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Published: June 25th 2017
Geo: 57.4767, -4.23145
Started with a late breakfast at a coffee shop a bit farther away than the one yesterday, but I had seen the sign for it while at breakfast yesterday. We liked this one better, and while we were there we also bought juice and pastries for tomorrow's breakfast so we wouldn't have to find food then. We did a little bit of looking at the shops in town, but did not find anything to buy.
The highlight of the day was going to the Inverness Highland Games in the afternoon. We were close enough to walk to the Northern Meeting Park behind Saint Andrews Cathedral and headed that way by 1 p.m. When we were approaching the gate for the Games, a young woman with her husband and two children asked me if we had our tickets yet. I guess she just assumed we were going to the Games. She held out two tickets and said, "You can use these." She and her family were finished for the day and she was offering for us to save the price of admission. I thanked her, and we used them for entry. The price of admission would have been four pounds
Pulling the Truck
She was able to move the truck.for seniors.
The whole event was fascinating-- kind of a cross between a track meet and a county fair. When we arrived, the first thing we saw was a couple in period dress posing for photos with the spectators. However, after watching them just a moment, we had to get out of the way for one of the pipe and drum bands marching across the field. It was a lot to take in, and we wandered to the far end of the field first. We found the female heavies doing the truck pull. Six or seven young women participated by putting on a harness, one at a time, and trying to pull a truck (not as big as an 18-wheeler, but bigger than a Fed Ex delivery truck) from a standstill. Three of them were able to do it. Amazing!
We sat down and listened to a local band of mainly high school students who had auditioned to be part of this band which was going to perform together just for a few weeks during the summer. They were playing several gigs a day; we saw their first one of today. We listened for a few songs, then left for more
exploration. We saw a display of a variety of owls. The owner would let you take a photo with one on your arm for a small fee. We saw a few children excited to get to touch the big birds. We saw foot races going on for much of the afternoon. Some of them were circling the outside of the field on a track, but some ran right across the grass in front of the other competitions.
There were displays of a number of things like you'd see at a street market, but we weren't buying anything that we'd have to carry around for the rest of the afternoon. We sat down again in front of the dancers, but could also see the male heavies. The girls competed seriously while a woman played the bagpipe for them. The dancers varied in ages from about six years old up to teenagers. While some were dancing on stage, others were practicing on the grassy area nearby. We also saw some adults dancing in couples; I don't think they were competing, but just performing.
The male heavies were competing in "Weight for Distance" throwing stones about the size of bowling balls. Anyone who wants
At the Highland Games
Highland dancers performing to compete in the Games, has to were traditional attire. The men had on kilts. Some of them had on more of the traditional wear, but others just had on t-shirts or tank tops with them. The women had some form of a tartan on somewhere, but mostly they were wearing regular workout wear. The judges and officials wore the complete ensemble of kilts with vest and jackets, knee-high socks and sporran. When it started raining, they put on black, cape-backed overcoats.
After watching them for a little while, we wandered around again and when it started looking like the rain might start in earnest, we found a seat in the covered bleachers and ended up staying there the rest of the afternoon. We could see the rest of the competitions just fine. The rain did start soon after we sat down, and the rest of the bleachers filled up, too.
We watched both men and women throw a weight up and over a bar high above their heads. The bar was raised with each round. We saw them lift increasingly heavy stones over a bar four feet high. The winner was the one who could lift the heaviest stone over
the bar in the shortest amount of time. We watched the men toss the cabers which are long sections of tree trunks that have had the bark stripped off. The object is to carry the caber by the small end balancing it for a certain distance (maybe 25 feet or so), then toss it so that it flips over and lands pointing away from the thrower. They are judged on how straight the caber is--the closer to the twelve o'clock position, the better--and their form in tossing it. By the time this competition started, it had been raining a while and the cabers must have been quite slick, but several of the competitors were successful. You can play "Toss the Caber" online to see how you would do.
The final competition was called The Inverness Stone or the Stonemason's Stone. This competition is unique to the Inverness Games. The men must lift a 252 pound stone over a 5 foot bar. Very few have been able to do it, but we saw one heavy who lifted it and dropped it right over. He had been the first person in modern history to do it a few years ago and repeated
his success today. He was also the overall winner of the male heavies. Stone lifting was first done at the Games in Inverness almost two hundred years ago.
During the afternoon, we ate lunch at the Games having a hamburger from one of the concession stands. For dinner, we went to Rocpool Restaurant which is across the river from our apartment. Rocpool is currently the number one restaurant on TripAdvisor. The best reservation we could get was for 9 p.m., but the hostess said to call the day of the reservation to see if they had any cancellations so we could come earlier. When I called from the meeting park (after figuring out how to make a local call), they moved us up to 8:30. That's still late for us, but definitely worth it. The dinner was quite good.
It is our last night in the apartment. I will leave a light on somewhere. Last night, I stubbed one of my sore toes on the frame of the bed when I was walking around in the dark.
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