Laggan Reservoir

Bob's family had a nice time in Edinburgh and collected him this afternoon.

Because he is committed to light duties he (Bob) wasn't allowed to join Caley in a wee stretch up at Laggan Reservoir. I felt dreadful putting Caley in the car and leaving Bob behind. He did get a short walk at Achaderry first thing and there was a lot of fun and a few swims there for him.

We never normally see anyone here and at the outermost point on this walk I thought I heard an engine of some sort nearby and indeed an Argo trundled out of the forest a hundred yards in front of us. An Argo is a lightweight all wheel drive off road vehicle normally powered by a torquey two cylinder Kawasaki engine.

I approached the Argo and had a wee chat with the driver. He was a stalker and had a colleague in the woods about half a mile away who had already warned him of my approach. His concern was, reasonably enough, that I didn't get in the way of a stray bullet.

The rural economy is strongly dependent upon sporting estate revenue from various types of shooting. We are right at the end of the official red deer stag shooting season. As a hill walker I keenly respect the activities of others in the mountains and many hills have restrictions during such times. My walk today was a low level one, never more than half a mile from the A86 road and I never for one moment thought that this was a stalking area.

I discussed my intended route back to the car and took direction about where not to go. To be clear the man was very polite and was entirely agreeable to my presence but he clearly took responsibility for safety seriously. He actually mentioned the "Right to Roam" rule but I would like to think that no one out there uses the clause to act without responsibility or respect to others.

Anyway, I took this fun shot of Caley and I a few minutes before the meeting and I am wondering if the stalker's mate was possibly watching this wondering what on earth we were doing.