In pics: Scottish grandad gored by bull
This is the dramatic moment a split second before a Scottish grandfather was gored in the head by a fighting bull during a fiesta in Spain.
Angus Ritchie, 46, from Paisley told The Local how his head was split open during the encierro - morning bull run - in Ciudad Rodrigo´s annual Carnaval del Toro last Saturday.
"I didn´t see the bull until he was upon me," Ritchie told The Local from Ciudad Rodrigo. "He barrelled straight into me, ripped the shirt from my back and whacked me two or three times in the head."
"He split my head wide open. I could taste my own blood, and feel it hot and wet on my head, my face."
The goring lasted only a split second before official herders managed to distract the bull away from Ritchie and drag him to safety.
"It happened very fast, I was just hit by this power wall of black. I was I knew I was in real danger. I just tried to cover up and roll away from the horns, trying not to get gored in my body.
"I was just trying to do the best thing to save my own life," he said.
Ritchie had to have eight stitches on one side of his head and eight staples on the other.
"I am alright now. In fact I was only in the hospital for two hours and then I was out and having a beer," he joked.
The veteran bullrunner, who has participated in almost 100 encierros in the last eight years, said he just can´t get enough of the buzz of the fiesta.
"It´s the adrenalin I enjoy," explained the youth care worker, who has a daughter and three grandchildren. "And there´s no encierros in Scotland so I come to Spain."
He vowed to return to Spain in July when he will participate in the largest and most famous fiesta - that of San Fermin in Pamplona.
"I can't run again here because my head is still swollen, but I will be back in July and will run in Pamplona," he said of the fiesta made famous by Ernest Hemingway´s "The Sun Also Rises" which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each July.
During the same bullrun in Cuidad Rodrigo American student, Benjamin Milley, 20, was gored multiple times sustaining injuries described by his surgeon as "the biggest goring wound I´ve ever seen".
A Spanish man was also injured, although his wounds were described as "slight".
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Angus Ritchie, 46, from Paisley told The Local how his head was split open during the encierro - morning bull run - in Ciudad Rodrigo´s annual Carnaval del Toro last Saturday.
"I didn´t see the bull until he was upon me," Ritchie told The Local from Ciudad Rodrigo. "He barrelled straight into me, ripped the shirt from my back and whacked me two or three times in the head."
"He split my head wide open. I could taste my own blood, and feel it hot and wet on my head, my face."
The goring lasted only a split second before official herders managed to distract the bull away from Ritchie and drag him to safety.
"It happened very fast, I was just hit by this power wall of black. I was I knew I was in real danger. I just tried to cover up and roll away from the horns, trying not to get gored in my body.
"I was just trying to do the best thing to save my own life," he said.
Ritchie had to have eight stitches on one side of his head and eight staples on the other.
"I am alright now. In fact I was only in the hospital for two hours and then I was out and having a beer," he joked.
The veteran bullrunner, who has participated in almost 100 encierros in the last eight years, said he just can´t get enough of the buzz of the fiesta.
"It´s the adrenalin I enjoy," explained the youth care worker, who has a daughter and three grandchildren. "And there´s no encierros in Scotland so I come to Spain."
He vowed to return to Spain in July when he will participate in the largest and most famous fiesta - that of San Fermin in Pamplona.
"I can't run again here because my head is still swollen, but I will be back in July and will run in Pamplona," he said of the fiesta made famous by Ernest Hemingway´s "The Sun Also Rises" which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each July.
During the same bullrun in Cuidad Rodrigo American student, Benjamin Milley, 20, was gored multiple times sustaining injuries described by his surgeon as "the biggest goring wound I´ve ever seen".
A Spanish man was also injured, although his wounds were described as "slight".
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