Lieutenant Percy Etherton was stationed in remote village of Chitral, in India’s North West Frontier Province, when he decided to return home to England the long way! The young army officer set out in 1909 to reach London but only after having taken a four thousand mile equestrian detour via Kashmir, Gilgit, over the Pamir  mountains, through Chinese Turkistan, Mongolia and on into Russian Siberia, at which the intrepid Long Rider off-saddled and returned to his homeland via train and ship. He was accompanied throughout the journey by a Gahrwali tribesman named Giyan Sing. It was whilst Etherton and Sing were travelling through the seldom-explored Pamir mountains that they met local Kirghiz tribesmen. The Kirghiz were puzzled at the unexpected arrival of these stranger outsiders. Having never heard of England, the Kirghiz asked the Long Rider if his country could possibly be as large as their home there in the remote Taghdumbash Valley. Etherton explained that not only was England much bigger than their narrow valley, it was also protected by battle ships. Having never seen either the ocean or a ship, the comments of the amazed Kirghiz tribesmen can only be imagined.