Walk: 8am - 3:30pm - 9.5 miles - 4,320ft of ascent
Well after 2 or 3 months of talking about it, it was now upon us. Friday 27th April and the long drive up to Fort William was ahead of us. Darrell and Nigel converged upon 'Chez Bott' for 9:30am, and after a short detour to the petrol station and then to Bluebell Wood we hit the road for our long journey ahead. I wanted to do this walk for myself, and also to raise some funds for Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice - please see my JustGiving page by clicking here.
We had a mixed bag of weather on the way up, and after 370 miles we arrived at our destination at around 5pm. Our only stops were for a short break on the M74 just south of Glasgow and then in Morrisons in Fort William so that Darrell and Nigel could purchase some provisions for the walk tomorrow. The photos are all of the walk, so are interspersed with the overall review.
After checking in at the hotel about 2 miles north of Fort William town centre, Nigel and Darrell headed into the sauna and I chose to have an hour flat out on the bed. We re-convened around 7:30pm, and had a great meal - Haggis for me for the first time and I loved it, and also a plate of Tagliatelli for the carbs. The 'boys' had 'manly' steaks for their main course, and although we had planned just to have a couple of drinks we proceeded to have a bottle of wine each on top! Not a great idea with a long walk ahead of us in the morning - I did pay the next morning though for having a bottle of red, with a banging headache.
We'd also had a short walk around Fort William town centre, and if I'm being honest it is quite a depressing place - nothing like the walking and tourist biased towns you come across in the Lakes, Dales, Snowdonia - I think they're missing a big trick. That said, a new retail development is being built in the town centre and they're putting a Cotswold Outdoors in it, so something for the future. So off to bed at a reasonable 11pm and hopefully a good night's sleep.
I awoke around 6am - and after weeks of rain and poor weather, I opened the curtains to see clear blue skies and sunshine - just as the weather forecasters had predicted...for once. My lucky run of walking break weather continues. We met for breakfast at 7:15am, taking care not to have too much to eat. Just a bowl of porridge oats and a small amount of bacon and scrambled egg for me. A similar small portion for the guys, but neither of them 'braved' the stodgy (and if I'm being honest tasteless) porridge. We left the hotel around 7:40am and were parked up near the Ben Nevis Inn and ready to walk for 8am.
The first 20 minutes or so of the walk leads you into a false sense of security as the path underfoot is quite easy to walk on and the ascent, whilst never easy, is relatively relaxed. We passed a few people along the way, but if I'm being honest not as many as I had expected. We passed three guys who were on their way back down having started their walk at 4am.
The views up Glen Nevis and to the mountains that skirted the Glen were stunning, snow topped hill and green hillsides. After just over a mile or so the path gets steeper and the walk becomes a little harder as much of the path involves large steps over terrain built up of large rocks - this certainly drains your energy much more so than walking on a relatively smooth path. Looking down to your right you can see Red Burn winding it's way down the steep sided gully. After another 30 minutes or so you emerge to a far gentler section for about 300m as you pass Lochan Meall an t Suidhe, a lovely tranquil spot to have lunch I would imagine. This gives you the opportunity to have some respite and enjoy the views over the water to the distant hills. I know Darrell hadn't enjoyed the last part of the walk, after having a 'man flu' for over a week it was taking it out of him a little. We were now at about 2,000ft.
We then took a sharp right in a southerly direction and picked up the ascent, the path took us around the top of 'five finger gully' - a section that I had been warned about. Maybe not so much of a problem today with the fine weather, but I can imagine how treacherous it might be in poor weather with low visibility. The next hour or so of the walk was very hard if I'm being honest. We went through a series of zig-zags up towards the start of the summit plateau, but we had hit the snow zone and the path was covered in compacted snow and was almost the same angle as the surrounding slopes. It made it very difficult to get any purchase on the path and if I hadn't had my walking poles to stick in the snow and keep me upright, I would have spent more time on my backside (or worse) than walking.
Nigel had purchased some attachments for his boots for walking on ice, but he abandoned them after a while as they kept coming off - they weren't exactly serving the purpose for which he bought them. Darrell 'barely' Grylls didn't seem to be having as much of a grip problem, but it was difficult for all of us. Eventually you come over the brow and realise that you've reached the start of the summit plateau. However, the mountain comes back to bite you as there's still a about another 1/2 mile and 300ft of ascent to go, with one slope particularly slippy and energy sapping. You do however get that little extra burst of energy as you know that you're so close. Then, after 3 and 3/4hrs of walking we reached the summit. We were very pleased with the time we'd done the ascent in considering the conditions for the last 1,000ft or so - we reckon we could have knocked about 30 minutes off that if the path had been clear all the way to the top. That said though, it's not a race but about enjoying the walk, the company and the views.
It had all been worth it, you just can't describe how stunning the views are on a clear day. We all felt so privileged to be up there, and also proud of what we'd achieved. Nigel was a little emotional as he had a wee dram of Whisky in the memory of his dad. I popped on my Bluebell Wood Childrens Hospice t-shirt and had my photo taken in the summit trig point. Thankfully the t-shirt was big enough to put on over my base layers.
I suppose the only disadvantage of the weather being so good, is that it attracts people to the hill so there were a lot of people around on the summit, all taking turns to have their photo taken. We took quite a few photos, admired the views a little more - the 2,500ft drop off the North Face is something to be seen, had something to eat and after about 20-30 minutes were ready to set off back. Unfortunately on the way up I'd dropped my camera (well Donna my wife's camera) and some moisture had got into the lens so a lot of my photos were ruined, I did though still manage to get some good one's.
Well now onto the long walk back down. Darrell and Nigel set off at quite a pace, I made a point of walking slowly with small steps so I didn't end up on my back. As we exited the summit plateau and started on the path back down I caught up with Nigel who was having 'traction problems' to say the least. That said, he wasn't the only one as I was walking with trepidation and nearly slipped over on a number of occasions. People coming up were having similar problems - and clearly a number of them were simply not equipped for the walk. Training shoes and no poles - and then they wonder why they are struggling. It's not exactly like walking around your local park!
Darrell was now well ahead of us, occasionally we made him out in the distance, but we didn't see him again until we finished the walk. Nigel was struggling a little as his legs were in his words "like jelly", and he was also suffering ankle problems. So, we took a steady walk back down with a few short rest stops. We had a brief break on the ascent for a small bite to eat, I didn't need to stop for fluid as my hydration bladder was serving me well. How did I ever manage without one?
After 3hrs of descent we arrived at the bottom, with Darrell waiting for us on the veranda of the Ben Nevis Inn. We deposited all of our gear into the car (amazed that parking is free) and then ventured into the Inn for half an hour and a couple of pints. A Strongbow cider to refresh me, and then a 'Nessie' local beer. 10 minutes drive and we were back at the hotel. We had done it!
The lads needed their sauna boost, but I just retired to my room for a couple of hours - I had wanted to get a little sleep and hoped that the 2 pints would help, but I was still buzzing and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't drop off. 7:15pm arrived and were were back together for another great meal and a few more drinks. Mind you, in our heads we had planned a night of celebratory drinking, but by 10:15pm our bodies won the argument with our heads and we all headed off to our rooms to watch Match of the Day.
I awoke around 5am Sunday morning, and after a couple of hours in my room I decided to vacate it and head off into Fort William to see if I could find a self-service petrol pump to fill up, however the pumps were also still tucked up in bed so my little jaunt had been a waste of time. I spent around an hour in the hotel reception just reading a few leaflets (papers hadn't yet been delivered) and then we met at around 8:30am for a 'BIG' breakfast - enough to last us the day. We left at 9:15am, again in stunning weather with clear blue skies - something which was to change a few hours later as we headed back to reality.
We arrived back home at 4:15pm - very heavy rain not really a great welcome back. Darrell and Nigel packed up their cars and headed off home, but for me it was a quick coffee and a 3hr round-trip over to Cheshire to drop our son Jake off for an assessment day tomorrow. This secondary trip was made better though as I had the company of my wife Donna, if only the weather hadn't been as bad going over the Woodhead Pass where it was wind and driving rain with very little visibility in some places. Just after 8pm we arrived home, at last I could relax....home and your family is where the heart is, no matter where you've been and how much you enjoyed it. More photos can be found here.
Well after 2 or 3 months of talking about it, it was now upon us. Friday 27th April and the long drive up to Fort William was ahead of us. Darrell and Nigel converged upon 'Chez Bott' for 9:30am, and after a short detour to the petrol station and then to Bluebell Wood we hit the road for our long journey ahead. I wanted to do this walk for myself, and also to raise some funds for Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice - please see my JustGiving page by clicking here.
We had a mixed bag of weather on the way up, and after 370 miles we arrived at our destination at around 5pm. Our only stops were for a short break on the M74 just south of Glasgow and then in Morrisons in Fort William so that Darrell and Nigel could purchase some provisions for the walk tomorrow. The photos are all of the walk, so are interspersed with the overall review.
After checking in at the hotel about 2 miles north of Fort William town centre, Nigel and Darrell headed into the sauna and I chose to have an hour flat out on the bed. We re-convened around 7:30pm, and had a great meal - Haggis for me for the first time and I loved it, and also a plate of Tagliatelli for the carbs. The 'boys' had 'manly' steaks for their main course, and although we had planned just to have a couple of drinks we proceeded to have a bottle of wine each on top! Not a great idea with a long walk ahead of us in the morning - I did pay the next morning though for having a bottle of red, with a banging headache.
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| View up Glen Nevis |
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| Looking back down into Glen Nevis - with the path to the right |
I awoke around 6am - and after weeks of rain and poor weather, I opened the curtains to see clear blue skies and sunshine - just as the weather forecasters had predicted...for once. My lucky run of walking break weather continues. We met for breakfast at 7:15am, taking care not to have too much to eat. Just a bowl of porridge oats and a small amount of bacon and scrambled egg for me. A similar small portion for the guys, but neither of them 'braved' the stodgy (and if I'm being honest tasteless) porridge. We left the hotel around 7:40am and were parked up near the Ben Nevis Inn and ready to walk for 8am.
 |
| A little further up the path above Red Burn |
The views up Glen Nevis and to the mountains that skirted the Glen were stunning, snow topped hill and green hillsides. After just over a mile or so the path gets steeper and the walk becomes a little harder as much of the path involves large steps over terrain built up of large rocks - this certainly drains your energy much more so than walking on a relatively smooth path. Looking down to your right you can see Red Burn winding it's way down the steep sided gully. After another 30 minutes or so you emerge to a far gentler section for about 300m as you pass Lochan Meall an t Suidhe, a lovely tranquil spot to have lunch I would imagine. This gives you the opportunity to have some respite and enjoy the views over the water to the distant hills. I know Darrell hadn't enjoyed the last part of the walk, after having a 'man flu' for over a week it was taking it out of him a little. We were now at about 2,000ft.
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| Now heading up towards the series of zig-zags |
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| The rocky path heading up towards the start of the snowline |
Nigel had purchased some attachments for his boots for walking on ice, but he abandoned them after a while as they kept coming off - they weren't exactly serving the purpose for which he bought them. Darrell 'barely' Grylls didn't seem to be having as much of a grip problem, but it was difficult for all of us. Eventually you come over the brow and realise that you've reached the start of the summit plateau. However, the mountain comes back to bite you as there's still a about another 1/2 mile and 300ft of ascent to go, with one slope particularly slippy and energy sapping. You do however get that little extra burst of energy as you know that you're so close. Then, after 3 and 3/4hrs of walking we reached the summit. We were very pleased with the time we'd done the ascent in considering the conditions for the last 1,000ft or so - we reckon we could have knocked about 30 minutes off that if the path had been clear all the way to the top. That said though, it's not a race but about enjoying the walk, the company and the views.
 |
| Me on top supporting Bluebell Wood |
It had all been worth it, you just can't describe how stunning the views are on a clear day. We all felt so privileged to be up there, and also proud of what we'd achieved. Nigel was a little emotional as he had a wee dram of Whisky in the memory of his dad. I popped on my Bluebell Wood Childrens Hospice t-shirt and had my photo taken in the summit trig point. Thankfully the t-shirt was big enough to put on over my base layers.
I suppose the only disadvantage of the weather being so good, is that it attracts people to the hill so there were a lot of people around on the summit, all taking turns to have their photo taken. We took quite a few photos, admired the views a little more - the 2,500ft drop off the North Face is something to be seen, had something to eat and after about 20-30 minutes were ready to set off back. Unfortunately on the way up I'd dropped my camera (well Donna my wife's camera) and some moisture had got into the lens so a lot of my photos were ruined, I did though still manage to get some good one's.
Well now onto the long walk back down. Darrell and Nigel set off at quite a pace, I made a point of walking slowly with small steps so I didn't end up on my back. As we exited the summit plateau and started on the path back down I caught up with Nigel who was having 'traction problems' to say the least. That said, he wasn't the only one as I was walking with trepidation and nearly slipped over on a number of occasions. People coming up were having similar problems - and clearly a number of them were simply not equipped for the walk. Training shoes and no poles - and then they wonder why they are struggling. It's not exactly like walking around your local park!
 |
| Looking from the summit towards Carn Mor Dearg Arete |
Darrell was now well ahead of us, occasionally we made him out in the distance, but we didn't see him again until we finished the walk. Nigel was struggling a little as his legs were in his words "like jelly", and he was also suffering ankle problems. So, we took a steady walk back down with a few short rest stops. We had a brief break on the ascent for a small bite to eat, I didn't need to stop for fluid as my hydration bladder was serving me well. How did I ever manage without one?
After 3hrs of descent we arrived at the bottom, with Darrell waiting for us on the veranda of the Ben Nevis Inn. We deposited all of our gear into the car (amazed that parking is free) and then ventured into the Inn for half an hour and a couple of pints. A Strongbow cider to refresh me, and then a 'Nessie' local beer. 10 minutes drive and we were back at the hotel. We had done it!
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| Nigel, Darrell and my good self in front of the old observatory |
The lads needed their sauna boost, but I just retired to my room for a couple of hours - I had wanted to get a little sleep and hoped that the 2 pints would help, but I was still buzzing and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't drop off. 7:15pm arrived and were were back together for another great meal and a few more drinks. Mind you, in our heads we had planned a night of celebratory drinking, but by 10:15pm our bodies won the argument with our heads and we all headed off to our rooms to watch Match of the Day.
I awoke around 5am Sunday morning, and after a couple of hours in my room I decided to vacate it and head off into Fort William to see if I could find a self-service petrol pump to fill up, however the pumps were also still tucked up in bed so my little jaunt had been a waste of time. I spent around an hour in the hotel reception just reading a few leaflets (papers hadn't yet been delivered) and then we met at around 8:30am for a 'BIG' breakfast - enough to last us the day. We left at 9:15am, again in stunning weather with clear blue skies - something which was to change a few hours later as we headed back to reality.
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| Nigel on the way back down as we get to the bottom of the snowline |
We arrived back home at 4:15pm - very heavy rain not really a great welcome back. Darrell and Nigel packed up their cars and headed off home, but for me it was a quick coffee and a 3hr round-trip over to Cheshire to drop our son Jake off for an assessment day tomorrow. This secondary trip was made better though as I had the company of my wife Donna, if only the weather hadn't been as bad going over the Woodhead Pass where it was wind and driving rain with very little visibility in some places. Just after 8pm we arrived home, at last I could relax....home and your family is where the heart is, no matter where you've been and how much you enjoyed it. More photos can be found here.
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