Week 28 - Vacation - Scotland and the Colquhoun Highland Games

After leaving the hostel, we realized that this was a beautiful valley in the mountains of Northern England.  We would have loved to spend some time as it was absolutely beautiful.  We worked our way back to the highway and got on the main freeway to Scotland.

During most of the trip we've been listening Roald Dahl books on CD.  We've listed to Matilda, Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Great Glass Elevator.  Ashton has been loving them.  Witches is actually pretty scary, but he did really good!  It is fun to hear him in back of us laughing his head off!

The drive to Glasgow and up to Luss was beautiful.  Lots of green rolling hills.  We drove through Glasgow, passed through Dumbarton and made it to Luss about 9:45.  Luss is the ancestral and current home of the Colquhoun Clan.  They say it just like we say it - Cahoon.  Sir Malcolm Cahoon, his wife, two sons, daughter-in-law and grand child are the barons of 50,000 acres on Loch Lomond.  It is an absolutely stunning, quaint little town on the shores of Loch Lomond and the foothills of the Scottish Highlands.

The Cahoons have been there since the 1100s.  At one point they captured the castle at Dumbarton and gave it to the king.  In thanks he made them barons, gave them the land and the rest is history.  There are lots of Colquhoun streets and gravestones in the area.  Pretty incredible to realize that your DNA actually came from the people buried underneath your feet.

The Cahoon castle fell into disrepair after WWII when there was little work and no money to be had.  They leased the Castle and grounds to the Carrick golf course, which has 80 years left on a lease.  They fixed it up, replaced the roof and will give it back in much, much better condition. The Colquhouns live in a nice, big, old white house on the shores of Loch Lomond.  Again, it is just beautiful.

We parked in a big field and walked over the field where the games were being held.  We signed up for several events and they actually paid us back 8 pounds of the 12 pounds we paid to get in just for participating.  The games were basically many athletics, music and dance events surrounded by food, clothing, candy, art and assorted vendors.  I think the closest thing we have is a carnival.

The games lasted all day and consisted of the traditional heavy lifting, throwing and caber tossing events.  But there were also dancing, bag piping, biking, running, obstacle course, running to the top of a mountain, lifting and tug-o-war.  But these guys were serious.  The lifting and throwing events by the big Scottish guys were impressive.  The guys participating were absolutely huge!  We didn't see any world records fall, but they got close.    They basically had events for the local guys and then opened it up to anyone.

These guys were serious!

Spencer was the first one of us to participate.  He got beat pretty soundly in the 800m race, but from there on out it got better!  Jacob got 2nd in the 100 yard dash and we all participated in the obstacle course.  It was quite the race.  We got off to a horrible start and were the last ones under the ropes course.  However, we made up ground going over the slippery 6' high A-frame.  We all made it over first try when everyone else struggled.  That put Spencer in 2nd and me in 3rd place after the gunny sacks and going through a tire.  However the big obstacle was 10' high pole with ropes dangling on it.  We had watched the locals only race and knew it was going to be hard.  I helped Spencer over and he finished in 2nd place!  They got "mad" at me for helping Emilee over, but we all ended up finishing respectably.  Spencer won 15 quid!

Run Spencer Run!

Start of the obstacle course

2nd place!  15 quid!

The last race was a 300 yard dash that Spencer, I and some other visitors participated in.  They were all younger than me, so I thought I was toast.  They put the girl up ahead of us about 50 yards and the gun went off!  I thought for sure Spencer and the young guys were going to pass me, but I got within a couple feet of the girl and her brother for 3rd place.  I should have kicked a little sooner!  ;)

Overall we really enjoyed the Highland games.  It was fun eating Venison burgers, Haggis and talking to the Colquhoun clan historian.  They were all super nice.  I guess they've consolidated to one Cahoon Clan website and are getting more organized.  There were people from all over the world there.  A lot of Americans and I'd say about 50 Cahoons.  I'd say about 2000 people attended the event, so they were pretty happy with the turnout.

Highland Venison burgers!  Yum?

Spencer hangin' with the clan!

James Colquhoun the Historian

We purchased a program at the Colquhoun games and unbelievably we WON the lucky program!  Turns out the prize is a bottle of 10 year old Laphroaig Scottish Whisky!!!!

After the games, we walked through town, threw some rocks into the Loch and walked around the church.  There was a lady getting married so we got to listen to some more bagpipes.  It was really fun to see all of the gravestones of Cahoons and Macfarlanes.  The two clans don't like each other so it is funny that one of our best friends is Bob Macfarlane.  We told the historian that we are Cahoon's living in Highland and have a good friend named Macfarlane.  He frowned, but then immediately laughed when we mentioned Bob!

For dinner we splurged and ate at the Loch Lomond Arms Hotel.  It is owned by Sir Malcom Colquhoun and is a really nice little hotel and restaurant.  The food was really, really good!  We got baby chickens with this amazing sauce and yummy deserts.  The kids about died when they found out it cost about $180.  We told them they were worth it and when these types of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities come around, you take them!  The restaurant is filled with items from the castle.  I guess the Cahoons were quite the naturalists and had stuffed fish, owls, deer and other animals.

We got invited by James Colquhoun, the historian, to the big dance they were having that night for just the Cahoons, but when we saw they were all in kilts and dressed up we chickened out.  It was a good thing because we were absolutely worn out!  After a 30 minute drive back to Glasgow we were done.

The hotel we stayed at is basically the equivalent of a motel 6 back home, called the Ibis.  There were lots of rugby clubs, drunks and partiers because of the cheap price.  But the rooms were clean and everyone was so tired, everyone but Dad got a good night's rest.  I was a little nervous at some of our neighbors, but it ended up being OK!

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