Short blog today.  Ben Nevis.  The photo probably says it all.  I should introduce Mike Huggan who has foolishly offered to walk with me down to Ambleside.  Even more foolishly he wanted to start with Ben Nevis.  We obviously made it up but we also got down again thanks to our fantastic guide, Dave Bucket of the Highland Mountain Company.  Thanks Dave.  We could not have done it without you and the loan of the crampons and ice axes.

Not much to show as we were in thick cloud most of the way up.  We met Dave at the Ben Nevis Inn in Glenn Nevis at 08:00.  We made it to the top at about 12:15, and were back down by about 15:30 for a cheery greeting from Hazel and Louise (Mike’s wife).  The crampons were an absolute must, although there were plenty of people trying to get up with just regular boots.  The snow was 5 or 6 feet deep near the top and will stick around until late June or even July according to Dave.

Anyway, we made it, and today’s ascent is dedicated to Maureen Kerr.  I hope things are going well for you.

Back to the walking tomorrow along the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond.  Someone should write a song about that.

I’m not including any of the 3 peaks data in the tracking statistics for the walk, but for those who like numbers this is what the Garmin made of today:

Distance covered:                            15.1Km
Elapsed time:                                     7h 25m 30s
Moving time:                                     5h 28m 37s
Stopped time:                                   1: 56m 53s
Average speed (moving):              2.75Km/h
Overall average:                               2.03Km/h
Max height:                                        1345m