Birthday over, next morning I went riding quite early. It was a school just outside Cupar & it was quite a nice ride but we had beginners on lead reins along, so the only trots or canters were because we held back a bit, & then caught up. That kind are not ideal as it's not the same as swinging along all together :-/
I think the horses prefer it as well?
As it was an early ride, I got back into Muchty before 1030, got changed, & went to an accordion workshop.
Bloody hell, they're weird things to manoeuvre!
After failing make any reasonable noise on an accordion ;-p, I went to the square where a coffee morning was offering home made cakes :-q, & had a mooch round the market.
As well as the usual arty/cratfy/foodie market stalls, these bikes were on show inside & outside someone's house.
After helping the local economy by buying some stuff, I found myself a seat for the Open Stage. There had been peeps performing while I was looking round the market, but as I'd met Ian Henderson during the accordion workshop (any relation to the S Uist Hendersons??? ~ see Ceolas blog), I got comfy for his set.
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| Ian Henderson & band |
Having wondered about & googled the Henderson's, here's a bit of what I found:
Ewen Henderson (born 1986) (Scottish Gaelic Eoghann MacEannruig) is a multi-instrumentalist folk musician from Fort William in Scotland.[1]
Henderson comes from a musical family, with his sister Ingrid and brother Allan in particular being international musicians. He started learning to fiddle at the age of five.[1]
Besides fiddle, his other musical talents include the bagpipe, penny whistle, piano and vocals in addition to some proficiency on banjo. He is fluent in Scottish Gaelic and sings in the language.
He is a key member of the Battlefield Band[2] and Mànran, whilst also appearing with Bahookie, the Pneumatic Drills and also with Skipinnish occasionally. His Scottish Gaelic singing has been aired on BBC Alba broadcasts.
A keen follower of the sport shinty, he has played for Glasgow University Shinty Club and Ardnamurchan Camanachd.
If you saw the pics on the Ceolas blogs, you may recognise Ewen who played for our Step-dance classes. I didn't know then that he was so famous, And so gifted!
Once the band were done, I figured I should get lunch, so I walked the long way round back to Maire's, took a pic of Loverspool in the sunshine, had a bite & a brew, & put some shorts on as it was quite warm.
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| Loverspool ~ the little stream running through the middle of Muchty |
Back in the square there was a larger band giving it some, & a lot more peeps about.
As I wandered about looking for a seat, I saw this guy.
He reminded me of the Specsavers advert, & of Hazel's comment on Day 4 of the Cateran Trail (see blog)
Should have gone to Specsavers - YouTube
I think the guys could be brothers!
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| A close-up of Ian's accordion |
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| Circle left for 8 & right for 8! |
As usual, it was mainly women & kids dancing at 1st, but a Granddad was persuaded to do a Dashing White Sergeant, & a few holiday makers had drunk enough to get up as well.
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| The Figure of 8 or swing bit of the DWS |
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| The Gay Gordons. Probably my Least favourite ceilidh dance |
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| Strip The Willow Probably my Most favourite ceilidh dance ~ Especially the Orcadian version :-D |
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| Another bit of the Strip |
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| Britannia 2-Step It's a 3-person dance |
The guy with the red hair was there to read a poem he'd written about his Gran. She had attended the Muchty festival for years, but had died that summer.
He got up on stage & read it out, & you could see how much she had meant to him.
His GF didn't dance, but took these pics for me.
He was a Tree Surgeon!
The dancing in the square ended about 4.30, so I took the short way to Maire's, via the Co-op for some food, & had tea before going to the ceilidh for 7pm.
It was in a huge marquee full of families, & a wooden floor had been put down in the middle. At 1st no-one was dancing, & when I asked peeps they seemed to be more interested in drinking :-/
Eventually I persuaded 2 girls to do the DWS with me, but one left half way through & I felt a bit of an idiot standing there with only 1 partner.
I gave it 45 min & then gave up in disgust & went back to Maire's. She was very surprised to see me back before 8 when it was supposed to end at midnight!
However, she then told me about a dance that happened every Saturday at the Bowling Club at the edge of the village.
When I got there I saw it was mostly OAPs doing old time & sequence, but a lady I had danced with that afternoon recognised me, & I sat with her & her husband & friends for the rest of the evening.
It wasn't quite my thing, but after the let down at the ceilidh, at least I was dancing!
It finished at 11, so I'd managed a fair bit of dancing that day :-)
Next day there were still a few Festival events on, so before I checked out I went to the pub to hear a band, & to a violin tuning workshop in the hope of hearing some good fiddling. Sadly, it was mainly talking, but I did learn a little bit about fiddles.
At about 1130 I went back to Maire's & met the BF who was a fisherman up the coast. He had a huge bike.
I said Bye to Maire before midday & headed south westerly down the A91 to the M90. It was a nice day so I took the scenic route home via the M90 & the Forth Bridge.
So endeth my sojourn in Auchtermuchty & Festival 2013.
OAO
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