The Highlands Game in Ballater

We arrived in Edinburgh in the evening in rainy weather ….Once we recovered the rental car and after my first drive on the left, we reach the hotel so we will rest to attack our road trip the next day. We left in the morning towards the Cairngorms National Park with its rounded mountains and snowy winter. They have five of its six summits among the highest in the UK and beyond 1200 meters. The park that surrounds them is strewn with pine forests, lochs, rivers, and waterfalls. We are heading to the pretty village of Ballater (its waters had healing virtues …) to attend the Highlands games. It is an event that takes place annually on the second Thursday of August. Athletes compete in various competitions and events: dance, bagpipes, race, tug of war, throwing trunk, hammer, weight, and long jumps, all accompanied by music and a great musical parade all hours. These games will initially be held informally for centuries. Still, they took an official turn in 1820 with the rise of Scottish romanticism made fashionable by Sir Walter Scott and King George IV. Then we set off again, and we head Newtonmore, where we spend the evening in a small village in a beautiful landscape.