480.
For many years now I have wanted to walk through this field to the fenced off stone in the middle of it. It stands there, quite enigmatic in the middle of the wheat, just as it has stood there for centuries. Today was to be the day - if a path existed between the road and the structure. Luckily, thanks to modern agriculture and tractor driven planting, it did. I must confess that for some time I have been intrigued by the legend of the Strathmartine dragon. So famous is this tale that the creature has been incorporated into the City of Dundee's coat-of-arms. My interest was sparked by the appearance of a statue of a dragon in the town centre a number of years back. I remember it well, because when Liam was about 4-years-old, he liked to try to climb it. The statue still exists, and children still climb it. So, anyway, to the tale of this old stone in the middle of a field and its relationship to the legend of the dragon. The story goes that, many years ago, a farmer at Pitempton sent one of his nine daughters to get water from the well. When the first daughter failed to return, he sent another. Eventually he had sent all but one of his daughters, and decided to send the last of the nine to find out what was keeping her sisters. Accompanied by her fiancee, Martin, she set out. On arriving at the well, they saw a dragon standing over the bodies of the eight young maidens, upon which sight the ninth daughter died of fright and sorrow. Martin immediately engaged the dragon in a battle that began at Baldovan and ended at this marker in Balkello where the creature, said to be the last dragon in Scotland, was finally slain. By defeating the creature, Martin gave his name to the area - Strathmartine. The legend lives on in other local placenames also, such as Baldragon (literally, 'Town of the Dragon') and Ninewells. The stone itself has an old weathered carving showing the dragon being slain. Liam decided to have a look too, and overcame his fear to walk through the wheatfield to reach the stone - he said the field reminded him of Jeepers Creepers II.

Liam was paddling in jellyfish infested waters last year