And there's more.....

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After finishing our walk with 76 miles under our belts, the last thing I thought about was adding anything more to our time in Scotland. John and Clive had planned to climb Ben Nevis from the first time we started planning the trip, Dave also decided that if the visibility was good then he would give it a go. During our walk Sally decided she would like to do it. But I was thinking "blow that" (or words to that effect), I think we've done enough and deserved a rest.......

Anyway, after wandering around the shops in Fort William on the Thursday and seeing all the souvenirs of Ben Nevis and getting the atmosphere of the place, I just thought we're here, I just know I'm going to regret it if I don't give it a try. Mad or what??

So, Friday morning, we rise at 6am pick up our gear and packed lunches that we'd had prepared for us the night before by Heather (Mary Hen) and Nikki and off we went in the taxi. By "we" I mean; John, Dave, Clive, Sally, Sarah and myself. On the trip to the base I think we were all a little nervous, I know I was with butterflies in my stomach, especially when we could see how big it looked with snow all over the peak. But no turning back now.

We started our ascent at 7am, it was a beautiful morning, couldn't have asked for better. From the start it was uphill - as you'd imagine - we were climbing a mountain and not just any old mountain! The paths were fairly good, but there were lot of rocks and boulders and in some places steps and all of it was uphill!! There were no flat areas at all. All you could see infront of you was this never ending climb.

It didn't seem to take us long to reach 1000 ft and at that level I would have been happy to go back as the view was just stunning. The houses and cars were getting smaller and smaller. And we were getting hotter and hotter as we continued our climb.

We got to halfway Loch, which we had heard about and it was very pretty, it would have been nice to have had a brew and catch our breath there, but we wanted to get a little higher before we stopped.

We were met by a man who was on his way down and had started his climb at 4am that morning!! Nutter!! But having said that it must have been fantastic watching the sun climb with you. When we chose our spot to have a brew, we sat down next to two young lad who were waiting for their two friends to join them from the top. They had also had a very early start and were climbing down to be met with a cooked breakfast then getting into a car to take them to Scafell Pike in the Lake District to climb that and then were hoping to be climbing Mount Snowdonia by midnight!!!! Good luck to them I hope they made it. We were amazed to meet lots of other groups who were doing the same thing during our day.

As we continued our climb, we expected it to become colder as we could see snow up higher, but it was still very warm and we were down to short sleeves, the men in their shorts. Oh, how I wished I had mine on, but to compensate, I undid the zips down my legs. We kept stopping to get our breath and marvelling at the views around us, they were just unbelievable. We could see lots of other people climbing up behind us as we looked down. It was amazing to see the amount of people along the paths.

We had to walk up quite a bit of snow at one point quite near the top which was great. And it was proper snow not like the slush we normally get at home. As we were getting closer and closer to the top we were all getting really excited to think how far we had climbed, especially looking down behind us, it was making my legs go to jelly. As we were heading for the finish, we met two guys with two dogs, one of them being carried as she had hurt her leg quite badly. We all said that was going to be real tough carrying a dog down like that, it wasn't a small dog either, it was a retriever or similar.


The top was in our sights now and we all walked in a line together to reach it. We had completed the ascent in 3 and a half hours!!!and had stopped to get a brew on as well!!!!. The estimated time is 5 hours, so we were dead chuffed!!! It was a great feeling. The summit was covered in snow and we were still in our short sleeves. We had a wander around gasping at the views all around us. It was like looking out of a plane window. We were 4,406 ft above sea level. We could see a couple of Lochs and lots of mountain ranges. It was breathtaking!!

We set up camp and put on a brew and sat and had our lunch just enjoying the experience. We sat there for about an hour before deciding to make our way down. I think we would have stayed longer if so many more people weren't arriving. It was incredible how many people there were!

For me, the climb down was much more difficult as my knees seized up on me. Dave and I told the others to go on ahead and descend at their own speed and meet us at the botton at The Ben Nevis Inn. We met streams of people on their way up, some of them really unprepared and it made you really worried for them. No water, wrong footwear, wrong clothing, etc. We had heard that 3 people had been airlifted from Ben Nevis the week before because they had got into difficulties from not being prepared. You really do need to be prepared for all eventualities. We all had lots more clothes in our bags, including waterproof coats and leggings that we didn't need to use. But you never know, the weather can turn in an instant and you'd be in real trouble if you didn't carry them.

The views coming down were even more breathtaking as they were in your sights the whole time and not just because you had stopped to take a look behind you. It took an awful long time before you thought you were getting any closer to the ground below you.

John, Clive, Sally and Sarah made the descent in 2 and a half hours and we were an hour behind them. But I still feel really pleased with myself and very glad that I decided to climb "The Ben" because I really would have regretted it.

The whole climb, up and down added another 10 miles onto our weeks walking, so we all did really well.

Watch this space for more adventures!!!

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Photos

Ben Nevis Base
Rearing to go in order
John Sally Clive Sarah Ang Dave

John and Clive
Snow we had to climb up

The Summit
At last!

Get back from the edge!!!
Sarah marvelling at the views

Had to be done...
The flag was too precious to leave there

Here we go
Getting ready for our descent

Loch Lochy
Fantastic views

Cloud Line
What can I say?

Cloud Line
What can I say again?

What a view
Nick and Heathers view from their dining room

Still standing
And smiling!!

The Shore Family
Many thanks to NIck, Heather and Sarah for putting up with us all and making us feel so welcome

The Ben
One last look at Ben Nevis

Comments

[Sally Andrews]

And finally....
Great blog Ang, seeing the photos brings it all back (tho not sure a view of John, Clive, and Nick in his dressing gown, from Heather's dining room is something to write home about!!). Looking forward to our next 'amazing adventure'!