Perthshire Highland Games

Well, its been a busy few weeks! We finally got the sheds replaced (it only took us six years to get around to it!) so that was the entirety of last weekend and, just as the cuts and bruises from demolishing and then erecting two sheds had started to fade, the hubby and I got rid of the old sheds yesterday. I'm sure there was some kind of inanimate spite from those sheds, I am completely black and blue from getting them hacked into small pieces and then shipped off to the dump.

So today I went with the girls for a meet up in Perth. One of my friends moved to Inverness at the beginning of the year, and we've been trying to figure out a good meeting point that doesn't involve driving for 3 hours. Perth didn't work out as a perfect midway, so we may need to revise logistics, but that's a battle for another day! We had brunch at The Rose House cafe which was really nice (thier raspberry cake comes highly recommended!) before deciding the brave the dreery weather and head out to the Highland Show at Scone Palace, which was only 10 minutes away.

I've mentioned many times that I love highland shows - the heavy games, the dancing, the pipe bands and the freshly made doughnuts make for a fabulous day no matter the weather. This games was much larger than the Bathgate games that I've done before with foot and cycling races in addition to the usual contests. I got really lucky and finally managed to watch the dancers compete in the national dances (including the Hornpipe and Flora) which I tend to miss as they run at the same time as the heavy games. I adore the Hornpipe costume, the little sailor outfit is so distinctive that we could tell from the main field the dance, which was why we went over.

Surprisingly, the tug-of-war, which I haven't seen competed live, was largely underwhelming. I thought tere was going to be lots of shouting and pulling and instead I saw sixteen men (two teams of eight) basically anchor themselves to the ground and not move. It was 22 minutes before one team started to gain traction over the other and, I will confess, we enjoyed the band master competition (where they throw and twirl the batons) much more which was happening in the same field. Missy was fussed over during the event (she always gets lots of attention in her little pink raincoat) and we then went and got some doughnuts, purely to keep warm, honest.

The last event we watched was the caber tossing. It's always a crowd-pleaser and was totally packed with people clapping and cheering. Sadly, the ground was too wet to get a proper toss, and we only saw one proper turn before sneaking out. We were all cold and soaked through at that point and Missy had started to shiver, so it was a good time to go. Fortunately I'd packed her little dressing gown, so I had her all dried off and wrapped up in no time and she snoozed away for the drive home. Unfortunalty I had to contend with lashing rain (we exited just before the heavens opened) and then fog! What a change of weather its been in only a few weeks!

Still, despite the weather and hairy drive, a brilliant day!

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!