Friday December 28

It is a bit warmer today but I still slept with lots of layers on last night and I am managing to survive on “Rat Packs” – what the troops call the ration packs.

I hear a massive explosion in Musa Qala DC. It was probably detonated, in a controlled way, but the Taliban do seem determined to regain the town and the explosion must have been a big one because it was heard from about 7km away.

There is a flight out today fingers crossed I am on a Chinook at 2pm. I am really feeling that I need to get back – not least for a shower as I have not washed properly for four days, but that is life in the desert.

I am glad of my Shemagh, AKA the desert scarf, because it is so versatile and helps keep the dust at bay.

I get onto the Chinook which landed amid the usual “Brown Out” or dust cloud thrown up by the rotor blades.

It is a juddering flight and it feels like the aircraft will rip itself apart at any second. However, it is an RAF flight with a very English crew – complete with ham sandwiches and a flask of tea.

We land at Bastion after a short flight and we are back to civilisation and a hot shower – I can’t remember when I last enjoyed a shower so much. 

The evening meal is a curry prepared by Ghurka chefs which is wonderful after four days on Rat Packs.

If I am being honest it was at this point, or maybe a day or two earlier, that I realised that I had completed what I needed to be done and I was tired and needed to return home. I think the whole trip had culminated when I managed to get to Musa Qala on Xmas Day.