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Gurkha Reiver
Neil Griffiths
Commended by Joanna Lumley
ISBN 0954441605 pbk£10.99 £5.00
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The Southern Upland Way
Opened in 1984, the Southern Upland Way is Britain’s first coast-to-coast long-distance trail. It cuts across the grain of the land from Portpatrick in the south east to Cockburnspath on the North Sea, forcing the walker to take a path corrugated with ridges and valleys. Don’t be misled by the term ‘Lowlands’. Here are the imposing Lowthers with Scotland’s highest village, the Galloway Hills and the rolling Lammermuirs. The 212 mile/340km route sweeps across the country presenting a new landscape every day, from rough grazing to forests, from farmland to moorland, and, of course, from coastline to coastline.
About the Book
When Neil Griffiths, a 43 year old press officer, recruited four serving Gurkhas to trek the route as a fundraiser for the Gurkha Welfare Trust, he had no idea that the guidebooks had declared it not ‘really charity walk terrain’. It was too long, and too tough. Neither was he aware that young Gurkhas from the high Himalayas would provide such merry company, although the premonition that their startling fitness would lead to total humiliation was hilariously vindicated as they left him gasping on every false horizon between Wigtownshire and Berwickshire.
Three of the men came from the Everest area and the fourth from Annapurna. These are not the type of men to whom you say ‘there’s a big hill ahead’ without meeting wry smiles. Their 140 per minute pace was so bone shaking that Neil couldn’t feel his feet for a full month afterwards. ‘I’ve met others who have completed the route since, and they are open-mouthed that we did it in eight-and-a-half days, especially as we had to stop nearly every evening at about five to attend various fundraising functions,’ said Neil.
The author weaves into the story the links with the Gurkhas, who have served the British for nearly two hundred years. ‘They don’t just wear the tartan, play the pipes and have a shared history – but they’re Highlanders too.’ The peculiar Gurkha outlook on life brought about its own problems. If a Gurkha asked you, what’s this Hotel Mike Victor, would you known what he meant? Answer: HMV! And how long would it take you to realize what he was talking about when he declares that ‘England was a colony of France’? The Norman Conquest!
Gurkha Reiver is an entertaining account of a group that get to know Scotland the hard way, on foot, but also highlights the ways of the wee men from Nepal. Despite his humorous tenor, Neil has the deepest respect for what he calls ‘our oldest and best allies’. This book explains why.
About the author
Neil Griffiths is a former soldier and Fleet Street journalist. He has written for The Guardian, The Scotsman, The Glasgow Herald, The Sunday Post, The Glasgow Evening Times, The Edinburgh Evening News and many magazines. Griffiths is perhaps best known as the press officer for the Scottish Poppy Appeal, The Royal British Legion and the Gurkha Welfare Trust. He is editor of the Royal British Legion Scotland’s journal, The Scottish Legion News.
Comments
Joanna Lumley, although an acclaimed actress, she is better known in some Nepalese circles as the daughter of Major James Lumley, a famous Gurkha officer and Chindit. She says: ’The funniest book I’ve read about the modern Gurkha – excellent!’