Walkers:
James Gowers
Toby Athersuch
Matthew Stevens
Drivers:
Lindsey Bartholomew
Louise MacDonald
To see where we went, please check out this map.
SATURDAY
After a somewhat disturbed sleep we did well to obey our alarms in the morning and one by one, we got out of our beds and started getting washed, brushed-up and dressed from 8am onwards (Mat maintains we had said we had promised a 9am start).
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Lindsey writes – I’m with Mat on this 9am was definitely agreed by all, and Toby – how come you were first up and last to be ready….?! I’ve never seen anyone pack and re-pack their bag so many times!
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Mat writes – I think despite my (deserved) reputation for being a bit grumpy first thing in the morning I took the stolen hour of sleep with reasonable grace!
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A checkout time of 10:30am meant the bag packing, unpacking, repacking and finally the packing of the car was done at a fairly leisurely pace and we made our way from “Chase the Wild Goose” mid morning toward Fort William in search of some suitably energy rich brunch.
We found a nice cafe serving a Full Scottish Breakfast and wolfed it down while checking all limbs were suitably stretched in addition to our stomachs. After breakfast we raided the town for a few more items for our trip that we had not been able to get before the journey up including some very lovely nylon waterproof trousers for Mat (niiiiice) and some socks (yes, I did leave it this late) for me. We finished up at dreaded-but-needed Tescos to stock up on some last-minute rations. Mat stocked up on some tasty sausage rolls as ever, Jim on sarnies. I went for some melon portions, which I can highly recommend as a hiking snack – nice and refreshing in the heat! As we were leaving the town around 2pm, the heavens opened and gave our spirits a good dousing as we thought that was our lot for the good weather.
We initially drove up the track to the bunkhouse and the start of the mountain at Achintee, but thought better of this and headed back down to the Visitor Centre, just down the hill and across the river (but the road goes a nice long way around via the town). Here we sat and waited until the rain let up for a few moments and then investigated the Centre itself. Not much to report, but the lady on duty was helpful and supplied the latest weather forecast and we dutifully watched their video of the path called ‘The Ages of Nevis’ or something equally grand. We reckon the chap in this video was the author of one of our Three Peaks guidebooks we had read in preparation, but we weren’t prepared to watch the whole thing through to check…
Other groups in the car park were getting ready around us. It seemed that there was a vast range of preparedness in terms of equipment that we put down to these others being more hardy than us. The DM’s, jeans and tee shirt (and cigarette!) bunch were there alongside the SAS equipped lot and a couple of fell runners. We felt we were pretty moderate in our preparation, but not really overdressed.
We were all getting quite excited and a bit apprehensive as the final few minutes ticked away and we put on our packs and boots. One final check, a picture, a wave and we started walking – over the bridge and up toward the Achintee bunkhouse. The first section of the climb whizzed past with our fresh legs and enthusiasm along the path that was lined with lush foliage. As we passed the track up from the Youth Hostel the track became more congested with other walkers and soon we were waiting our turn behind a large group that was not ideal in terms of speedy progress and keeping to time. There were several places (usually steep rocky sections) which afforded us an opportunity to overtake and zoom on up, as well as several nice walkers who could see we wanted to get a move on and kindly let us past.
Heading up toward Red Burn the congestion eased and the path became slightly less taxing with the haphazard steps made of stone becoming more regular and manageable. All the while, the clouds continued to lift giving us a wonderful, expanding vista over Loch Linnhe. As we climbed the sun made repeated attempts to break through the cloud and patches of blue sky emerged. Reaching the path just below the Lochan (Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe), we caught the other main party from the car park who had stopped for a breather and… a quick smoke. Unreal. The Lochan was stunning and crystallised what we were doing was to be enjoyed as well as providing a decent challenge for our cardiovascular system. To our right, the first of the zig zags could just be seen below the cloud which remained at ~ 800 m for the rest of the day. The path round the Lochan and up to the other slope was much more gentle and was a welcome break for our legs that had positively pounded up the first leg of the mountain.
The more direct path, avoiding the dog-leg by the Lochan is currently closed to allow nature to heal the scar that has been made by millions of footfalls over the last few years – a wise move. Further up the mountain it was good to see a small workforce carrying out maintenance on the path – fitting larger stones to stop the erosion in this area which must suffer terribly. Well done them – to be commended.
Reaching the first of the four zig zags we encountered a family attempting to go straight up the slope (presumably to avoid the longer route we were about to take). Two of the group – burly men - had decided better of it and joked with us as we went past that that was a bit too much. The remaining two – a small lady and a small boy – were valiantly battling on. They had got about half way up to the return path as we walked along it above them, and we were just in time to see the boy face-plant and slide back down the slope a bit. Not a good day out for them we thought. Note: if the Scots have made a huge great zig-zag path up a mountain, it’s probably best to use it.
Beyond the first of the zig zags the mountain became enveloped in mist and visibility was much reduced, getting steadily thicker as we climbed. We soon had our gloves out and a windstopper on to keep warm and dry.
We ticked off the zigs and zags as we reached the turns so as not to miss the end of the fourth and end up at the head of the Five Finger Gully that we had seen from across the mountainside in all its precipitous glory. We had seen numerous warning about this feature and had no intention of accidentally dropping off the top so we made really sure to turn at the large cairn that marks the fork in the path and head straight up to the summit. A few more fell runners passed us on this stretch, but even they seemed tired out by the size of this big Ben. We heard several people through the mist who were standing at the summit ahead of us and we joined them on the trig point for a photo or two.
Following a quick snack, we bounded back down the mountainside breaking into a jog (!) at some points and giving other climbers a hearty hello and encouragement as we had received from other descending while we were on our way up.
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Mat writes – I surprised myself on the way down, I was running (!), and on a mountain. It felt good, and we were making great progress. But then I got that tell-tale feeling – blisters. Hopefully I put on a brave face but I had a horrible sinking feeling that this was only going to get worse with two more mountains looming large in my mind. Never mind, out with the trusty Compeeds and a crossing of fingers as we headed on.
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It was dusk by the time we hit the last path back to the Visitor Centre and over the bridge, with a total walking time for Ben Nevis of 4 hrs 30 mins. We were greeted by the girls who thrust a bowl of pasta and a hot dog at each of us which was very welcome and disappeared in a couple of mouthfuls. We all had a quick wash in the Visitor Centre toilets and changed into some more comfortable (i.e. not sweaty) travelling clothes while the cooking stuff was packed into the car.
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Lindsey writes – I was pleased everyone made it down in one piece (except for Mat who lost some of his feet on the way down!) The hot dogs seemed to go down a treat so it was well worth the effort of heating them up!
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Mat Writes – The hot dogs and pasta were a very welcome sight, and duly wolfed down. I don’t remember anything I’ve eaten taste as good for a very long time. Then came the time to change shoes and socks…ouch, bleeding toes are a bad thing, right? More Compeeds, surgical tape, a bit of bandage and various other items from the first aid kit got wound around my problem toe, and I finally got the better of those pesky blisters.
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Us boys managed about an hour of sleep in the car on the way down to the next bit of walking. Despite the effort of climbing and descending Ben Nevis, and having been awake for about 20 hours, the adrenalin was still playing it’s part and in conjunction with the relentless sitting in the car (can ANYONE get properly comfy in a car?). The journey went fairly smoothly despite the closure of the M80 for a junction resulting in a minor detour around some industrial estates east of Glasgow. Avoiding the Loch Lomond road seemed to pay off as our road was deserted for the majority of the journey. We all gave a cheer as we passed into England, happy that we had dispatched the biggest mountain already and in a fairly good time.
The view on the way up Ben Nevis
A bit further up Ben Nevis
Toby and Matt
The last view we had before heading in to the clouds
We made it (up the first mountain)!
