The full days pics are through a click HERE

Day 5 - A morning with no rain... in fact a whole day without rain, apart from a strange shower as we were coming back down the hill which helped to wash off some of the blood. As there was no rain when we left I took both my camera and my video camera out with me today and made use of both. I also thought my knee was doing reasonably well, guess I was wrong.

Usual start to the day, get up freezing at 7:15, put on a couple of layers of clothes and start trying to warm up a little. Getting into the kitchen and getting the stove on helps and this morning I was making porridge for two - Michael and I. I think he quite enjoyed it - had honey on mine today which was very welcome. That is five days in a row now that I have had porridge for breakfast, and I think I like it. Not sure what will happen when I go back to my manic dash out the door at 7:00 when I get home, mind you not waking up cold will probably help.

Once we were breakfasted and sandwiches made for the day, I decided to go fancy and made Croque Monsieur basically ham and melted cheese, but put in a bit of Worcester Sauce for flavor, we headed off in the Land Rover up to Alladale Lodge. We passed plenty of stags and hinds on the way up - but I did not manage to take any pics as the road is a lot too bumpy and I did not think about asking to stop!

When we got to the house we all jumped out and went to the conference room to wait while Chris went to find out what was happening during the day. He came back with split jobs. I was to go out with the stalkers and he and the other two were going off hunting for the highland cattle, which have managed to get lost for the last couple of weeks. (The result of their day was that whilst they saw lots of evidence of the cattle, they did not actually find them)

I went outside and quickly decided that how I had packed my lunch was wholly inappropriate and I wanted to get rid of my backpack, so I got a couple of sandwich bags and used them instead and just grabbed a bottle of water instead of my flask of tea. We waited for the Lodge guests to be ready to go, then headed down to the firing range. Innes, the head ranger, oversaw the testing of the rifles and making sure that everyone was happy using them.

We then headed back up the glen, up to Deanich lodge where we stopped to pick up the saddles for the horses, then carried on up to where we had stopped on Monday - a nice big hill to climb! Ronnie (another Ghillie) and I stayed back with the horses, Sim and Sruban. We put the special carrying saddles on them and then waited for a call from 'Poppy'.

This was nice as it gave me a chance to talk with Ronnie who has been working on the Estate for 25 years. He is interested in the changes that will potentially be taking place in order to make Alladale Europe's first big game reserve. It is viewed as progress by some but it does mean a big change in the way of life for others as there will be the move from man managing the land to letting nature manage it herself - this takes a big leap of faith, which some will find hard to make.

Once we got the call from 'Poppy' to start moving up the hill as they had moved over the ridge and we would not be spooking their deer we got ready to move off. We did go up the same hill as I had done on the Monday, but with the horses we took the longer, easier path. I got some really nice pictures on the way up, but took so many that if you want to see them all you need to look HERE. We also saw snow on a distant hill when the cloud cleared.

At the shelter point at the top we lay on a rise and looked across the loch where we could see some deer, which then got spooked and started running. This was due to the fact that they had just shot their first stag up on the ridge. Trailing behind the main herd was a second stag, but he moved off too fast as well through a glen to another loch.

We stayed where we were waiting for the call. Once the stag is shot, it is immediately gutted and marked using the stomach lining hanging on its horn so that you can easily come back and find it. We waited a little longer watching the deer across the other side of the loch make their way over into the next glen. The call came over the radio and we started to make our way up to the top ridge. By this time my knee was starting to really kick in again and each step sent a small stab of pain through it. Occasionally I would walk awkward or catch it on a ridge and it would really hurt, but believe it or not, I was enjoying the day, so did not want to make a fuss.

Ronnie and I made it up to the ridge no problems at all, the horses pretty much guide themselves and are very good, just a little annoying when they want to keep stopping to munch! Once we had gone about three quarters of the way along the ridge we found the stag (almost walked past it though as it blends in so well) and Ronnie got sorted with turning the stags head. Basically what happens here is the head is brought back along the body so that the antlers do not stab the horse when it is being carried. Once this was done it was time to sit and wait again until we were summoned.

It was a good job we had to wait a while for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I got to eat my second sandwich and have a drink of water. Secondly there was a very brisk and cold North wind blowing over the ridge. Why was this good? It was good as it meant I started to get cold. Still not convinced this was good? OK - the reason it was good it because it made me put on my waterproof jacket, which also stops the wind - why this is good will come abundantly clear in a moment.

When we got the call to come in that was good, as it meant they had shot their second stag and now we just needed to go collect, then we could go off home. So we went up over the ridge and found the stalker, or rather 'Poppy' came back up to the ridge and we then spotted him. Ronnie then took Sim down to collect the stag that they had shot there. As that one was loaded 'Poppy' came back and instructed me to follow him to go and collect the first one they had shot. This I happily did.This is also where the waterproofs came in handy. 'Poppy' asked me to give him a hand to get the stag up on to the saddle, no big deal, except once we had lifted it half way it needed a good shove. At this point I adjusted my hand hold and shoved... at the stag was already gutted it has a cut running from neck, through the belly to the back end, whilst I was shoving at the front end my hand slipped into the neck cut and opened it up spilling blood all down my right hand side! One bonus, it was warm! So now I had become part of a tradition dating back well over 200 years of helping to bring the stags down from the hills using horses.

Now it was the trip down. Between the trip up, sitting around in the cold, more going up, more sitting in the cold, my knee was really starting to come into its own and was certainly reminiscing me constantly that it was there. We did still make reasonable time down though and certainly as fast as we could whilst having to keep re-adjusting the straps that were holding the stags on as they move when the horses are climbing down.

When we got to the bottom I was relieved and by the time the stags were taken off the horses and we returned the horses to their pen my knee was giving me serious reminders with every step, so I was more than happy to be given the chance to sit down in the Land Rover for the trip back to Deanich Lodge.

Chris and the other volunteers were already back at the lodge, so there was a fire burning in the lounge, however, the boiler was not yet started, so I made that a priority - I needed a bath to relax! Once the boiler was lit I helped Carol with tea - we had mini kiev's, chips, carrots and leek with ham.

After tea, I made a call home (no one there), had a bath (during which they called back), called home again and chatted for a while, then watched an episode of 'Firefly' with the other lads on DVD. Following that I typed up these notes and now it is 22:15 and very definitely time for bed... here's hoping for another good day tomorrow.

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