Reflections of conflict (Day 491)

Another reasonably pleasant morning wander up the hill this morning through the puddles left by heavy overnight rain.
At home I had a couple of bits of paperwork to deal with and then my beautiful wife and I found ourselves free for the day. We decide to head down the barriers to have a look at the Balfour and Hoxa Head batteries. Both were built to protect the entrance to Scapa Flow through Hoxa Sound. We have visited both the batteries before, but this time found that the roofs of the gun pits at Hoxa have been brought down. It is a shame to see them partly demolished but it was done in the interests of safety. I took loads of photographs whilst the dogs raced around exterminating rabbits. It was quite sad to see the majority of the rabbits suffering from myxomatosis, but at least the dogs put them out of their misery quickly and efficiently.
I managed to stop the dogs spoiling the reflections in this searchlight position by paddling in the water. But had to fiddle about a bit to get the right amount of fill in flash whilst still leaving it all looking a bit grim and dingy.
After the wander at the battery we stopped off at the Sands of Wright and decided to follow the map on the signpost in the car park - a 3.5 mile circular route. My GPS tells me it was a little over 4 miles, and that in total we have walked nearly 8 miles today. The dogs are exhausted.
It has been a very good day.