Basics - The Rough Guide to Scotland - page 37

games are hard to come by; contact the Scottish
Rugby Union ( T 01313 465000, W sru.org.uk).
The area where the domestic rugby tradition
runs deepest is in the Borders, where towns such as
Hawick, Kelso and Galashiels can be gripped by the
fortunes of their local team on a Saturday afternoon.
The Borders are also the home of seven-a-side
rugby , an abridged version of the game that was
invented in Melrose in the 1890s and is now played
around the world, most notably at the glamorous
annual event in Hong Kong. The Melrose Sevens is
still the biggest tournament of the year in Scotland
(see p.122), although you'll find events at one or
other of the Border towns through the spring, most
going on right through an afternoon and invoking a
festival atmosphere in the large crowd.

representation is in a sixteenth-century Flemish
painting. Played by two teams of four, it's a highly
tactical and skilful sport, enlivened by team members
using brushes to sweep the ice furiously in front of a
moving stone to help it travel further and straighter. If
you're interested in seeing curling being played, go
along to the ice rink in places such as Perth, Pitlochry
or Inverness on a winter evening.

Outdoor activities
Scotland boasts a landscape that,
weather conditions apart, is extremely
attractive for outdoor pursuits at all
levels of fitness and ambition, and legis-
lation enacted by the Scottish Parliament
has ensured a right of access to hills,
mountains, lochs and rivers. Within
striking distance of its cities are two
national parks, remote wilderness areas
and vast stretches of glens and moorland,
while sea-kayakers, sailors and surfers
can enjoy excellent conditions along the
rugged but beautiful coastline.

Shinty
Played throughout Scotland but with particular
strongholds in the West Highlands and Strathspey,
the game of shinty (the Gaelic sinteag means “leap”)
arrived from Ireland around 1500 years ago. Until the
latter part of the nineteenth century, it was played
on an informal basis and teams from neighbouring
villages had to come to an agreement about rules
before matches could begin. However, in 1893, the
Camanachd Association - the Gaelic word for
shinty is camanachd - was set up to formalize the
rules, and the first Camanachd Cup Final was held in
Inverness in 1896. Today, shinty is still fairly close to
its Gaelic roots, like the Irish game of hurling, with
each team having twelve players including a
goalkeeper and each goal counting for a point. The
game, which bears similarities to an undisciplined
version of hockey, isn't for the faint-hearted; it's
played at a furious pace, with sticks - called camans
or cammocks - flying alarmingly in all directions.
Support is enthusiastic and vocal, and if you're in the
Highlands during the season, which runs from
March to October, it's well worth trying to catch a
match: check with tourist o ces or the local paper,
or go to W shinty.com.

Walking and climbing

The whole of Scotland offers superb opportunities
for walking , with some of the finest areas in the
ownership of bodies such as the National Trust for
Scotland and the John Muir Trust ( W jmt.org); both
permit year-round access. Bear in mind, though, that
restrictions may be in place during lambing and
deerstalking seasons. See W outdooraccess-scotland
.com for information about hiking safely during the
stalking season. In addition, the green signposts of
the Scottish Rights of Way Society point to estab-
lished paths and routes all over the country.
There are several long-distance footpaths , such
as the well-known West Highland Way (see box,
p.293), which take between three and seven days to
walk, though you can, of course, just do a section of
them. Paths are generally well signposted and well
supported, with a range of services from bunkhouses
to baggage-carrying services.
Numerous short walks (from accessible towns
and villages) and several major walks are touched
on in this Guide. However, you should only use our
notes as general outlines, and always in conjunc-
tion with a good map. Where possible, we have
given details of the best maps to use - in most
cases one of the excellent and reliable Ordnance
Survey (OS) series (see p.47), usually available from

Curling

The one winter sport which enjoys a strong Scottish
identity is curling ( W royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org),
occasionally still played on a frozen outdoor rink, or
“pond”, though most commonly these days seen at
indoor ice rinks. The game, which involves gently
sliding smooth-bottomed 18kg discs of granite called
“stones” across the ice towards a target circle, is said to
have been invented in Scotland, although its earliest