Adventurer Diana’s latest trip

15 February 2012 - by JOANNE FLEMING

INTREPID traveller Diana Gleadhill isn’t afraid of a challenge. The Killinchy adventurer is already author of the acclaimed Kamchatka: a journal and guide to Russia’s land of ice and fire, and having set Central Asia in her sights, the result is her latest travel publication Our Fiery Hearts.

A personal account as opposed to the traditional travel guide, the book’s subtitle ‘Lust For Knowing What May Not Be Known’ sums up Diana’s motivation — at a time of life when most people are happily considering a quiet retirement.

In 2009, Diana’s enticing story of her treks through the Kamchatka peninsula of Eastern Russia lifted the lid on an area that has only been accessible to the world since the end of the Soviet era.

Diana, and her school friend Elise Coburn, then well into their sixties, hiked across active volcanoes and competed with bears for Sockeye salmon among their many adventures.

Elise returned for the Central Asia trip, which took in Uzbekistan to Tajikistan, after a previous tantalising glimpse was halted by civil war in the area.

“I was always a bit intrigued by central Asia,” said Diana. “It was so interesting and historical, we thought we will definitely come back.”

Having worked as a professional librarian before becoming a graphic artist, Diana is driven by her natural curiosity and sense of adventure — having explored places as diverse as Kenya and South America as well as Central Asia and the Kamchatka Peninsula

“The book is just about our travels,” she said. “We are both elderly Elise and I, we are not young women.”

Our Fiery Hearts includes deions of the Ancient Silk Road, the Akhal Teke horse breed of Turkmenistan and the lives of the people of the High Pamirs, Tajikistan.

It also encapsulates the acute observation and enthusiasm of Diana and Elise for the traditions and mysteries of other nations definitively contrasting with the West.

And with the countries they were visiting most definitely off the tourist trail, Diana explained that they were very much dependent on the kindness of strangers.

“I think we were amazed at the friendliness and generosity they had with so little,” she said. “We were invited into people’s homes. We were always able to get somewhere.

“We did meet a very nice Dutch couple along the way. They said ‘why are you doing this?’. We said ‘out of curiosity’.”

There were times, however, when both Diana and Elise questioned their self-confidence and sense of adventure.

“Quite frequently we thought this was not a good idea towards end of stay in Tajikistan,” said Diana. “The people were so kind and generous but yes, for example, you were uncomfortable on the floor without anything to lean against.

“I think we really felt we were out of our depth, but then a great day would dawn bright and sunny and off you go.”

Reflecting on her two-and-a-half month trip, Diana puts her love of the unknown down to her school days.

“I had a wonderful geography teacher who didn’t suffer fools gladly, but made all these places in the world sound so interesting, it just made you feel you really wanted to go there.

“A verse by James Elroy Flecker also inspired the title of the book Our Fiery Hearts:

“‘We travel, not for trafficking alone,

By hotter winds Our Fiery Hearts are fanned.

For lust of knowing what may not be known,

We take the Golden Road to Samarkand.’”

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