EDWARD PLOUGHED THROUGH THE pungent fragrance of humus, rotten vegetation, sodden logs and moss-covered rocks on a pathway that was deceivingly simple and straightforward at first. The footpath challenged his mettle as it snaked, twisted and turned, rising sharply one minute, plunging the next and banking steeply to the right and then to the left as it followed the river’s course. While en route, he had found an acceptable walking stick, and now he used it to brace himself against the path’s ...