Pitlochry Highland Games

When my dream of visiting Scotland was in the early stages of coming true - meaning we had booked the tickets and were building an itinerary - I of course started looking at highland games. We were fortunate that our trip coincided with one of, if not the last, highland games of the season. We got up early & left our AirBnB in Edinburgh and drove [side note: you will notice driving is a theme in our trip, watch for my post on what I would change and do the same] to Dull solely for the purpose of getting this picture:

Because Boring is super close to my hometown of Salem, Oregon & we just couldn't pass up the opportunity. Now if we can snap a picture in Boring we'll have a matching set.

After our winding drive to Dull, we hightailed it to Pitlochry for the games. I have been to a highland games festival once in Eugene, Oregon - and it was nothing like the real thing. The games took place with several events happening simultaneously on a huge field - attendees could walk around the perimeter and view dancing, caber tossing, hammer throws, piping, tug o' war, and more all at once.

There were also food and wares booths around the right side of the field where we ate ginormous burgers, bought slate jewelry, and snagged fresh doughnuts on our way back to the festivities. I did not know this prior to our visit, but apparently the UK has an obsession, understandably so, with doughnuts. Every even we went to that had food, and even some places with street vendors, had a doughnut truck. I did not hate it.

As a spectator, it was unfortunate that the only seating was on the side with the dancing, all other viewing was done standing at the sidelines. Not the end of the world, but I am a tad vertically challenged and so unless I was right up against the boundary between spectator and participant, I had little to no chance of seeing what was going on. But even with that frustration, it was still super awesome to watch the games & be in the environment. I loved that you could see seasoned competitors giving the newer ones tips & even though they were competing there was still a sense of camaraderie & community. I also adore bagpipes and got to hear some absolute world class pipers which was a dream.

All in all a great day in a beautiful part of the country and a great piece of Scottish culture that I am thrilled we got to experience in the flesh. 

Stay tuned for the next leg of our trip heading North to the tip of mainland Scotland and then hoping a ferry to stunning Orkney!