HE WHO PAYS THE PIPER, HILL GET WHATEVER TUNE HE WANTS.

Sharon and I were unable to go on the June walk as we were going out for a Father's Day treat. The children and grandchildren came also, so I'm not sure how that constituted a treat!

Anyway, everybody else managed to gather outside the Cawdor Estate Office for the start of the walk on a nice sunny day.

This hasn't always been an Estate Office. It is an earlier 19th Century building that was used as an Inn and Change House. A Change House is where travellers would rest and change horses before continuing with their journey.

The porch on the front is not original. It hides the original door in the centre of the building. The porch now has a side entrance, but, the entrance to the later porch was where the pointed window is now. So there have been a few takes before we got the building we now see.

I wonder how many takes Robin had before everyone looked at the camera?

There were a few shady characters.

The estate office sits on the other side of the road from the Cawdor War Memorial.

The war memorial was unveiled in 1921. I'm sure I have described before that Cawdor and some other memorials show the end of the war as 1919 and not 1918. This is because the guns fell silent in November 1918, but the war did not officially end until the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919.

The memorial lists 38 men who fell. Two names jumped out at me - Grigor Clark and Stuart Clark. This was not so much that their surnames were the same, but that they both served with New Zealand regiments.

So, I looked them up. They were brothers and, I assume, they had emigrated to New Zealand. Both were killed in action in France. Grigor died aged 29, on Boxing Day 1916 and Stuart died on 30th August 1918 aged 35. They are buried in separate cemeteries in France. Their parents were William and Mary Clark of Lyne of Urchany, which is just nearby. 

After the memorial it was time to get going under the strict guidance of Jimmy.

It is, of course, very agricultural round these parts. Lots of fields.

If you have fields, you'll have loads of big machines.

This is a seeder. One of these would set you back £125000. Plus VAT, if you pay it. It might also count towards your inheritance tax liability! It has wheels and tyres all round so that it can deliver seed to even the steepest of hillsides.

Actually, that last bit wasn't true!

Naturally, if you are a farmer, you throw nothing away and the old machinery just sits and slowly crumbles away on your farm.

To borrow a phrase from Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps.

It isn't only crops that are grown here, there is a huge dairy industry. This is a mobile milker. The cows are hooked up to the pipes and the milk goes into the big green tank. The whole kit is then driven at varying slow speeds along narrow roads. The speed determines what happens to the milk. Depending on the speed it can end up as semi or skimmed milk. If it is really slow, with lots of cars behind, it can end up as cream or even butter.

Everyone was amazed as Dave explained the workings of all these big machines. His version of what they did, might be a bit different to mine, but mine is on the internet, so it must be true.

Dave also explained that his Uncle Archie and Aunt lived in the left hand cottage. I used to have a pretend Uncle Archie. Everybody had a pretend uncle and/or aunt. They weren't really related to you, they were family friends and everyone told you they were your auntie or uncle. Anyway, my Uncle Archie used to run the passenger ferry from Treslaig to Fort William. I don't know what Dave's Uncle Archie did.

Whatever it was, Archie and his wife are commemorated on this bench. So, Dave is sitting on a bit of family history.

As with everything the Dinosaurs do, the bar was not very high!

There does seem to have been a fair amount of standing around on this walk.

Not only standing about, but sitting around.

Not only standing about and sitting around, but lounging on bridges!

There was a bit of wildlife.

3 craws sat upon a wa'.

The horse whisperer wasn't exactly holding the horse's attention.

Agnes tried to fool the horse with an empty hand!

Susan reminded the horse that she has the biggest assets in the group!

The horse didn't think it was just as black and white as that.

Lunch at the wall seemed to cause some confusion. Finding a seat was a bit of an effort for some. Sue clearly found Charlie's seat to be of particular interest. Sandra was also having a good look at something. Pam and Hugh couldn't agree who should sit where and Maureen was wandering off without having got a seat at all. Dave didn't want a seat, Liz was wiping her seat down. Susan was looking rather stern, because Robin didn't want to sit beside her at all. The Smiths had a seat, but couldn't remember what was for lunch.

Once they finally managed to get somewhere to sit and something to eat, Jimmy pointed out something big. Robin misheard and covered up what he thought Jimmy was pointing to.

He was, in fact, pointing to the big strainer at the gate.

Confusion cleared up and off they went again, with Jimmy putting his best foot forward.

Up hill and down dale they went, making their way back to Cawdor and tea and cakes.

Like belly buttons, there were innies....

...and outies

In or out, the cakes looked pretty good.

Everybody tells me they enjoyed the walk and it certainly looked good, possibly even better than I have described it here. Well done to Jimmy and Jacque for the organisation and thanks also to Robin and Jimmy for the photos, without which, this true story would have been impossible to concoct.