In case you didn’t know the Commonwealth Games are on in Glasgow at the end of this month. There’s lots of publicity about it here now.. understandably.

Had a leisurely start to the day. Just did some food shopping and cleaned the place we’re staying at in Edinburgh as the owner is away for the moment. A friend had recommended to try to get to a local Highland Games if we could. They are held all over Scotland in different regions all through the summer (such as it is). The most famous and biggest one are the Braemar Games. Apparently the Queen goes to that one. But the smaller, more local Highland Games give more local colour and are not so touristy. So I looked it up on the internet and found a Highland games on today at a town called Alva which is only an hour’s drive away. What luck!

So after lunch, with Philip driving and Rosie navigating, we set off, driving north west to the county of Clackmannanshire (don’t you love that name?) to the little town of Alva. We left behind the motorways and highways crossed a wide bridge over the River Forth where it’s much narrower than its mouth near Edinburgh, and drove down some country roads to get there.

Alva is a little town of about 4,000 people and it’s right against the foot of the Ochil Hills. Which to my eyes look more like mountains than hills! The dark clouds lowered and we were glad we’d brought our rain jackets.

These Highland games have been going for 158 years and are the last ones in their county of Clackmannanshire It’s held on the green town oval and backs straight onto the steep back of the “hill”. All around the oval are three rows of benches so you can watch the events. And behind the benches are the showgrounds. Rides with their blaring music, fairy floss and all the associated fairground events.

It wasn’t long before it started raining! But it didn’t seem to deter the Scots. I guess if they stopped their events everytime it rained they’d never get anything done in Scotland.

There were all sorts of races. Starting from races for girls under five years old. They didn’t have many takers for that one. In most of these races, the competitors just raced in their everyday clothes and shoes. It wasn’t until later that they competitors got serious and raced in racing clothes and shoes.

They also had a couple of races for “foreigners” visiting for the day. And they were won by people from places like Yorkshire and Sheffield! Rosie said I should have gone in it and I would have beaten the girl who did win! I doubt it.

They also had bike racing. Tearing around the oval in their bright bike colours and helmets. They were serious competitors too.

We didn’t get that many good photos with the rain coming down. And you really need very good cameras to get good sports photos. But we did our best!

In the middle of the oval, while the races were tearing round the oval were the “weights” events. Throwing the hammer. Their “hammer” is not on a rope like in the Olympics. It’s on a straight stick.

There was tossing the caber. Holding one end of a huge log and trying to toss it in the air. The rules are more complicated than I knew. To win the caber toss, you have to be able to flip the whole log end to end, and then have it land in a straight line! None of the competitors could flip it today. It was too slippery. So no winner! There was an American guy there competing in the weights events. From North Carolina. He was wearing a black kilt and a baseball cap. He was also about half the width of the Scottish men. But he didn’t fare well in the end results.

Another competition was tossing the Bell. This looked a very potentially dangerous competition! The men pick up a huge heavy white weight with a handle, shaped a little bit like a bell. They then get up a swing on it by bending over and swinging it between their legs. And then they heave it up and over backwards over their shoulders, and they have to heave it over a high beam before it lands. And hopefully it never lands on anybody’s head!

But the most amazing event was what the called the Hill Race. When I first read it I thought they’d be running over a few little hills nearby. But no. They ran around the oval and straight up the almost vertical hill that backed onto the oval. They had an Under 17s race for it first and they ran about three-quarters up the hill to a yellow marker on the hill. There was one girl competiting with the males.

Then the adults had their turn and they ran to the top of the hill. Which should really be called a mountain. Let alone that it looks just about vertical! There were about 10 girls running with about 25 men in this race. Our jaws dropped as we saw them heading up higher and higher onto the hill. The winner of the adult race did it in 20 minutes. You have no idea how amazing it was. When they run back onto the oval, their faces are grimacing and they are covered in mud and water. I still can’t get over it. The hill would have to be about 500 metres. And have I mentioned that it’s nearly vertical?!

They had a big Highland Pipe Band playing too. of course! There was supposed to be a Highland Dancing competition tool. But we didn’t see that. Not sure if they’d had it before we came, or whether we just missed it. We left before the end of the programme.

But it was raining harder. And we are soft Australians. Not sure why, but we did see an Australian flag displayed on one of the fences. We really enjoyed the afternoon. It was great to see such strong community spirit. And it felt like it had been a true Scottish cultural experience.