IN THE FIRING LINE

 Quite appropriately, the March walk was military in nature. It involved a trek along and around the firing ranges at Fort George. Neither us, nor the Pollocks, could be there, but that didn't seem to hold the rest of them back. Of course, our absence had nothing to do with the possibility of finding live ordnance or suddenly finding that the squaddies needed some extra target practice.

Here they are forming a line in the car park at Fort George. From my days in the ATC, the Flight Sergeant would have been shouting bad words at the straggling nature of the line and the lack of dressing to the right. Apart from Charlie, they all could do with getting their hair cut as well.

It was a beautiful day as they marched off into the wide blue yonder.

It was at this point that Jimmy explained all the hazards that they might face on this operation and they were told that anyone who didn't want to continue wouldn't be thought a coward, honest!

Some of those hazards were listed on the map. I do hope that Jimmy had a written copy of his risk assessment, just in case.

You could, for instance, be subject to ambush by troops who's position might not be obvious - the whole point of a good ambush, I would have thought.

Sudden noises were possible - at our age, that is an occupational hazard.

Don't touch anything suspicious objects as they might explode and harm you - I assume that might include lunch.

Give way to military vehicles - especially big, huge tanks.

Don't go on to the firing range when the red flags are flying - remember the walk leader was Jimmy, who is colour blind!

So concerned was Charlie about the whole liability thing, that he was careful to point out exactly who it was that had brought them on this perilous perambulation.

It wasn't long before they came to the first firing range. There are 12 individual target stations. So, thought I, why is that? Is 12 a magic number of some sort, like men in a platoon or a squad. I wish I hadn't asked myself that question. 

Firstly, it depends on which army you are talking about and whether it might be a NATO member or not. It also depends when the range was built as the number of men in a section changed over the decades. Suffice to say that a section is between 8 and 20 soldiers and they might have a variety of armaments and jobs. The permutations seem to be almost endless. In essence, there are 12 stances in this range, just because. OK?

Naturally, there was a troop shelter next to the range. It doesn't look too substantial to me, but what do I know?

There was also a target shed. It didn't look as if the soldiers were any good at the shooting thing, because there were no holes in the target shed.

It was nice to see that they were politely asked to keep things tidy and put the targets back the way they found them

Now, Hugh sent me the photos for the blog, for which I am very grateful. However, I don't know why he thought this particular shot of a road junction added much to the story. Just saying!

Jimmy about to shoot his pretend rifle. You can never take the little boy out of the man. Either that, or he was about to launch into a short pole dancing routine.

Even more weirdly, it looks like Pam is shooting an obeisant Jacque with her walking pole.

Pam seems remarkably at ease following her gratuitous act of violence. Maureen seems happy to be there as well. Then I realised that this was the troop shelter. They were clearly just hanging around waiting for a young man in uniform to pass by.

Sure enough, one turns up after Maureen had gone and Jacque had recovered from her punishment at the hands of Pam. Looks like the perfect man - easy to handle, has a nice long pole and doesn't answer back.

Don't pick it up whatever you do. Remember the safety briefing from before.

Aye, right!

Is this something to do with P&O Ferries?

A group photo and they are all looking more or less at the camera and they even seem to be very happy in the sunshine.

An obstacle course, I presume. I've never quite got the point of these particular obstacles. Clearly, you can just walk round the side of the wall. Why would you clamber over the ladder and present yourself at the top, where you are a much easier target for the bad guys? Does this say something about the stupidity of war?

Agnes failed to get over the wall and was not happy, even after Maureen offered her a sweetie to compensate for the disappointment!

Jacque giving Jimmy a hand to get his leg over. Not for the first time, by the look of it.

They all seemed to revert to childhood at the sight of the swings in the playpark!

A lorry flying over the top of a tank. Just another snapshot of the happenings outside Kyiv, perhaps.

This is what happens when you don't wash your car once a month.

 It looks like something that Charlie might be able to rescue, though.

Nobody looking at the camera. A perennial problem on these walks.

I guess they were all distracted by the thought of some lunch!

But, first, they had to walk along the beach.

They were getting closer.

And closer.

Then, they were there.

It was a lovely spot for a picnic, with some great views across the Firth.

At last they were on their way back towards Fort George. Pam was particularly happy - more soldiers, and I want one this tall.

Soon they were back at the fort, which is one of the finest examples of this type of fortification in Europe. It was designed to be provisioned from the sea if it was ever under siege. It never was attacked as, by the time it was built the Jacobites were long gone as a rebellious force.

It was announced in 2016 that it would close as a barracks, with the then defence minister tactfully pointing out that it was not needed as the Highland rebellions were over.

The little tower in the middle of the picture is called a bartizan and they were designed to give sentries a line of sight in two or more directions. That's why you find them at the corners of fortresses.

After all their military adventure, it was only fitting that they went to the Gun Lodge in Ardersier for tea and cakes. The Gun Lodge was originally called Cromal Lodge after the hill behind. The original lodge was built after Fort George and functioned as stables and housing for high ranking officers from the fort. Ardersier is named from the Gaelic - ard meaning high, ros, meaning promontory and iar meaning west - so, high western promontory. It was also called Campbelltown after the local landowners, the Campbells of Croy.

Don't they look cosy and happy to be eating cake?

Perhaps not quite so cosy were Susan and Robin in snowy Cappadocia in central Turkey celebrating Susan's 65th birthday

Many thanks to all for the photographs. It looks like everyone had a good time while we entertained family at home celebrating Sharon being quite old.

Yes, really, that old.