What a busy weekend within our National Park. Up at Avimore they have the “Thunder in the Glen” event, this is the biggest Harley Davidson gathering in the whole of Europe with well over 3000 of these magnificent machines gathering together. At lunch time today ALL of them take over a set route & it is literally a thunder of bikes going up through the glens around Avimore. Since last weekend all we have heard going up the A9 are Harleys, a constant rumble of that wonderful sounding engine. Dread to think what the A9 will be like when they return, though a Bank Holiday in the rest of the U.K. it isn’t one here on Monday, so at least the Scottish bikers will be returning.
Here in the village is the most attended event for the village, The Blair Castle International Horse Trials, it started Thursday & finishes tomorrow. Over 40,000 visitors expected. All sorts of events from International Trials , to Pony Clubs, falconry, dog racing (see below), lots of trade stalls & plenty of food & drink. Us locals normally wait until 3.30pm each day as that is when it is free to get in, though we are mostly wise enough not to use the free parking as once people start leaving it is our equivalent of the M25, a giant car park instead of a road. So we all use the back roads or just walk from the village.
Below are some of the shots from today, it is the first time I have tried to photograph horse jumping, so excuse the standard of shots. Self explanatory shots, the Pony Club one is of todays winners of the relay event, boy do those ponies go. As for the dogs, they run over the obstacles, pick up a tennis ball & run back to their handlers, though some do cheat a bit & go round the jumps.
