Week -1 Bulgaria

Right! Visa all sorted at some considerable expense and a lengthy trip to the Indian Embassy in Sofia.   All set for the big day.
Last minute stresses and strains over walking along Indian roads. The few people I've had contact with regarding my trip have, to a man, said that walking along Indian roads is sheer folly. To be fair, the entire idea is sounding more and more like folly and this unanimous feedback has got me more than a little nervous.
In fact, I have this very day done a load of research online, and outside of my historical references, almost all of the towns and villages along my route have next to no internet returns whatsoever. I'm beginning to think this will be a pretty much impossible journey. But I'm going to give it a go anyway.
I ought at this point give credit to Alistair Humphreys and his excellent book, 'There Are Other Rivers'. It provided, not the inspiration for travel in India, but the inspiration to travel outside of the envelope on a journey that has some personal substance. The chosen country of our respective journeys just happened to coincide. His trip was an epic 600 miler. Mine barely compares in scale ....but then I'm older than Alistair, way less experienced in rucksack travel, and carrying a bit more timber, and enjoy sleeping rough less than he. Still, my own trip is a challenge for those very reasons. Anyway, I'd recommend his book as a great lesson in what devil-may-care determination can achieve. I have a sneaking feeling that the final post of my blog will be retracting every syllable of the above.

Incidentally, I have figured out that my 150 mile trip is nothing of the sort. 150 miles is what Google Maps calculated by quickest route, and I'm doing the slowest route. So expect a 200 mile or so final tally and 15 days-ish, not 10.

Lastly, my training has, belatedly, begun. A reduction in alcohol consumption pre-trip is my chief achievement and I have at least tried on my hiking sandals after two years of hibernation, although stress testing them by actually walking is a task as yet undone. Bah! It'll be fine.

HISTORICAL NOTE:

It has already been pointed out to me that 'The Indian Mutiny' is an Anglicism. It's how the conflict is remembered in British history. I understand that in India and presumably elsewhere, it is often remembered as 'India's First War of Independence', and that's completely fine by me. Although it appears to have lots of names/challenges to those names depending on ones heritage and outlook. It's a bit late to change the name of the blog now, plus I'm British and using 'The Indian Mutiny' is, I hope, understandable on that basis. It isn't meant to suggest a sympathy with one lot or the other. I'm interested in the history of the affair, not persuading anyone to pick a side. Where I can, I will present any commentary in neutral tomes. It is fair to say that my sources are near contemporary and full of bias (towards the British). I will need therefore to apply a critical eye to the texts and interpret where appropriate. If I get it wrong, I apologise in advance and will make edits if anyone wishes to correct me on the facts of the matter.

Week -2 Bulgaria

Okey-doke. All packed an ready to go. As you can see, it didn't take long.

4 pairs of pants, 4 T-shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and a thermal top that I hope won't be seeing the light of day at any stage whatsoever. Assorted survival gear including the eponymous spork, a fire starter (that will no doubt be impounded at airport security), a mess tin containing a mess of string, matches (let's be honest, the fire starter is only for show), water purification tablets (that I will only remember when I'm already dancing the Mumbai Mambo no doubt), and a British Army camp stove (for when I've strangled a cobra with my string and fancy a roadside BBQ. ...I assume it tastes like chicken.) Toothbrush, toothpaste, loo roll and miniature CK One phial comprises the toiletry set.
No biscuits, no Marmite, and crucially, no tea bags on this occasion. If India can't furnish me with a brew every 3 miles or so, then I'll be starting my own little mutiny on the spot. So the point is, no luxuries allowed. I need to keep the weight down to a bare minimum to give me the best chance of not giving up 5 miles in and completing the tour by taxi. That said, I MIGHT complete the tour by taxi if it all gets a bit much, but I won't be admitting that in public. I'll simply lie and say that I did it all on foot as planned.


HISTORICAL NOTE:

It is sometimes rather simplistically claimed that the Indian mutiny was caused by the issuing of new rifle cartridges to native troops coated in the grease of pork and beef fat. Hindu's revere the cow and Muslims consider pork unclean. Given both religions dominate Indian demographics, such a policy would be generally considered an inconsiderate act even by c.19th British standards.
Firstly, this wasn't the reason for the mutiny it seems, or at least that it was merely the spark that lit a fire already set and more than ready to catch. Feelings of resentment among Sepoys and the populous in general had been growing for some time for a number of reasons (I might touch on that in another post).
Secondly, the new cartridges, not issued at the time of the uprising, did not in fact have the grease of either animal on them. It was simply a rumour put about by those who wanted to mutiny, and I guess you can't blame them really.
Thirdly, and most importantly of all, this offers a reminder that different cultures and religions take all sorts of things very seriously, and the chances of me finding a decent ribeye or bacon sandwich to sustain me on my travels, seem very slim indeed. Morale is going to be a huge problem in India.


   

Preparation

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Well firstly, my preparation has largely consisted of going to the local bar, staring at the map of my proposed trip and wondering whether this is really a good idea to walk 150 miles in 10 days on rural tracks across India without any training or knowledge? I'm start off pretty adamant that it's a really really stupid idea. Curiously though, the more I look at the map and the more time I spend in the bar, my thoughts become more positive and I end up with the feeling 'Bah! It can't be THAT fucking difficult. Bollocks, I'm doing it.' this conclusion normally crystallises in my head scant moments before tumbling off my barstool.

To the best of my knowledge - and this comes almost exclusively from watching The Jungle Book - there are all sorts of orrible animals in India. Bengal tigers, snakes, erm... and probably some other stuff that I don't really want to try and make friends with but can't really think of right now. They have elephants and monkeys though too don't they? Something to look forward to then. I've not had any special jabs to counter any bites or the like. That's probably a mistake but it is what it is.

Everybody knows that if you eat anything in India, you get disastrously ill. This I see as being the biggest risk to completing my little stroll. Nothing causes more discomfort and misery than hiking in squelchy pants. Eating on the road is going to be a lottery and the results probably spectacular. We'll see how I get on.

Fitness doesn't really bother me. It's just walking right? I've done walking before, and never felt the need to train in order to do more of the same. True, there is the question of distance, but I've ignored that small detail throughout my planning and if I thought about it now, it would only worry me, which wouldn't help me I don't think.

I have a bit of a dilemma over accommodation. I don't think there is any. Since I'm not planning to take a tent, I'm really not sure what I'm going to do about sleeping. This I HAVE worried about, but I really don't have a solution to hand, so I'll just have to see how it goes.

You see? Absolutely nothing I haven't thought about. No stone unturned. Admittedly, I haven't actually planned ANYTHING, solved ANYTHING, have ANY plan B or back-up should anything go awry. Not my finest hour in terms of preparation to be honest. Bah! It can't be THAT fucking difficult.

I'm Going For A Walk

Well it's been a little while since I started a new blog hasn't it? It's been partly because I absolutely refuse to invest my time in writing something while not really saying anything in the process - and working on an industrial estate in Bracknell provided a dearth of rich material on which to draw. Partly because blogging provides me with a source of energy and company while travelling - and I haven't been travelling in a bit, so have needed neither of late. And partly because blogging regularly is blummin hard work at times. The constant angst about being interesting/informative/amusing in a paragraph or two, daily, can be a strain and deflect attention from the important business of travelling itself.
Anyway, that has all changed and I'm ready to take on the responsibility of a new blog once again. I've left my Bracknell 9-5, started a new life etc. etc. blah blah blah but more significantly, and the reason for this blog, am taking some time out from the new life to go on a bit of a trip. I'm going for a walk in fact.
I booked a 6 week trip to India a couple of months ago because I've never been before and I quite like curry. And it's cheap. And it's warm. Mostly. I think.

Yes I'll be doing some of the touristy stuff, yes, I'll be finding a beach at some point. And yes, I'll probably bump into some young people who are on their own voyage of discovery, wearing friendship bracelets, constantly meditating, and banging on about the injustices of the world caused mostly by their parents, then asking where the nearest Western Union is so they can get their parents to wire them some more money.

Aside from the obvious and inevitable above, I plan to spend some of my time trying to understand one of the most significant periods in Indian modern history. The Indian Mutiny of 1857. There aren't many good reasons why anyone outside of India should have a great awareness of this tumultuous event. I doubt whether more than a handful people reading this have ever heard if it before. I wonder whether Indians themselves know or take an interest in it themselves. I hope I'll find out when I'm there. The short version, is that it was the first time British rule in India had been seriously challenged. The consequences were that it changed the psyche of a people so long dominated by white Europeans, irrevocably and forever. It showed that the invincible British were anything but. It revealed, albeit dimly, a path to self-determination and ultimately independence, although that wasn't to be fully realised until 90 years after the mutiny had been put down and British dominance reinstated. But the damage to British hegemony had been done. Britons were no longer gods, or infinitely superior, in fact, many of them were complete plums. The Mutiny exposed that for the first time, and post-mutiny, time was all that Britain India had left. In summary, for India and Indians, it's a fairly important part of their history.

So as part of my trip, I'm going to retrace a few steps of the Mutiny while I'm in the neighbourhood. The idea is to walk along the Ganges(ish) for 150 miles or so over 10 days, and while I'm doing so take in 4 of the locations that at the time at least, made front page headlines. In about 10 days, I'll be walking from Farrukhabad, to Bithoor, to Kanpur and finally, Lucknow. Hopefully it will be an interesting journey. It will certainly be off the beaten track. Plus, the tale gets about as bloody and horrible as any story can get. I'll try and throw a few words about what happened as I go without it sounding like a history lesson.