Silly Season.

This would probably have made a great Silly Saturday blip, only it was Friday! The first Friday in June is Hawick Common Riding. This is a tradition where the townsfolk all have the day off and head up to “The Mair”, to drink copious amounts of alcohol.

The festival and its various ride outs celebrate the fact that in 1514, the youth of the town captured an English flag. Now, 505 year later, men go into somewhere called “the hut” to drink the traditional cocktail of rum and milk.

I met a group of riders on the main A7 as I headed through the town. The traffic was stopped to let them pass safely, so I took advantage by sticking my camera out the window. They were all wearing oak leaves as button holes, another tradition, no doubt it’s aye been!