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The long journey home with Nigel taking the wheel for the entire journey, we patched up our quarrels of yesterday and made good company for the long drive back.
I gave my girls each a present that I had bought from Caithness Glass; Debbie a sculpture of Harvest Mice, Della one of Field Mice and, for Diana, a rose bowl as a pre-birthday present.
They also found my decoys and duck-calls fascinating, the former ending up in the swimming pool and the latter in use as they ran around the house pretending to be geese and duck
I stayed up until nearly midnight preparing and packing my things for the journey home and then we had a 5.00am call with the aim of getting away half an hour later. In fact, it was 6.00am before we left but this was still very good going because I had clothes, equipment and then the antlers, frozen and fresh game to protect and get aboard the Range Rover. Nigel took the wheel for the entire journey, despite my offers to help, but we patched up our quarrels of yesterday and made good company for the long drive back. We stopped three times and were back in Paxton before 5.00pm, unloading as the girls got back from a trip to the cinema.
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Relaxing with a long lay in and then shopping at Wick with a visit to the Caithness glass factory and then evening shooting geese at Thormaid after an altercation with visiting shooters.
I discussed the fishing in the White Loch with Ian McGregor before I retired, and he could be interested in letting it from and from me.
I had a long lay in this morning and then sorted out the things in my room before breakfast. I chatted to Mrs McGregor about all and sundry and then borrowed one of their bird books to identify our geese from yesterday. Nigel had all of his geese to prepare but baulked after one because of the feather volume and effort and so wanted to go out, necessitating me dropping my journal etc and going out with him. We went first to Thurso where Nigel got some cartridges at Alan Brookes' shop and I bought some camouflage netting to improve the performance of the hide. Then in Wick we spent a long time at the Caithness Glass factory where I bought sculptures of a field mouse and harvest mouse for the girls and a rose bowl for Diana. The sports shop sold me some Eley No3 cartridges and Nigel some No2 Winchester ones and then, after lunch in town, we came back to the hotel where I wrote up this last three days' journal and Nigel had to come to terms with his geese.
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The morning shooting with Nigel having fun and then this evening bagging geese at Thormaid as I tired of Nigel’s selfishness and unfortunately could not disguise it before Chris Ross delivered our trophies. To bed weary after a trying day
Another nice breakfast and then to Thormaid after grouse and snipe. I had my normal trouble with Nigel who was walking ahead, taking no notice of where I was and preferring his own sport. His skill gave him another snipe at long range which was a good shot but all I got was a boot-full of water for my pains. We had our packed lunch and then went to Thurso to do some shopping for decoy, a goose call and other odds and ends. Back to try out the goose shooting at Thormaid where we both had success, our decoys and my calling attracting a flight of White-Fronted Geese with me bagging a young one and Nigel an adult. (I was to find out later after returning to England that these were a protected species north of the border!).
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After a lay in and a fine breakfast, the morning shooting at Thormaid and then later stalking Sika Stags near Lairg with Ranger Malcolm as weather had turned nasty, blowing a gale and pouring with rain,
We could take a little lay in this morning after the early exertions of the last few days. Back to our fried breakfast in the hotel and then off to Thormaid to shoot the snipe and grouse. Nothing for me but Nigel bagged a snipe before we went off to Lairg for our appointment at the Fountain Forestry offices where we met up with game-keeper Malcolm for a late afternoon and evening stalking Sika stags. Also, the chance to get an update from my forester on some queries that I had raised with him on Monday. It seems that they were not expecting two of us and so Malcolm went off to get another rifle and, once we had driven to the plantation, Nigel took a "High Seat" whilst I went off with Malcolm.
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