Stirling! (The silver part is still unknown)

At Last! We (Me, Scott, Ben, Mark and Mike) finally got out and did what I've been deeply longing to do since I perceived this trip was a possibility (The Highlands). Today we went to the town of Stirling.Things I learned today: Stirling is considered the "gateway to the highlands"as it (for centuries) contained the only bridge that crossed the river forth (which more or less defines most of the edge of the highlands). It was here that several deciding battles were fought. Probably the most famous was when William Wallace defeated the English. Hence the William Wallace monument was built here (1st picture). (Actually rumor has it that Glasgow and Edinburgh were fighting for the monument so it was built in Stirling which is sort of between the two). It houses William Wallace's sword...which we did not get to see today due to running a few minutes too late.
The bus fare was only 8 pounds for an all day pass and we used all 8 pounds worth. After arriving, on our way from the bus station to Stirling Castle we ended up passing by a very old looking grave yard (pictured right) so we went and investigated. The oldest grave I saw was a 1728, but that was out of the few clearly engraved stones that I passed by(If you have better graveyard games to play besides find the oldest stone let me know). We found Stirling Castle (pictured behind me), coughed up the entrance fee and went to see what it had to offer. We founds lots of great views, cool people and well built furniture (most likely replicated). On the way in we found Robert the Bruce...ok his statue, but we had to get a photo with him.
After we explored the Castle we made our way into town and found lunch at a pub. It should be noted that I am currently 2 for 2 when it comes to finding people in cities to hang out with. In Edinburgh we met up with Amber who I met on the plane ride over here. And it turned out that Devin, whom I also met on the plane ride over here, was hanging out in Stirling. She found us after lunch and took us to William Wallace's Monument which turned out to be closing as we arrived. So we settled for a group photo. And decided to conquer Dumyat (pronounced do-my-at) Mountain which is located behind the monument. The mountain and the Hike could not have been more amazing. We ended up once again racing the sun (this involved a lot of running when the trail was more snow,rock or grass than ice). I blame the sun racing on slow lunch eaters, but things still turned out pretty cool. I need to note here that a tradition (we learned this from Devin) on this mountain is the pick a rock up at the bottom and place it with everyone else's rock on top of the mountain. Scott's Rock looked like South Carolina and I decided that mine looked like New Hampshire. Mike Scott and I took off for the top knowing that the sunlight was waning fast (Ben and Mark started with us, but took their time and stopped 2/3rds of the way up). The Trail went from mostly dirt and grass with patchy snow to being snow covered and rocky. There were many streams to cross...but they were lightly frozen over so watching the feet became a full time occupation. The travelled upon snow had packed down and become Ice as well and the closer we got to the top the more we seemed to be slipping and nearly wipeing out. Mike and I accidentally went off course at one point (an absolute joy of Highland hiking is that the trails seem to be suggestions there is nothing to hinder anyone from making their own path) I realized we had missed the trail when I noticed that they snow was only broken by rabbit tracks. By this time we were halfway up the side of a steep incline and elected to punching holes in the snow with our tennis shoes so as to make new footholds as we navigated around a rock face. Our new path ended up colliding with the correct path on top of the ridge so we actually created a short cut (although it probably took more work). Mike and I reached the summit with about a minute and ten seconds of sunlight remaining, and Scott reached the top with just enough sunlight for a few photos. (Photos of the rock pile on top of the mountain and me, The Snow covered Highland mountains, and some sheep we met as we had hoped). After our wonderful hike we went back into town and finally got to sit down to enjoy dinner with Devin and some of her friends with whom she was staying. (She wisely elected to just lead us to the mountain, but avoid the hike in the winter weather). Everyone had a great time ...That is after sprinting over half a mile to try to catch the bus, (the last bus was the 9:15 and we were almost late for it) but we did make it and we all just about fell asleep on the bus ride home. If only they made the buses more comfortable.