My muscles were not amused. What – climb up on the hill again? You have got to be joking! And I do not think they were alone in thinking that – some County Ranger and PGL muscles were no doubt feeling pretty much the same on Sunday morning.

But climb it we did – though I was a bit later than yesterday so John, Nick and now Sean Shereston were well established and the PGL team were already hard at work by the time I arrived. Nick stopped briefly to chat to a dog walker who turned out to be one of the Commando Force who had lifted scalpings off with the SeaKing helicopter last Summer. His beautiful Dalmations found the rucksacks fascinating and it wasn’t long before one was rolling down the Horse to be rescued by a quick-footed fielder.

Today the PGL team tackled the back legs with their steep slopes and rather slippery grass. The upside of this was a boost to their party fund as each full slippage (hands down and bottom on the turf) meant a contribution of 20p. Later on I heard someone ask if it could be capped at £5!

It is fair to say that if Saturday was hard, then Sunday was even harder. Nearly every trug of spoil had to we carried or hauled up the slope and even those hauled had to be carried up the last slope to the quarry. It soon became clear that qualifying for one’s bus pass does not qualify one to be a rope man – at least not for long. The youngsters hauled with such vigour that I soon couldn’t keep up and was relegated to trug carrying. At least photography gave me some respite!

When lunchtime came, I had planned to walk home, but now my muscles took the upper hand. Instead, I sat down and enjoyed a sandwich from John (thanks John!) and the stunning view – which I can never get tired of.

The afternoon brought very welcome reinforcements from PGL – and more mattocks were needed from the Landrover. After a briefing from John, this fresh team were set to tackle the tail outline while the morning team finished off on the legs and hooves.

And then more reinforcements arrived in the form of Geoff and Christine Codd. There were only shovels to spare so Geoff grabbed one and tackled the top of the tail while Christine tackled the rump. They made excellent progress too, working faster than John and I could keep up with moving the cuttings – a job, incidentally, which might best be described as like picking up your entire drive and garden and carrying it upstairs in a suitcase……..

I took some comfort from the fact that while I felt like I was going through an accelerated aging process, many of those around me looked like they were too – even the lads on the rope. In fact when time was called, only Geoff was carrying on – he was in his element, having finally got hold of a mattock, and was carving out the Horse’s rump like an artist. We had to stop him!

And so the guys from PGL sat on the King’s body for a photo before hauling the tools up to the vehicles and walking back to the Camp.  They have set a fantastic example in this first stage of the cutting out and their work, together with the generosity of PGL, has been indelibly marked on our Dorset hillside.

And as for the muscles – well we have a pact that they get a bit of a rest until Friday – and then we start on the King’s head……….

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