The week before we went to Tenerife was a very special one in Tarbert.
For months, villagers had been working on building a proper Viking longoat. It was made by hand, using traditional techniques. And, it was ready to celebrate the inaugural Tarbert Viking Festival, and the traditional boat festival.
So, during the week leading up to the festival, the village was overrun with Vikings, who sailed the boat to ‘raid’ local villages. It seemed like lots of fun!
We missed the main event on the Saturday, which was a reenactment of Magnus Barefoot’s historic claiming of Kintyre as part of his kingdom. In 1093, Magnus and his Viking hoard laid claim to all of Scotland’s islands. An island was described as any body of land that his boat could circumnavigate. When he arrived in Tarbert, he and his men carried the longboat from the East Loch to the harbour, thereby circumnavigating Kintyre. Hence, Kintyre is known as the Mainland Island 🙂
On the Friday, the Vikings made a victorious return to Tarbert from their marauding and we celebrated with a big barbeque, music and a ceilidh.
The weather was great, and it was lovely to see the village busy.
The music was provided by villagers, and was brilliant. There were folk groups:
And choirs:
A barber shop group:
And even this guy did a few songs…… do you recognise him?
We had a famous attendee: Rory McCann, who plays The Hound, Sandor Clegane in Game of Thrones. To be honest, he didn’t seem very pleased to have been spotted. I asked if he’d allow me to have a photo taken with him, and he said ‘no’, and walked off 😦 Good casting, maybe?
Anyway, we had a lovely evening, and it set us up very well for our holiday!
Have you ever been refused a photo or autograph before?
TartanJogger 
Bummer. Always sad to meet a celeb who turns out to be a b-hole.
Exactly- and I’m sure you’ve met a few!
Looks like such a fun event. I’m also sad that The Hound was not very nice!
The fun easily made up for it 🙂
That looks awesome. Always fun to celebrate a bit of your culture. Hopefully all raping and pillaging was avoided! Those Vikings were a vicious lot!
Ha ha! They stuck to drinking this time, I’m pleased to report!
What a fun event! I love historical stuff like that!
It was great! 🙂
Looks like a fun event. Love when lots of people come out to village/community events. Fun times.
No pic but you can say you saw him…
I think when ppl are incognito – i.e. in casual clothes and perhaps hiding behind big sunglasses and a hat – I say they’re probably just trying to go about their day like a normal person.
I’ve never been refused before, because I’ve never asked for an autograph. I wouldn’t dare, too shy. 😉 But I once catched the plectrum of my favourite musician – much more meaningful.
That’s cool! He wasn’t incognito- I just think he could have said no a bit more graciously!