UK: Ben Nevis (2/28)

With the van serviced, packed, and with a new shelf and cupboard door; we left for Scotland.

We drove for for most of the day before parking up overnight just outside of Glen Coe.

The next day we had tickets booked in the afternoon for the Fort William to Mallaig steam train, which Anya had bought me as a birthday present (the one before last, we were just getting round to using it!). 

We set off in the early afternoon and spent a couple of hours admiring outstanding views of lochs and the mountains rising next to them. After crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct we arrived into the station, and after a short break where we had a brief look around the museum, we set off again for Mallaig.

In Mallaig we took a short, circular walk overlooking the harbour, stopping for a bit of lunch, before reversing the journey and arriving back in Fort William.

The next day, the first view from the van was of bright blue sky, but looking in the other direction towards ‘the Ben’ was a different story; mostly shrouded in cloud.

We decided to climb Ben Nevis along the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. Much more interesting than the standard tourist route, but also quiet; we only saw one other group on that route. The cloud would occasionally break, affording us spectacular views of the valleys below and the surrounding peaks.

Once we gained the summit the cloud had completely cleared and we had a 360 degree panorama from the top. In the number of times I’ve climbed Ben Nevis, this was the first I’ve ever had a view instead of grey fog and howling winds.

We continued down the Pony track, before branching off, back towards the North Face car park, gently downhill, across the moorland. Then due to our tight schedule we packed up, and left for Cairnyarn to catch our ferry to Ireland.