The Scottish equivalent to Swiss Schwing- and Aelplerfests

Castle Stalker in Loch Linnhe, as seen from the Appin Show field.

Hiya

Last Saturday afternoon, my friend R. introduced me and my goddaughter to rural pleasures on the west coast of Argyll. We drove the not very considerable distance to Appin, which is almost R.'s home town, taking the lovely backroad part of the way. Apart from penned prize sheep and Highland cattle, among them this beautiful bull calf, …… a big tent full of outsize leeks and carrots [but, for reasons of discretion, I am not posting the photo of a couple of prize-winners -- for its size, that gigantic carrot was surprisingly tasty and very tender indeed -- I will want to know the secret, dear R.!], beautiful flower arrangements, …

… fruit cake, jars full of strawberry jam and marmalade, and numerous fancy knitted things, we found young men "tossing the sheaf" (at first, to my untrained ear, it sounded like "sheep") across a thin horizontal pole that was gradually raised higher and higher above a level grassy field.
Here are a few visual impressions of that weird and wonderful sport -- not as easy as it looks, …
… but one young man from Ireland (if memory serves) seemed to have the perfect technique and won the prize "fork down" in a contest that lasted about 45 minutes.PS: It was men only this time, but some feisty young women took turns practicing when then men had all gone away. I would not be surprised if the men got some competition next time round.
After the action and the prize-giving, my friends and I took a stroll along the beach -- sadly, not the nicest beach in the world, but I suppose the people of Appin have more urgent business than to sweep the beach every day.
Never mind the washed-up tyres, the view of the castle and the hills beyond is breathtaking.

Memories of a wee trip

Blue pansies for my American sister-in-law Pat -- they grow in a box outside a beautiful restaurant at Port Appin.

A friend took me up to Loch Linnhe and Port Appin recently -- and a very lovely late afternoon and early evening it was, too. First we ended up taking a short walk up a beautifully wooded hillside, where I came across this fairy tree:
Then we drove further south again and ended up at Port Appin -- a beauty spot if there ever is one in this area of beauty spots:
Castle Stalker (the l in it is pronounced; Gaelic: Caisteal an Stalcaire) on Loch Linnhe (or perhaps better, according to Wikipedia, Loch Laich). It is quite famous, apparently, for being in the final frames of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, as I found when consulting Wikipedia because I thought it had something to do with Robert Louis Stevenson, which does not seem to be the case.
Also according to Wikipedia, "Stalker is entirely authentic; it is one of the best-preserved medieval tower-houses surviving in western Scotland."
A picturesque cottage near Port Appin. The bright afternoon sun, the black sky beyond the cottage and the flaming rhododendron in the front garden make this view particularly dramatic.
Not far from this cottage, in a ravine, grows a beautiful specimen of giant "rhubarb":
Appin Lighthouse out on Loch Linnhe.
The grass is greener...
As elsewhere the world is sliding off the plate.
Magnolia-coloured clematis growing all over a wooden fence.