on a road trip, this is what we did. With no fixed plans (except to end up in Crieff) we set off, vowing to follow those brown tourist board to things which appeared in our path.  

The first to appear was the Falkirk Wheel.  We found this sign by accident after scooting off the motorway mainly due to a huge queue we spotted building up!  Pulling into a little village from the motorway, some nice brown signs led us straight to the wheel.  

It's far bigger than I though it was, and I realised that, far from being moved sideways (which is what I always believed to be happening when looking at pictures) the boats are hoisted many metres into the air and plopped into a runway of canal which looks like it wouldn't be out of place in some sort of raised level airport.  

The weather was a little (read: very) rainy, shall we call it atmospheric?  But there's a great wee mini-museum and cafe near the wheel to watch it turn around.  

It wouldn't be a weekend away with the boy without some sort of outdoor activity, so we decided to do the treetop adventure course which is up on the hill beside Crieff Hydro.  This was quite a lot of fun & I'd highly recommend it.  The staff were lovely, and the sun even came out for us!

After all the outdoorsing, we arrived at our hotel, which was very pretty.  We stayed in Knock Castle in Crieff.  It's small(ish), warm and welcoming, and had a beautiful pool in a garden house in the grounds!  Sadly the only dinner time available when we arrived was 9pm, but we had a very lovely dinner in Crieff instead. 

On the second day, and our return to Glasgow, we happened across several more touristy places.  First was Drummond Castle Gardens in the morning.  The drive up to this castle is several miles of tree-lined forrestyness (I really did begin to wonder when it was going to end), opening out to these perfect gardens!  Apparently they're arranged in the shape of the Scottish Saltire, with the different colours representing the families coat of arms.  We were provided with a wee map which told us what all of the different kind of trees were, though I'm terrible at remembering these things. 

Last but not least, we spotted signs for Stirling Castle.  I've not visited here since I was quite wee, and the boy has never been!  So, in true road tripping couply style, we signed up for a Historic Scotland membership.  As you do.  Because we're cool & stuff.  I'd also like to point out that the boy is wearing the socks I knitted for him.  Sock knitting win.

Rather upsettingly, due to a combination of lots of 12 hour shifts at work with this lovely little trip to Crieff on my two days off, I've accomplished virtually no knitting over the past two weeks!

The flat is in quite a mess due to kitchen and bathroom works, so I'll tackle that today, but I'll try to have some knitting to show for next week :p