Chpt 2

Next Morning I got up about 9.30am, I had planned to meet up with Kevin & Alan around 11.30-12 at the shopping centre. Shoving on some jogging bottoms, I went to the Kitchen and helped myself to a bowl of Corn Flakes....Or I would had Mum or brother had bothered going to the shop to get milk before leaving for work.
“It will have to be a Ham & Cheese toastie then.” I said to no-one in particular.

Satisfied with my breakfast, I went to feashen myself up and put on some clothes, took my dog for a walk, and by the time I had finished it was 11 o'clock. Better start heading into town. I didn't bother getting a bus, why waste £2 on a bus journey when you can walk it in 15 minutes. I got to town about 11.20, first thing I did was went to take some money out, I hate not having money on me.

“Oi Sean!” as I left the bank “Over here” Kevin called from the burger king next door.

“Your early? Wanna get it out the way as quick as?” I asked I approached him.

“Aye, Get it done, then we can hit the pub for a cold pint. Something tells me its gonna be a warm day.”

“Aye tell me about. My Dog does not like heat anything above 20c and he's panting”  I said “You bring the camcorder?”

“Aye man, At least then we don't have to write a shit load of notes the day, we can just record the tour and write up on that”

“They don't do tours up at the Wallace Monument, So there will be some note making there. Anyway where's Alan?” Pulling out my mobile and thinking about sending him a text.

“F*** knows, Its '20 to' gie him a bell.” Kevin suggested.

My phone started Ringing.... “He must have heard ye. He's calling me.
“Alright Alan? What's Happenin?”

“Hey I'm up at the castle already. I'm waiting outside the entrance. Where are you?” Alan answered back

“I'm with Kevin at the bottom of kings street outside Burger King, where we were supposed to meet” Trying not to sound a bit too annoyed

“Sorry you know I like my hiking, and it is a bit of a steep walk up here”

“Don't I know it. Alright we'll start to head up the now, See ya up there in about 5-10 minutes” And I hung up.

Laughing “He's up there already, He's admiring the view till we get up there”

“Well lets go then. Quicker we get this done the sooner we can head to the pub” Kevin witty answer.

“your almost sounding like George, All he does is drink”

Laughing we both started the trek up Kings street to the Castle...

“Why do they have to build these things up high? We haven't even started today yet and I'm nackard already.” Moaned Kevin as we got to the castle.

“Because it Gives it a strong defensive position. You think this was a climb? Just wait till we get over to the Wallace Monument.” As I looked over at it from outside the entrance to the castle, standing on the summit of Abbey Craig.
“Go look for Alan will ye. I'll get the tickets.”

“Nae worries” and away he went

I made my way over to the ticket office, got the tickets and also booked for the 12.30 tour. I hooked back up with Kevin & Alan and we wondered round the castle's boundaries while we waited for the tour to start. It turned out to be a good idea to take the tour since we learned more about the Castle and its history than we would have done just walking around on our own. There were sections still closed off mainly due as the castle was still under restoration and wasn't due to be finished for another three and half years. But the guild gave a good description of what the closed sections were used for. Kevin not really liking taking notes got the whole thing on tape.

We left the castle about 2pm and made our way back down the steep streets back into town. We popped into Greggs for a stake-bake & bottle of Irn-bru, and headed to the bus station to catch a bus over to Bridge Of Allan. We arrived at the monument about 2.45 and once again I went in to get the tickets.

“right theres no shuttle bus service the day.” I said as I left the visitor centre at the bottom of the Abbey Craig hill. “So were walking. And this is a climb” raising a smile. The look of Kevin's face told me he was not looking forward to this.

“I kind of figured this was gonna be a bit of a climb, lets take the footpath though, The road looks even steeper than the footpath going up though the woods” Kevin said.

“sure why not, though the footpath ain't cemented, if it weren't for the signs it would be just a walk up though the woods.” Alan answered immediately

“Alright lets get going, I could already do with that cold pint” I said.

And we set off up the hill, It seemed to take us twenty minutes to climb to the top of the Abbey Craig no thanks to the steepness, when it actually only took us ten minutes. We went into the tower the receptionist stamped our tickets and gave us audio recordings device, that gave you all the information on the history of William Wallace   , People he worked with and the tower itself. We also got a few pictures from to very top of the tower the views were stunning, The city of Stirling surrounded by hills as far as the eye could see. Satisfied with the notes we had gathered we left the tower and started wondering around the top of the Abbey Craig Admiring the views and taking a few photos.

“Hey Sean its almost 4o'clock, shall we get moving I'm dying for this pint, it roasting up here” Kevin called.

I was half way up another hill that runs off the Abbey Craig hill with Alan.

“Aye sure why not, we've got plenty of stuff to put in this assessment. What any of this had to do with computing is anyone's gu....Ahhhhh” My foot had went though the ground and I fell 20feet into an underground cavern.