This was my second major stop. An interesting town - like many Scottish towns it's split into two sections, the older side, and the more modernized and suburban side. The older section is built on a big hill with Stirling castle (right) at the top. The city resides near the River Forth. Also nearby are the famous Wallace monument (below), built in honor of William Wallace (Mel Gibson's character in Braveheart), and Bannochburn (where Robert the Bruce defeated the English following Wallace's death).
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Behind the castle are these cliffs, and surrounding the castle and much of the old part of town is a very high wall: This is the castle with a cemetery in front of it (you can also see in this picture the scaffolding/renovation buildings sitting amongst the castle): 
And here is the River Forth (viewed from the Wallace monument): 
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| On my second day in Stirling (actually my only full day), I walked from the castle to the Wallace monument (about 1.5 mi) and then took a detour on the way back to see Camuskenneth Abbey (which added only another mile or so, but by the end of the day, I felt like I had walked a hell of a lot more than just 4-5 miles).
One of the first sites was this head-chopping stone (in the cage) right outside the castle (right) - pleasant, huh? You can also see the Wallace monument in the distance, sitting atop that hill (called the Abbey Craig)... ...then I walked across the Stirling Bridge (below), where Wallace defeated the English in order to take Stirling castle... 
..a stained glass window in the monument (possibly of Wallace?).. 
..the top of the monument. 
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...I finally made it. Here's the monument with Wallace's statue on the corner, facing the battlefield... 
..Wallace's huge sword. While it's not actually a Claymore (the traditional Scottish broadsword), it stands 5 feet in height! 
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This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. This is Camuskenneth Abbey (or what's left of it - all that stands is the bell tower, though the cemetery and abbey foundations also remain - you can barely see the cemetery on the right): 
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