We escaped from Skye. Morning thunderstorms and the promise that the weather would hold a little longer a little lower down, moved us back to Fort William. I didn’t care more than not, but J had set himself a goal – Ben Nevis by any means necessary. When we arrived in the city, we immediately stopped at a mountain bike rental agency. In fact, we had arranged everything so that we could pick up the bikes immediately the next morning, if … Yes, even the boy at the agency pointed out that the next day would not be suitable for cycling except for an hour or two. And it really wasn’t. But then we can walk, can’t we?
Hehehehehe, yes or no. We went – some of us to the top, some of us not 🙂
And if I’m not getting ahead of all the events.
If the first part of this holiday was a constant chase for something, the second part was definitely spent in the search for (and implementation of) Plan B. The turning point between the two is definitely the day on Ben Nevis.
This time, when we arrived at Fort William, we deliberately went to the campsite at the bottom of the hill. Despite the fact that the pleasantness of this campsite is hidden from the uni at the other end of town, where we spent the previous two nights in this town, we stayed in this one. The reason – we were able to climb directly from the campsite.
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| After checking the photos, I discovered that in exactly one of them we can see the top of Ben Nevis in the afternoon, when we arrived at Fort William for the second time. |
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| A few minutes later, the highest hill on the Island was revealed (actually hidden) in a completely different light. |
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| What were the sheep thinking the next morning as we headed up the hill? |
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| The mighty trees just outside the campsite were a real delight. |
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| In the beginning, the water was only held in the torrent bed, but soon there was enough everywhere. |
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| View of the campsite from the hillside |
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| The summit was still far away, but the cloud was leaking more and more. |
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B: Mum, do I have to go upstairs? (somewhere halfway)
M: no, you don’t have to
B: can we go halfway down? I am REALLY wet, but I can see less
And we turned back down. |
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| The other three were already significantly higher. About 15 minutes below the summit, S turned around as the wet, wind and cold were too much for him. |
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| The hill itself is a living bore. In dry weather it is probably as slippery as one Blegoš, but in wet conditions the stones are very slippery and ill-equipped hillwalkers have considerable difficulty with them. |
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| J at the top at the exit of the ravine. Probably a treat in winter conditions |
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| The path to the top is wide and paved with stones |
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| During our visit, torrents were gushing over the path at several points. |
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| J&C were greeted at the top by this beauty. He didn’t let anything get in the way |
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| The fact that we returned to the valley soaked to the skin, probably needs no explanation. When B and I got to the car, the thermometer in the valley read 6°C. I can only guess what the temperature was 1300m higher. In any case, we were all immensely pleased with the unique showers under which we could warm ourselves. Most of the camp’s inhabitants successfully dealt with the wet situation by using large industrial dryers, which were constantly drying soaked clothes, shoes, backpacks, etc. |
We were divided about the day. The three of us shared the opinion that we were obviously really almost Scottishly wiped out, that we were just going up there in such a way. One said that he didn’t feel bad or that it was OK, and one said that he was absolutely thrilled with the adventure and would probably do it again … Can you guess how we fit into the above opinions?
