Gurkha Highlander Day 2

I dropped the lads off where I had collected them the night before. They were full of glee as it wasn’t raining and there was a light wind which would keep the midges away. Today’s walk would take them on the single track road 13 miles along Loch Arkaig, then cutting past Achnacarry House to the Caledonian Canal, then a short cross country trek to Spean Bridge. 21 miles in total.
I arranged to meet them for lunch about 2-ish where they would be leaving the road to cut through.
Promptly at 2 I saw them coming towards me. I got out the van and began to walk towards them.
Suddenly I saw a twelve point stag, munching at the road side. He turned his magnificent head towards me, and watched me warily as I slowly moved past him. I kept watching but he soon started to eat again. His antlers were all in velvet and he looked every inch a Monarch of the Glen.
Unfortunately by the time the boys came up to me he had moved off, but they had seen lots of other deer en route - presumably part of his harem.
They apologised for being a little late. They had heard the sound of pipes and had gone to investigate. They found an English lady who had been coming to the area for 40 years and had recently come permanently. She adored the pipes and played every day at her front door, the notes floating around the glen and across the loch. Once she found out what the boys were doing her husband was produced along with chequebook, and the boys were sent on their way with a handsome cheque and a skirl of the pipes.
One of the boys had been wearing his army boots, which were almost new. A mere 10 miles had reduced them to nothing, and he had taken them off in disgust and walked barefoot on the verge the rest of the way. He told me that the equipment they were issued with now was so bad they generally bought their own. He had brought these with him as a spare pair.
I left them as I was collecting a reporter from the Sunday Times.
The boys made their way into the Cameron Museum, where they were given free entry, and various people at the museum pressed money into their hands.
The reporter duly arrived and I took him up to the Commando memorial to wait for the lads arrival. We chatted about the Welfare Trust in general, and about the British love affair with the Gurkhas which has endured for over 200 years. One of the occasions we discussed was the Indian Mutiny of 1857. The Gurkhas were the only - the only - local regiment that remained loyal to the British, and naturally they were lauded to the skies in the papers of the day. That’s just one reason they are known as “Bravest of the Brave, Most Loyal of the Most Loyal.”
After the interview, the boys moved on to finish at Spean Bridge for the day. After bathing and changing, we went to the Aonach Mhor Hotel for dinner. The cook there came out and told us she had a son who had been wounded and had spent three years at Woolwich Military Hospital. She couldn’t praise the staff enough, not only for their care of her son, but for the care they took of she and her husband.
“ And now they want to shut these hospitals. I just voted for the petition to keep them. I hope the people who made these cuts have children needing specialist care. No-one in government knows or cares what our lads do for us.”
Needless to say, our dinner was free, despite trying very hard to pay for it.
43 miles down about 148 to go.