Highland Games

It’s that time of year again were we celebrate our Scottish blood and watch the local Highland Games. As always, it was a great day out, though I fully intend to go to one of the other ones at some point in the future!

To shake things up a little this year, my mum, older sister and nephew came along. It was the first Highland games any of them had attended and I found I really interesting what they enjoyed and what they didn’t. It was also the first year I did the ‘add on’ stuff – the Scottish Police were there and my nephew got his finger prints taken in addition to us all getting a shot in the back of a paddy wagon.  The 105^th Regiment Royal Artillery were also there and proved to be a real highlight.

I set Missy up for the above photo with the gun whilst the rest of the family dithered off and, after getting the shot and rewarding her, one of the chaps manning the area dashed over and asked if she could do it again! Naturally, I obliged (any excuse to show off and talk about Missy) and she had her picture taken again, so I suspect she’s going to end up on their Facebook. Since we’d gotten chatting, they then decked my nephew up in all the gear and showed him the gun - VIP treatment! They insisted on a photo of everyone with the gunner at the gun and, looking back on the photos, Missy is being an absolute flirt with the gunner…

I can’t take her anywhere!

Whilst I adore the dancing, it didn’t take the fancy of my sister and nephew, and he wasn’t keen on the pipe bands either. I was starting to get worried when the throwing the stone, the first event of the heavy games, had proven a fail as well to get their interest. We bumbled about the stalls again and I insisted that we give the heavy games another go for the ‘throw the weight over the bar’ (yes, the names are very imaginative!). This one is always a hit, its impressive, it’s dangerous, everyone loves it and that proved the case on Saturday – the day was saved!

Missy then made friends with a staffie in the VIP area, and alas, it was not to be as neither could get through the fence. Watching the dogs play filled the gap between events and we all watched the caber tossing – the most Scottish of the heavy games! The weather was one of those odd days were, out the wind it was baking hot, but when caught in the wind it was bitterly cold, so they had to change direction for the tossing. It’s the first time I’ve seen them throw towards the crowd, and I got some great shots out of it.

And that was the day. It was almost 5pm and we’d been out since 10am! A very different games for me compared to previous years, but still a great day.

And this little goofball had a great time!

Bathgate Highland Games

Missy observing the pipers

I always laugh at myself about these things. I dislike stereotypes and I've always felt that the Scottish have had a great disservice done to them by Hollywood. No, we're not all ginger and wear kilts all the time. I've never even tasted buckfast (or buckie as its actually called around here), let alone spending all hours drinking it and don't get me started on deep fried mars bars...

And that's the smaller, lighter caber...

However, give a man a caber and I'm right there getting all worked up if the judge calls it a ten-to-twelve when clearly its five-to. I adore everything about the games - the pipers, the dancers, the heavy games and the whole avenue of burger and chip vans. The best part is that they are almost always dog friendly and its a great place to bump into other dog owners and discuss they best part of your fur-baby amongst lots of very loud music.

This year I went with a friend who used to compete with the Highland Dancing. I've been learning highland for a few years now and it was really good to to be told about the fine details of competitive dancing and to point out dancers we thought were doing really well. We both had dance-envy by the end of the day though!

An unfortunate miss

As a result of her competitive dancing, my friend had also never seen the heavy games. The commentator was very tongue-in-cheek about the athletes and did a good job of explaining what was happening in each game. Whilst the caber tossing is the big draw, I do love the aptly-named 'weight over a bar' event (pictured above). For me, the thought of carrying a 4-stone weight is horrific, let alone trying to toss it 15 feet in the air over a bar!

Missy made lots of doggy friends and we all had a nice time out in the fresh air. The weather held for us but it wasn't so sunny that we burned or overheated. The mood of the event was really good and everyone seemed to be having a genuinely nice time.

All in all a good day.