Milkman delivers final carton of milk after 49 years

Robert Ross has lived his life to the staccato chink of glass milk bottles and the soft thud of a plastic carton on a doorstep at dawn.

Step out on a dark morning and the world is misty magic.

"You might come upon a badger waddling up the roads, foxes on the prowl or whole families of hedgehogs," he said.

Winters can be punishing, dark and cold but summer sunrise is bright and beautiful as a Sunday School hymn.

On Saturday, after nearly 50 years delivering milk up and down the back roads of County Antrim, Robert hung up the keys of his lorry for the last time.