‘God, you must be a couple of pansies,’ said Thesiger.

A Short Walk… is the story of a couple of ill-equipped, frightfully British chaps who decided they wanted to climb a remote, as-yet-unconquered peak in the north-east of Afghanistan. The quote above is the final line of the book, uttered by famed explorer Wilfred Thesiger, whom they encounter on their return from their adventure, who catches them in the act of inflating their air-beds.

Whilst their inexperience and naivety leads, as expected, to all manner of difficult and dangerous situations, the story is told with quintessentially British humour and wit. Infinitely readable and most enjoyable, it played right into my current, and bewildering, fascination with Afghanistan. Tragically, whilst reading I attempted to track Newby and Carless’ journey around the Panjshir Valley and through Nuristan on Google Maps, with the help of the crude maps included at the end of the book which, whilst not always successful, made the stories a touch more real and tangible.

If either travel writing or Afghanistan is your thing, read this book.

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush – Eric Newby