Travelling Scotland: The (Skye) Highland Games

Imagine school sports day for adults. Then imagine world class athletes mixing with the kid who forgot his kit. Then imagine that for every second you are watching, there is the sound of at least one bagpipe. That my friends is The Highland Games. And they are utterly brilliant.

The Highland Games take place in many towns in the Highland and Islands of Scotland. We attended the Skye Highland Games which were held on Portree. 

The morning is taken up with locals only competing against each other including the 2, 4 and 8 lap race for men and women (the circular lap is approximately 150m), the long jump and hop, step and leap (into a sand pit) and high jump (with no mat so 'old' style scissor jump is de rigour) and throwing events like the heavy and light stone and throwing a weight backwards over a height. 


What was brilliant about this was that some of the competitors looked nothing like sportsman, one young lad competed in jeans, Timberland shoes and a sweatshirt.

Meanwhile, there were local dancing and piping competitions taking place simultaneously, helping to ensure not one moment would pass without the sound of bagpipes. We were also entertained by the excellent Isle of Skye Pipe Band throughout the day.

The afternoon was an 'open' competition and this is where we saw some of the professional athletes. But, for some events it was open to all so we enjoyed some tourists competing too... also in their normal clothes.

The most popular competition in the games is 'tossing the caber' where competitors have to throw an enormous log in front of themselves which needs to land on it's tip before tipping over and hopefully landing straight in front of them, at 12 o'clock. 

used with permission from lauracookphotography

used with permission from lauracookphotography

used with permission from lauracookphotography

So, just to re-iterate. 

Imagine school sports day for adults. Then imagine world class athletes mixing with the kid who forgot his kit. Then imagine that for every second you are watching, there is the sound of at least one bagpipe. That my friends is The Highland Games. And they are utterly brilliant.
  
   

Travelling Scotland: The Isle of Mull

I wasn't sure what to expect from Mull. I knew there was the beautiful town of Tobermory in the north (which a British children's TV fictionalised as Ballermory) and the Island of Iona (the symbolic centre of Scottish Christianity) to the south west but I wasn't expecting the magnificent beauty of the coastal roads and mountains.

     
We got the Oban - Criagnure ferry crossing and decided to drive clockwise around the top circuit of the island to get to our accommodation just south of Tobermory, Arle Lodge an excellent b&b (continental) which offers the opportunity of self-catering and a large communal space for all guests. 

Calgary Beach is a beautiful white sand beach towards in the north of Mull

Tobermory

The View from Arle Lodge

  

 Glengorm Castle

We enjoyed a stroll around the grounds of Glengorm Castle which is NW of Tobermory. 

The Standing Stones are thought to be 4000 years old

The Route to Fionnphort

We decided to take the west coastal route to Fionnphort which again, was quite stunning. 

Iona

We stayed overnight in Fionnphort for our trip to Iona which lies approximately 1 km away. A regular ferry shuttles between Fionnphort and Iona all day. Iona is a small island which is easy to walk around. The highlight for many visitors is visiting the Abbey which "is the most elaborate and best-preserved ecclesiastical building surviving from the Middle Ages in the Western Isles of Scotland" (Wikipedia). In front of the abbey is the 9th Century St. Martins Cross which is one of the best preserved Celtic crosses in the whole of the UK.

Remains of the Nunnery

Our final journey on Mull before we headed for Fort William on the mainland took us to the Fishnish ferry terminal via Duart Castle (which was used in the film Entrapment). This is another very popular tourist destination on Mull, we didn't go in though, we prefer to look at them from afar.