After around 12 hours of travelling in the car, we reached the base of Ben Nevis. We had arrived in good time (just before 5pm) which should have given us enough time to get up and back down before it got dark. I was excited at the thought of climbing the highest peak in Great Britain. The only time I had been introduced to Ben Nevis before was when I went past it on my bike during the Land's End to John o'Groats trip. It was good to see the mountain again knowing this time I would be climbing it!
After parking the car, we all got changed into our hiking gear and packed a few last minute items into our bags. The evening was still very warm and it was a bright and clear day.
At precisely 1724, the stop watch was started! The journey had begun!
We were to take the tourist route to the top. As we left, the first part of the journey involved climbing the many steps that were present at the base of the mountain. After only 10 minutes or so, I was sweating heavily, as the evening was still very warm. Gradually, the road below got smaller and the views became more and more spectacular.
It was only about half an hour into our journey that we realised our first mistake!
Of course, we all had water with us but we were only carrying half litre bottles. We were nowhere near half way up but had already used a lot of the water because it was so warm. We were going to have to seriously ration ourselves from now on.
After a while, the steps stopped and we were to follow a long and winding trail up the next section. I was still feeling good at this point.
Eventually, we came to a more rocky section of the trail where things started to get a lot steeper. This is where the legs really started to feel it! It is here where we passed patches of snow that were still settled on the rocks. The temperature was beginning to drop too, which to be honest was a welcome relief! This section seemed to go on forever! I was constantly looking up thinking that the peak was not far away, only to be disappointed when I realised there was another peak further on!
The trail became more and more rough and suddenly we reached a flat section completely covered in snow. This was the peak! It felt great to have finally made it! It was also
a relief that we were going the right way and hadn't got lost too! With our
inexperience, I thought that this was something that was quite possibly going to
happen!
We had reached the peak at precisely 2000, 2 hours and 36 minutes after the clock had been started. Obviously, we were on a tight schedule, so spent just 10 minutes at the peak taking a few pictures before the resuming the journey by attempting to get back to the base.
We immediately began to follow the tourist path back down. After some time however, we began to get fed up with the steep paths that were beginning to really affect our knees. Looking down we could see how the path seemed to zig zag down the mountain which seemed like such an extra distance, therefore a huge waste of effort. It was at this point we decided to take some "short cuts", straying from the tourist route down the rocks. This was obviously a lot more dangerous, especially for people like us who had no real experience, but it was more fun! We had to be careful at this point that we didn't get horribly lost!
Eventually, we made it back to the section of the mountain with the steps, so we knew we were not far from the bottom. We could see the road below which still looked tiny, but at last, it was in view again! I was feeling pretty grim at this point. All water had run out
long ago and I could feel myself getting dehydrated. My knees were hurting from the steep descent too. The last section seemed to go on forever and the road appeared to not get any closer.
Given all of this, we had appeared to time everything to perfection. By the time we approached the bottom, it was already getting quite dark. We reached the bottom at precisely 2144, all of us completed knackered! It had taken us exactly 4 hours and 20 minutes to complete Ben Nevis - 2 hours 36 minutes to get to the top, 10 minutes at the top, and just 1 hour and 34 minutes to get back down! The decision to stray from the tourist route might have been a bit risky, but it appeared to save us some valuable time!
It took us half an hour to get changed and back in the car. By the time we left Ben Nevis, the time was 2214, and the stop watch was on 4 hours 50 minutes.
Next up, was a long drive through the night where we hoped to arrive at Scafell Pike in the Lake District just before first light...