Gurkha Highlander - Day 6

We had a leisurely breakfast at Mary Morgan’s , but I managed to get the boys walking by 09:35 back at Victoria Bridge. This wasn’t helped by a a digger appearing just as we were about to leave and parking in the middle of the road. Mary kindly gave us directions to get out at the other end of the road. It was a dry day with a light breeze. The midges, which had been almost unbearable in the far west ( even with midge nets on) had slowly eased off the further East we went,and by Royal Deeside they were not at all troubling. It was almost as if the Royal family had some secret weapon to keep them away.
My first job was to check if a particular bridge was there and meet up with the walkers at 10:30 before they were committed to a particular path, just in case it was down. Fortunately it was solid, and I duly reported back at RV1 which was at the Braemar Golf Club. The lads walked on and I went into Ballater once more.The boys were climbing Lochnagar behind Balmoral - a hard slog both up and down.
One of the commissions I had was to buy some chillies. There had been none at the hotel the night before, and so I went in search of some in Ballater. Duly acquired, more bananas and isotonic drinks were needed too.
I did a recce of RV2, which was at Spittal of Glenmuick. This is deep in Balmoral Estate, and has a well presented information centre and various necessary facilities. On the way in is a stone tablet, commemorating the Gordon Highlanders meeting up with Queen Victoria in 1899. You can feel the honour and pride in the wording, and the pathos in the final lines which mention that they embarked for South Africa and the Boer War shortly thereafter, and the Colonel and many men perished there.
Walker John texted me from the summit of Lochnagar to tell me that there was a 50 mph wind and it was freezing. I stayed where I could get a signal just in case there were any more, but the only call was from Susan at the Inver Hotel. She had decided to substitute apple crumble for ice cream - something that would bring joy to Walker John, who had tried to get a crumble or a pie all week. Everywhere we had been it was on the menu, but never available.
The plan had been to meet up with Mrs. Lear and the Chairman of the Gurkha Welfare Trust and his wife at the Royal British Legion at Banchory, where we were due to stay, but the late start and the injury to a knee of one of the boys meant that the walkers didn’t get off the hill until 6:30 ( two hours late). As a result we decided to go straight to the Inver Hotel, where our dinner was waiting.
As we drove up Colonel Rose, an ex-Gurkha officer, was waiting at the door for us. The boys jumped out and they were greeted in Gurkhali - the Colonel had been a career officer for 30 years so spoke it well. As they went in, his grandsons played the bagpipes most excellently, and the walkers were clapped in by the assembled guests. Angus Farquharson, Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, greeted them, and after the boys had cleaned up a bit we all sat down to another excellent meal. At the end of it, Walker John gave a short speech, I received a cheque, and then the Gurkhas started singing some of their marching songs - which the Colonel joined in enthusiastically. He then took to the pipes himself, playing stirring tunes which brought whoops from the boys - they were Ghurka battle tunes. His grandsons played a tune or two, and then, sadly, it was time to leave.
When we got to the RBL just before 11pm, there was huge party in full swing. We were warned that the band had pyrotechnics and as a result the fire alarm would go off a couple of times around midnight. The RBL at Banchory is one of only two RBL clubs in Britain which have rooms - the other is at Turriff, not that far from Banchory.
We were all fast asleep when the first “BLEEP” hit us - and the next and the next, for about 10 minutes. Fortunately it finally stopped and we all groaned and turned over.
I annoyed Walker John by NOT snoring - as he said, if I was snoring he could tell me to wake up. Unfortunately I was just doing the odd grunt, so he felt he couldn’t wake me - but he did eventually anyway.
143 miles down, 48 to go.
I've done over 1100 in the van and probably another 450 or so to do in the next couple of days.