Spurtle smooth taper. The custom is that a spurtle should be used to stir in a clockwise direction with the right hand. Early spurtles were flat, wooden or metal instruments, with long handles and flat blades. The spatula-like utensils, known as 'Couthie Spurtles,' can be used for flipping oatcakes or making pancakes - but not for making porridge. The World Porridge Making Championship awards a "Golden Spurtle" as its main prize. Spurtle The spurtle (or "spurtel", "spurtil", "spirtle" or "spartle") is a wooden Scottish kitchen tool, dating from the fifteenth century, that is used to stir porridge, soups, stews and broths.
Lairig an Laoigh in the Mar Lodge Estate, owned by the National Trust for Scotland where Derry Burn flows into Lui Water, a tributary of the River Dee. The northern part is in the Abernethy Estate, owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds where the River Nethy flows north to the River Spey. The whole area is in the Cairngorms National Park. The Lairig an Laoigh runs roughly parallel to the somewhat grander and far better-known Lairig Ghru which lies some to the west. They both dissect the high granite Cairmgorm plateau which is at about . The Lairig an