Mountian 1 - Ben Nevis, Scotland, 1344m

We took the tourist route up Ben Nevis, which let us know from the start exactly what was in store - a long slog that just went on and on and on!

It was easy enough to walk, with the lower half a nice wide track with convenient placed steps along a lot of it.

Once passing Lochan Meall an t-Siudhe at about the half way point, it then got quite rocky and uneven with a seemingly unending series of zig zags to endure before the summit was finally in sight. Or at least should have been - for the last 45mins we walked in white out conditions so had no idea of how much further we really had to go!

On reaching the summit, we had a quick stop for photos (to prove we had made it!) and to layer up (hats, gloves, waterproof over trousers…) and fuel up (Jaffa cakes, Kendal mint cake, flapjacks…) before turning quickly on our heels and heading back down the mountain again.
We’d had the path mostly to ourselves on the way up, but back down we passed dozens and dozens of other walkers – a lot of whom we later saw on Scafell Pike and then Snowdon! (see we are not the only crazy ones out there!).

We were back down, in the mini bus and on our way a little over 5.5 hours since starting. It was a bit slower than we had hoped, but poor Craig had been struck with an untimely stomach bug, which meant he had to make a number of stops en route on Ben Nevis. Enough said.

The theme of this mountain was Lungs and Bums...