Gurkhas in the Mist: a coast-to-coast walk across the Highlands

GURKHAS IN THE MIST

A coast-to-coast walk across the Highlands

John Archibald

Copyright© John Russell Archibald 2012

ISBN 9781476174204

Smashwords Edition

To Karen, my rock

As I write these last words, my thoughts return to you who were my comrades, the stubborn and indomitable peasants of Nepal. Once more I hear the laughter with which you greeted every hardship. Once more I see you in your bivouacs or about your fires, on forced march or in the trenches, now shivering with wet and cold, now scorched by a pitiless and burning sun. Uncomplaining you endure hunger and thirst and wounds; and at the last your unwavering lines disappear into the smoke and wrath of battle. Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had a country more faithful friends than you.

Professor Sir Ralph Turner, MC

3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles

Contents

Chapter 1 - Acknowledgements

Chapter 2 - Lunch with the Sheriff

Chapter 3 - Into the Breach

Chapter 4 - Commando Country

Chapter 5 - Forced March

Chapter 6 - Ben Alder

Chapter 7 - Dalwhinnie to Braemar

Chapter 8 - Lochnagar and the Lord Lieutenant

Chapter 9 - Tea with Angus

Chapter 10 - Wet Socks and Coos

Chapter 11 - Edinburgh

1

Acknowledgements

The purpose of this book is to raise funds for the Gurkha Welfare Trust. I was in two minds about writing the book as I am not the first person to have led a party of Gurkha soldiers on a 200 mile trek, coast to coast across the highlands of Scotland from Mallaig to Stonehaven in aid of the Gurkha Welfare Trust. Neil Griffiths, PR Officer of the Poppy Appeal Scotland and the Royal British Legion Scotland did it for the first time in 2001, then again in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Nor would I be the first person to have written a book about it. Neil, a professional writer and journalist, authored ‘Gurkha Highlander’ after the 2001 walk, and a very good book it is too. Buy it. Having dallied, swithered and mulled however I realised that, although comparisons might be odious, the only issue here was raising funds for the Gurkha Welfare Trust. That being the case, I had no right not to write the book. Thank you for buying it.

The GWT exists to support aged Gurkhas who would not otherwise receive a full Army pension or who have fallen on hard times. Over 112,000 thousand Gurkhas fought on our side during World War II and in many other battles since, but if a Gurkha’s period of service lasted less than 15 years they were not entitled to an Army pension. As a result many of these old soldiers rely solely on the monthly stipend they receive from the Gurkha Welfare Trust to survive. As well as providing financial support, the Gurkha Welfare Trust supports a number of projects aimed at alleviating the plight of old Gurkhas and their communities, recent examples including the provision of solar powered torches and radios, water supply projects, and medical support.

The Gurkha Welfare Trust desperately needs more money as it is facing new challenges on all sides, including the welfare of elderly Gurkhas now resident in the UK. This will require a significant increase in fund raising efforts. This is a debt of honour that must be repaid and while it is gratifying that recent change to Gurkhas’ conditions of service accept this fact, this does not however affect those aged Gurkhas that are the focus of the Gurkha Welfare Trust’s support.

If you wish to accompany us step by step on our trek across Scotland in the pages that follow you will need 6 maps; the Ordnance Survey Landranger series, 1:25,000, map numbers 33, 41, 42, 43 44 and 45. The Ordnance Survey is a national treasure and no other country has a comparable resource. In some Asian countries of my acquaintance you still need written permission to buy a map. If, like me, you are a map freak and could spend an evening poring over a map for no other reason than sheer pleasure, then you are in for a treat.

I owe a huge thank you to Temple Melville, Deputy Chairman of the Gurkha Welfare Trust in Scotland, who led the pre-walk PR and marketing effort that was essential in raising awareness of, and funds from, our walk. He also dealt with the consequent deluge of cheques and thank you letters. For the eight days of the walk he acted as driver, my room mate and personal orderly, and the team’s general factotum. He did an outstanding job, apart from the snoring, has a certificate to prove it, and in the event that his property empire collapses in the credit crunch he will doubtless find gainful employment as a chauffeur for some recently retired (fired?) banker.

John Aitkin of Hawick, an ex-KOSB was the then Honorary Treasurer of the Gurkha Welfare Trust Scottish Branch and it was John’s meticulous accounting that kept the books ship shape and Bristol fashion.

Jeffrey Clark of that ilk provided the hire van that carried us to and from the day’s treks.

Alastair Greenlees of Scotrail provided us with train tickets for the return trip from Spean Bridge to Corrour; Bruce Watt ferried us across Loch Nevis on his vessel Western Isles to our start point at Inverie; none of them wanted a penny for it. Bless you all.

I am indebted to John Lang and Jonathan Harris for accompanying me on some of my longer training walks and to Alan McCombes for the front cover design.

I have cribbed shamelessly from Wikipedia selected background facts and historical references regarding our route and other related facts. I make no apology for this. My father told me never to bark if you had a dog, and as faithful old Wiki has previously barked up these particular trees most assiduously I was not about to risk terminal hoarseness.

I owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to my Gurkha friends and partners on this venture – Captain (now Major) Rajen Gurung, Cpl (now Sgt, retired) Dugendra Prasad Tamang, L/Cpl Lalbahadur Limbu, Rfn Kalbahadur Pun, Rfn Arjun Malla and Spr now (LCpl) Rajiv Chhetri. To have the opportunity of trekking coast to coast across the purple, heather-clad highlands of Scotland in mid-summer (not that you would have noticed it was summer on some days), with six of the toughest, cheeriest, happiest and most grounded men you could hope to meet, and in so doing raising much needed funds for such a worthy cause, was a unique, inspiring and humbling experience. I will never forget it. If the rest of the Brigade of Gurkhas is like them, the Brigade is in good hands. Dhanyabad sathi haru.

Finally and most importantly, sincere thanks are due to the great Scottish public, and to those beyond Scotland’s borders, who responded magnificently and with heartfelt generosity. Many times we were stopped along the way by the local folk to press a banknote or cheque into our hands and to express their support for the Gurkha cause, or to share their stories or experiences of the Gurkhas from times past. It made a huge impact on the younger Gurkhas to know that they are so well respected and admired by the ordinary man in the street. During the two World Wars 43,000 young Gurkhas lost their lives. If there was a minute's silence for every Gurkha casualty from World War II alone, we would have to keep quiet for two weeks. Our aim in undertaking the walk was to help repay the debt of honour we owe to those old surviving Gurkhas who would otherwise receive no support if it was not for the Gurkha Welfare Trust. I am delighted that we made over ₤45,000, and the money is still coming in.

Please help keep it coming. Tell your friends. Ask them to tell their friends. Do it now.

Jai Mahakali, Ayo Gorkhali

Glory be to the Goddess of War, here come the Gorkhas!

2

Lunch with the Sheriff

Little did I know what I was letting myself in for when, having been wined and lunched in great style at the home of Sheriff Derrick McIntyre, the Chairman of the Gurkha Welfare Trust Scottish branch, I was quietly asked over the coffee if I would like to do ‘Neil’s walk’ in aid of the charity. As an ex-Queen’s Gurkha Engineer Officer now residing in Edinburgh I blithely agreed. I had no idea who Neil was or what his walk entailed, but I did know that Derrick had served a mean Sauvignon Blanc and it was the least I could do to repay the compliment. It subsequently transpired that Neil (Griffiths) was the Press Officer for the Royal British Legion Scotland and Poppy Scotland and that ‘Neil’s walk’ comprised a 200-mile, 8-day trek across the highlands of Scotland, coast to coast from Mallaig in the west to Stonehaven in the east. For the numerically challenged that is the equivalent of a marathon every day for 8 days.

Neil had first done what came to be called the Gurkha Highlander walk in 2001 when he led a party of five Gurkhas along the old ‘Twelve Passes’ route from Mallaig to Stonehaven in aid of the GWT. The year before he had walked the 240-mile Southern Upland Way with five Gurkhas, again in aid of the GWT, and in 2002 he had bagged the hat trick when he and his Gurkha friends walked 160 miles down the Outer Hebrides from the Butt of Lewis to the island of Barra. There followed four more Gurkha Highlander walks, but Neil hung up his boots after the 2006 walk, presumably due to exhaustion. There was no Gurkha Highlander walk in 2007.

Neil had left ‘operating instructions’ for anyone daft enough to emulate his feats of derring do, and the first action was, Choose your Gurkhas. Neil had sourced his fellow trekkers from The Queen’s Gurkha Signals and the Royal Gurkha Rifles. As an ex-Gurkha Sapper however regimental loyalty came first and so I requested three volunteers from the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers, now part of 36 Engineer Regiment based in Maidstone. In addition I requested three volunteers from the Gurkha Demonstration (Sittang) Company at Sandhurst formed from members of the Royal Gurkha Rifles.

Capt Prembahadur Ale, Gurkha Captain of 70 Gurkha Field Support Squadron, QGE and Capt Balaram Ghale, 2ic of the Sandhurst Demo Company, had arranged the volunteers, however Prem saheb subsequently emailed me to say that he was moving to another position (which he modestly omitted to inform me was Queen’s Gurkha Orderly Officer) and that his replacement as Gurkha Captain of 70 Sqn, and my contact for the trek arrangements, would be a Capt Rajen Gurung, newly returned from Afghanistan. A few weeks later Capt Rajen saheb sent me the list of names of the volunteers and imagine my surprise and delight to discover that one of the volunteers was none other than the Gurkha Captain himself. There is nothing like pulling rank when it comes to volunteering!

Three months later the Memsaheb and I were standing on platform 19 at Waverly station awaiting the arrival of my new colleagues in arms. I had called Rajen a couple of hours earlier to make sure they had all caught the train from London. The three train tickets we had sent to 70 Sqn by recorded delivery had not arrived; well, they had, because the Royal Mail said they had, but for some reason they hadn’t reached Rajen saheb who had consequently arranged rail warrants for himself and his two QGE colleagues. I had said not to worry, all six seats were reserved, so just walk up the train until you see three other Gurkhas with three empty seats beside them, as all the seats had been booked together. Raven however had sounded a bit put out.

No seats, saheb.

The QGE wallahs had fought their way up the crowded train, but when they found their fellow Gurkha Highlanders-to-be they found that only two had found (non-adjacent) seats and one was sitting on the floor. Apparently the Sandhurst Gurkhas had not realised that their seats were reserved and had thrown away the ticket