7th day, August 18, 2007 (Day of the flood)

Finally, our long-awaited concert day, the day that was the secret reason for our Scotland holiday and around which the tour was planned. Because we wanted to see our shared favorite band, Runrig, live at an open-air concert in their homeland.

We started the morning leisurely, as the first of two buses to Inverness left Dores at 9:29 a.m., which was a bit early considering how long the day was, and it rained the whole time. So we took the second and last bus of the day, which was scheduled to leave at 1:48 p.m., at least as a rough guideline.🙂

At 2:10 pm, the second bus of the day finally arrived, and we were able to start our journey to Inverness. We stocked up on water and some food at a supermarket and then looked for the bus to Drumnadrochit. After a brief exploration of the village, we found the bus stop and paid 20 GBP for the 3:30 pm departure. It was still raining!

We arrived in Drumnadrochit around 5:00 PM. Anyone who thinks Drumnadrochit is incredibly far from Inverness or that the bus was pulled by two horses is mistaken – there was a traffic jam halfway there, as the small town was completely overwhelmed by the crowds and the rain.

Accompanied by numerous Runrig fans, we headed to the concert venue, or rather the concert meadow, where patches of green grass were visible. Our first stop, however, was the fan tent to confirm the souvenir disc we had ordered online. That is to say, we went there with the printed order form and received the CD case to speed things up after the concert. Still raining!

We made our way to the stage, where the first groups were already playing from 2 pm. Among others, the following were represented:

Wolfstone (we were really looking forward to this band too), Red Hot Chilli Pipers (no, not Peppers! That was better), Julie Fowlis, Great Big Sea, and the headliners, RUNRIG. Special Guests: US! But nobody knew that except us.

Oh yes, it was still raining.

What bothered us, besides the rain, were the local, and especially young, spectators who were already so drunk by 6:00 PM that they certainly couldn't take in anything of the concert and were massively annoying other fans with their excessive jumping around. You would have thought they had tickets for a heavy metal concert and gotten lost. These heavy drinkers were, of course, behind us—where else would they be? At least they didn't throw up in our presence; they're Scots, after all.😉

Runrig's performance made up for the long hours of standing, the never-ending rain, the raindrops constantly running into our eyes from our eyebrows, the mud-soaked shoes, the mud-soaked trousers (up to our knees!), and the wet clothes (despite the rain jacket). Did we mention it was still raining?

The band played many of their new songs and, of course, their all-time favorites, from "Beat the Drum" and "Proterra" to "Book of Golden Stories," "Hearts of Olden Glory," and "Loch Lomond." The open-air concert had sold out completely weeks in advance.

When the concert unfortunately ended around 11 p.m. – well, um, I'm sure no one will believe us, definitely not – but the rain stopped abruptly! It was just a light drizzle, or rather, a very light spray; that was enough, at least, to finally take off our hoods after six long hours. We were already starting to think of a conspiracy from above.

We literally trudged back to the fan tent to pick up the souvenir disc. However, there was a wait, as the DVDs hadn't been burned yet (the DVD includes a live track from the concert alongside the day's photos, hence the just-in-time DVD production)! Finally, one of the DVDs from the second set was ours, and we headed to the outskirts of Drumnadrochit to snag a taxi, as the buses were booked and full, and the local buses weren't running at that time. The rain had finally decided to stop. But there was still a light wind that turned our wet clothes into iceboxes.

Well, as expected, the taxis were all booked, and the local taxi number didn't work from either a mobile phone or a public phone booth, so it was back to waiting. After a while (only three hours had passed), we quickly shared a taxi with two nice people from Glasgow who had booked a hotel in Inverness. A last-minute rescue! By 3 a.m. we were back in Dores and had at least managed to get some of the mud off our shoes and trousers.

You have to be a little bit crazy to take something like that on yourself, but so were 17,500 others, and...aren't we all a little bit crazy?😉

Runrig herself dubbed this day "Day of the Flood" as a heartfelt thank you to her fans (referring to her first single, "Year Of The Flood" from her current album). They probably had a feeling.

In any case, we believe that "Beat the Drum 2007" at Loch Ness will go down in history as a legendary "Muddy Gig" – just like the open-air festival at Loch Lomond in the early 90s.