No i'm not posting another Beatles tune so you can skip past if you loke.
As a few know we done our trip to Largs to see the Viking Festival, I shall start with the beginning of our day although my head is like mince so i'll probably confus you all.
We got to Largs at roughly half 11, as we decended on the small seaside town i had a feeling there might be a few tantrums as the carnival was there and i only had 25 pound with me and some of that was for dinner and and a trip to Vikingar visitor centre.
When we got off the bus it really was a case of put yor hood up your ears will get cold. Had a walk down by the sea front and to just see what was what, we found the scottish farmers market.....now we have the whole 'oh only here for the day and can't really carry anything but do you do samples?' So a pre lunch snack we got , it was mainly bits of bread that you could dip in various sauces but they were all very scrummy. I was polite and asked if they had websites and done delivery as there was a few i'd try again but they were expensive. Then in the corner i spotted it, Loch Fyne fisheries. I'm not a huge seafood fan infact i'm not a fan at all but last year at conect i had sampled a few of there delicasys, so we opted for a couple of oysters ..oh yum yum, a squirt of lemon sauce and a shake of chilli and ni had done my chew 3 times and swallow. Only one other person on the trip tried them and we made a promise not to start kissing each other later in the bus. Then a trip to the European market , more free samples, some of the cheeses were gorgeous others i had to try and spit out because they tasted like my socks after i've been camping for a week. Some really nice meat and sausages and oh lala the pastries...i thought i'd died and gone to the great gig in the sky.
Made our way (by this point it was just carebear my mate and her daughter) to Vikingar centre, we we're paying seperatly but woman said it was better to get a family ticket so we saved a few quid (enough for a couple of shots at the carnival) Joined the tour and this is where i get lost...not literally just so much information crammed in in such a short space of time. The food they ate, mostly porridge but with twists of seafood added or meat they had caught, the girls were married off at 12 and any younger brothers would be sent packing. The average life for a viking was 25 so i guess that at 12 you would be more like late 30's.
I found out what Valhalla really meant, i always thought it was hell but no it is when a viking dies his soul will be in eternal battle so long as he died in battle with a sword in his hand. I also found out the phrase "breaking out of hell" means...the godess Hell would cut the nails of the dead and build a ship, if she succeded in building it she could break out of hell. Oden was the gog of gods and had lost an eye at the well of knowledge, the well was kept guard by an asp who would only allow Oden to drinl out it if he gave an eye..so he did and he got all the knowledge of the present and future. Found out how the vikings came to be in Scotland, can't mind the guys name, but he was the head of his house and he moved his wife and child over to start farming, many followed him to the richer land and then the king of Norway went potty demanded tax off them and thats when the battles started. there is more to this story but head like mince and don't want to give wrong facts. In the end up Norweigan vikings battled with the now scottish one's, 2 endings to the story one being the Scots won the other the Norweigan won.
Left the Vikingar centre and went to have lunch, found a spot out the wind and rain but it was a works smoking spot but there was somewhere to sit and we did'nt get asked to move so it was fine. Had another walk down by the front and found a battle reinactment, it was really well done, all the costumes and weaponary, pics are at the bottom, along with other random pics.
Went up the high street, bad idea the kids were getting bored to the point my mates kid walked away, (this is a positive post so al i'll say is it turned out good) Spent a bit of time on my own with carebear looking at the various shops that sell over preiced tat then done a sneaky and went to the carnival and she had a wee shot of one o the rides. I can't watch her on ride's my belly churns but she loves them (i hate the fact she's tall at times) Went back up the toon and found a butchers seling real haggis, had to get a pic of it, it was fab.
Took a look in the museum, it was stinky of damp and oldness, i had to go out for fresh air. It was'nt that great to be honest but it kept us warm for 10 minutes. Found my mate and we went a wee stoat, had told the kids that it would be at least 5 o'clock before we went for dinner so please stop going in moods. Got told about a little place that was cheap but nice so we had already decided to go there. For al there's really nice places by the sea front it would have cost a fortune to eat in. Kids made it through to 5 o'clock without to many scorned looks. It was nice, i just opted for a snack of cheese and chips and carebear wanted something more substantial, i did'nt have the funds to get a full meal but as i don't really eat that was fine, i prefer to eat just before i go to bed.
After dinner we walked back down to the front and let the kids have a shot of the rides, carebear had to pick the one i was most feart about so my mate watched as i talked to someone else.Got my seashells, well the kids did, i did'nt fanc a walk on the beach as my trousers were already stuck to me but kids don't mind for some reason.
Found out where the longboat was going to be set alight so made our way there, was quite a walk but we got there found an ok spot and watched a bigger reinactmeant, we were qiute far away but got a few piccies. Because of the rough sea they could'nt do what they wanted with the longboat and i was at the other side of the pencil so was a bit gutted i missed that, did get a few piccies but not great.Was told by a woman (very nice she was) that they had done a boat last night as a local man had died a few weeks ago and wanted a viking send off spo they put his ashes in the boat and set it off to sea. I think that's great and even though it would have been a private family moment i would'nt have minded seeing it.
Then the fire works but alas it was time to go and get the bus, it was a long day and i did'nt mind missing most of the fireworks. Got back to the bus, loads of tired people and a few unhappy drunks which i won't go into as i did'nt let it spoil our day.
Now for the boring bit...piccies








