On July 20th We were all back.
At the MacLaren clan tent. Even the sun was there.
Beautifully situated in a meadow at the western end of Loch Earn, stalls lined up one after the other, surrounding the competition area. Regional products, handmade jewelry and other things related to “Scottish clans” were offered. Of course, food stalls and children's carousels were also a must.
There was even a “food stall” with “original German Bratwurst”. Or what you imagine when you hear “German Bratwurst”. Sure, the sausage was “typically German” maybe but I wouldn’t exactly describe the flavors “Halal”, “Turkey” or “Chili” as “typically German”. I have also never had a bratwurst with coleslaw in a bun in Germany. But that's how it is. What our Chinese restaurants serve is not typically Chinese.
Back to the field.
In the middle the “heavies” fought for their points, pipers competed against each other in various categories and (mainly) young girls danced for places in various Scottish dances. Bagpipes could be heard everywhere, there was applause and cheering.
The Highland Games were officially opened around midday with the “Clan March”. Since these are Highland Games with a large catchment area, there were many Gregors there as well as MacLarens. Lots of Gregors. For the 200th anniversary of the Clan Gregor Society, “hundreds of Gregors” met at the Loch Awe Hotel for the anniversary celebration and traveled around that part of Scotland in coaches for a week. The Highland Games in Lochearnhead are of course a fixed part of the program.
Well, we couple of MacLarens, mainly dressed in “civilian” clothes, hardly noticed anything. Contrary to what you might expect, only the clan chief with his family and “the Germans” could be recognized as MacLaren by their kilt. All the other MacLarens or members of the Society might have had a brooch or scarf with a MacLaren flair, but really nothing more. We still did our best to ensure that our “Creag an tuirc” didn’t go under.
The “strong men” were able to prove themselves again in front of the MacLaren clan tent. A 200kg stone was ready for the “Stone of Strength Challenge”. And “our Jan” cut a very good figure at just under 18 seconds. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to win the day.
Then we went to “Clan Tug-o-war”. Clan Gregor vs Clan MacLaren.
As already mentioned, a handful of MacLaren competed against an overwhelming number of well-built Gregors. Our fighters gave their best and did very well. The Gregor team had to fight hard at times but in the end it wasn't enough to win and we had to admit defeat. The shame was then washed down with a few isotonic cold drinks.
Another special feature in Lochearnhead is the “Hill Race”. It's a total of almost 5km and 500 meters in altitude up the “Creag na h-lolaire”, the “local mountain” west of Lochearnhead. From the field, if the visibility is reasonably good, you can see the small dots on the mountain, which later turn out to be runners.
But this day with Highland Games also came to an end at some point. But the “Games Dinner” followed.
 .  .  |