The Highland Games in Aboyne

Saturday dawned bright and clear and it was with great enthusiasm we set out for the highland games at Aboyne.

Highland games are held in various parts of northern Scotland each year and are like a cross between a parish picnic of the style I remember from 1960’s New Zealand, and an English village fete.

Held on the village green decked out with the St Andrews Cross of Scotland, the Royal Standard and flags of every clan, the games in Aboyne attract around 7000 each year.

Around the edges of the green were a fairground, food stalls and tents selling crafts. The centre of the green was the scene for competitions in four categories; piping, dancing, heavy and light events.

They were literally all happening simultaneously in an area the size of a soccer ground. Too difficult to get one photo to show the whole area so imagine if you will ......

.....some beefy guy in a kilt hurling a heavy object while a judge reports through a megaphone, right next to a bunch of 12 year olds dancing a highland fling accompanied by a single piper. In front of these two events a starter gun sets off a line up of racers, behind them is the singles bagpipe competition, and coming up from the village square and entering the green is the massed pipe bands who will welcome the clan chief. A complete cacophony!

There will be a separate wee story about each of the types of competition.

For now we focus on our own experience. While those on the field were competing for prizes of £5 – 100, others on the sidelines competed for whisky!

You could either choose keys to see if they would open whiskey cabinets, or try your luck with the dice. Great fun; regrettably unsuccessful.

After a dainty bite (yes we had the 8oz Angus steak burger)

...we met up as planned with our host David Miller from the Macaulay Institute.

He was able to fill us in on important things. We now know where all these things fit into the Scottish traditional dress and what the modern Scot keeps in his sporran (his mobile phone and a clean hanky!)

The games began packing up and as tired Scotsmen came on with modern equipment to carry of cabers and other tired Scotsmen

we went off our host for a whole other adventure; evening sight seeing tour and a scrumptious seafood dinner out on the coast. A magnificent day.