EVEN the dogs were wearing Saltires in Aberfoyle yesterday.
Dogs and cyclists and pensioners and kids, one very busy flag seller and everyone else bar the Callander and District Pipe Band were carrying flags as the Queen's Baton came to town. And the pipe band, to be fair, had their hands full.
Day 23 of the baton relay entered the gateway to the Trossachs at around 10am to find what seemed like the whole village had turned out for it. A couple of hours earlier at Stirling Castle only a few early risers and Mary of Guise (Mary Queen of Scots' mum) were on hand to see the baton start its tour of Stirlingshire. But then Stirling hasn't been short of big events recently.
Last week, Tracey Mills attended both Armed Forces Day and Bannockburn 700 celebrations in the city but even so she got up early to wave the baton on its way at just over eight in the morning. She said: "Stirling's had a big year this year so on the back of that it's quite nice to come up and see the baton."
Katriona Bush had the honour of being the first baton carrier of the day. Ms Bush, from Glendevon, was in fact one of the original bid team for bringing the Games to Glasgow and as chief press attache is usually organising photographers rather than posing for them.
She has worked on four Commonwealth Games now and later in the afternoon she'd be back in her more familiar role as Team Scotland's parade uniform was unveiled. But fresh from setting the baton on its way she was looking forward to the Games themselves.
She said: "For me it's about seeing the athletes so excited, so looking forward to it. But so focused. They really want to do Scotland proud. We set our target for the best Games ever. No mean feat but we're confident we have a great team of athletes."
Yesterday, though, was about the baton and baton carriers like Andrew MacLeod, 21. Originally from the isle of Lewis, he grew up in Stirling. Three years ago he was hit by a Subaru Impreza travelling at 70 mph in a 30mph zone. His leg had to be amputated at the scene. But his prosthetic leg didn't stop him dancing a jig as he was piped into the car park behind Aberfoyle information centre. By the sound of it, very little stops him.
"I've got back to doing all the sports I did before my accident," he said after finally relinquishing the baton. "I'm back mountain biking, snowboarding, kayaking. Name an outdoor sport and I'll at least have tried it. I've yet to try skydiving. I'm not sure how that would work with the imbalance of legs. But it's on my bucket list."
He said carrying the baton was special. "I've been following the relay on the telly. I was an Olympic torch bearer as well. I actually feel more privileged doing the Commonwealth baton because I've seen its journey around the entire world. So many different lives have been part of this marathon. And there is only one baton. The one that I was carrying."
The same wide-eyed pleasure in the relay could be seen a couple of hours later and a few miles away in Balfron where the community council had spent a couple of months planning the baton's visit.
Half-an-hour before it arrived Balfron Cub Scouts were selling cake and juice, the actor Tam Dean Burn was reading The Gruffalo to children and the flag seller from Aberfoyle was still doing a roaring trade (60-40 in favour of the Saltire over the Union flag, he reckoned).
Colin Gregor had the honour of carrying the baton up the rising road into the centre of the village, soundtracked by Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill. Gregor, the captain of Scotland's rugby sevens team, went to school in the village and said he was honoured to have had the chance to carry the baton here of all places.
But already his mind was racing ahead. "We were up in Stirling for a Team Scotland Camp and you just get the idea of how big the actual team is and it will be a massive thing to get the boots on and play at Ibrox."
On the baton went. To Kippen, past Blair Drummond Safari Park and then back into Stirling for a visit to the Bannockburn Heritage Centre before ending up at the town's sport centre The Peak. Another big end to a big weekend in Stirling. The city should be getting used to them.
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