As the men and women of Portadown Loyal Orange Lodge stepped out, only the buzz of the police helicopter broke the tranquillity of a perfect Sunday.
Some Orangemen set out along these streets as if they owned them - perhaps they once did. Headed for the church on Drumcree hill to remember the fallen of the first World War, they cited the qualities of dignity and defiance.
However, the mood that hung over the town centre told a different tale. If the 300 men of the 36th Ulster Division killed on the first day of the Somme were expecting the worst, so too did those who commemorated them yesterday.
Edgarstown Accordion Band struck up a jaunty version of Abide with Me, but it could not ease the sense of fatalism.
They marched out past "The Tunnel" and Obins Street, the scenes of defeat of 20 years ago and on towards the true blue heartlands of Corcrain. Past the towering 11th night pyre, still under construction, the marchers approached a few hundred loyalist supporters.
Some in the crowd tried to whip up some fervour by applauding loudly in the hope that the ripple would build into a wave. But it never caught on.
Police officers wore shirt sleeves for the heat and the obviously reduced threat. How could there be trouble when everyone knew this battle was already lost? At the top end of an empty, flagless Garvaghy Road beside the Catholic church, the odd teenager in a Celtic shirt or the orange of Armagh GAA looked on without reaction.
As the bricks of Portadown's estates gave way to the hedgerows, the marchers, many sweating uncomfortably in their paraphernalia, made their way to the iconic church on the hill.
Inside, the Rev John Pickering, rector of Drumcree, referred to the obvious downbeat mood.
"As we meet this morning, perhaps feeling somewhat disillusioned with life, let us remember that God always gives us confidence for the future." If so, many Orangemen are still waiting. God's name does not appear among the membership of the Parades Commission.
"Vision," intoned the Rev Pickering with passion. "That's what's needed."
He bravely cited the decision by Orangemen in Derry to talk to residents there and the resulting agreement to stage a march on the Twelfth.
"Why not elsewhere?" asked the rector. "Why not here?" He may well ask.
Down at the barrier blocking the return route by Garvaghy Road were just seven officers and a superintendent. More prayers, more denouncement of the Parades Commission and a lamentable rendering of God Save The Queen and that was it.
A decade after Paisley and Trimble danced in triumph, most marchers about-turned and went home.