DAY 44-46 – Fort William and the Luss Highland Games

We enjoyed the scenic drive in and out of Fort William, the town itself was a bit of a non-event – it’s reputed to be The Outdoor Adventure Capital of Britain. We were unaware of this reputation so were a little baffled at being asked often...where we came from today and where were we hiking to tomorrow! We felt a little lazy admitting we drove today and planned to drive again tomorrow to the lovely older ladies we were sharing accommodation with that night.

Finally we had stumbled across the type of weather Scotland is known for with Fort William being our first proper rain day. Unfortunately the intermittent torrential downpours squashed our well meaning plans of going for a ‘nice hike’, so instead we seeked out another form of amusement. Not surprisingly it was Whitey who discovered Treasures of the Earth – a museum dedicated to precious gems and fossils, including ‘real’ Dinosaur poo and with her fellow magpies in tow we had an afternoon of discovery.

3 facts that surprised us

• Bismouth- technically not a fact ...check out the picture, it’s simply mind boggling
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• Corundum is more commonly known as Ruby or Sapphire, depending on its colour. Red Corundum is always known as Ruby whereas Sapphire can be any colour – white, pink, yellow, green or orange.
• Diamonds have been known for over 3000 years and are even mentioned in Exodus 28. More diamonds are now manufactured rather than mined. 80% of the world’s diamonds are not suitable for jewellery. In 1994 the world’s smallest diamond was cut; it was 50x smaller than the head of a ball point pen. The easiest way to spot the difference between a Diamond and Cubic Zirconia is to weigh it. In Victorian times you could only cut a diamond with another diamond, now cutting can be done with lasers. The largest faceted diamond in the world is the ‘Golden Jubilee’ at 545.7 carats and is a yellow/brown colour. The largest gem quality diamond ever found was the Cullinan which weighed 3,106 carats. The rough stone was cut to produce many diamonds including the ‘Great star of Africa’ and the ‘Lesser star of Africa’ were used in the British Crown Jewels.

The next day we headed South and on our travels we passed Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain at 1344m which ‘looms’ over the town, with enthusiasts coming from far and near to climb ‘Ben’. We wound through the green mountains shrouded in grey mist and filled with fit day walkers putting our driving to shame yet again. Down from the highlands to Loch Lomond where resides Luss and our next adventure.... The Luss Highland Games !!!! An afternoon filled with crazy kilt wearing, caber tossing, hill running Scots and fun for the whole family. As we arrived the heavy weight events were well underway. [Please note a reliable source of knowledge (a souvenir t shirt),states “it’s a kilt, if I was wearing underwear it would be a skirt” ...think about it].

Now we return to the heavy weight kilt wearing Scots in the arena throwing a 16lb weight attached to a long stick similar to an athletics hammer. The winner of this (Super Scotsman, check out photo above) broke the Luss record with a throw of 121 feet.

Next came the famed caber toss. The caber can vary from 5-7 meters in length. There is a real technique with the throw but the hardest part is getting the caber off the ground. Cameras at the ready we watched many men fail at the lift but fortunately there were a couple of experts who lifted and completed the throw with comparative ease, waiting for the judge to assess how straight the caber was tossed.

What could be next but throwing a sheaf of branches over a suspended horizontal bar with a pitch fork. The events continued to amuse us particularly with the commentator not taking anything too seriously either.

In between the heavyweight events we wandered over to watch the mesmerising sword dancers that were competing – the length of time these girls could hop around a sword was tiring just to watch!

Our favourite event for the day was the obstacle race. Four men lined up facing backwards, anticipation and concentration etched upon their faces, the gun goes off. They turn and run towards the belly crawl net, bottoms wiggling frantically in the air as they scrambled through and towards the greasy board. The board had been liberally covered in motor oil with a fast sprint combined with a leap being the only chance to get over. Then of course the celebrated sack race, tyre over the body, which was a bit too complex for one young man who ran for a while with it around his middle. However the best was yet to come with final obstacle. A rope climb over the pole and sprint to the finish. A seemingly simple task but not so in reality and very hilarious to watch the attempts as the competitors strained and continually failed at making it up and over the pole.

Eventually they began to help each other with some of the caber-tossing heavyweights wandering over to lend a hand as well. The young boy who was in last place for the whole race was boosted over first and without a backward glance or thought of helping his fellow competitors he sprinted off to win the race!

Meanwhile one of the officials at the caber-toss decided the remaining competitors needed a hurry along and grabbed the pitchfork used for the Sheath toss and started lining up the helpless competitors dangling from their ropes much to the crowds amusement!

A kilted dash completed the day for us with competitors having to wear a kilt (or something that resembled a kilt - tartan sash, tartan rug etc) and dash down the home straight.

Another Scottish ‘must-see’ done and dusted with the bonus of our first taste of Haggis in Scotland. Thank you Luss we very much enjoyed our day.