On New Year's Eve, we went for a walk up Ben Stack - the local peak and one of the Grahams and not one of the official Munroes at all! This is more or less the view from the kitchen window at Stack Lodge.

Here's a picture of us all, looking very intrepid!

Here's another intrepid picture. Loch Stack can be seen in the background. Note the warm clothing - we were very glad of it later on!

This is as far as we made it - we were not really equipped for walking on ice and snow. So, we sheltered from the wind for a short while for refreshments, and then went back down.

Michael and Caroline in the pub on New Year's Eve. Oh dear...

Later in the trip, we had a practice session of clay pidgeon shooting. Scott (who is Michael's cousin, and is employed on the Duke's estate) showed us how it was done. I'm operating the remote control (Pull) which fires the target.

Scott carefully helped the kids to have a go. First, Becky.

Sebastian's turn. The kick from a standard shotgun is a bit much for children (under-14's in competitions usually use a 20-gauge gun), but Scott used his semi-automatic, where some of the recoil is absorbed by the mechanism which ejects the spent cartridge and loads the next.

Even Tracey had a go!

And finally, me. I'm using a standard side-by-side double-barrelled gun, which I very much prefer. In later years, I've had some success at the yearly (Duke of Westminster's Estate) shoot with this gun.

The building in the background is Stack Lodge itself. We're in the gravelled drive at the front!