Funny…. number 18 has always been my favourite number! If you’re still reading along, welcome to day 18. This really is the day I’ve been waiting for… for a long long time.
“There’s a mountain top that I’m dreaming of… If you need me your’ll know where I’ll be”
Its Peak 3/3 day. Time to hike up Ben Nevis… The highest peak in the UK!!!
First things first… fun facts about Ben Nevis!!
- Ben Nevis stands at 1345m or 4411ft!
- It is part of the Grampion Mountains.
- It is know locally as ‘The Ben’.
- Ben Nevis was first summited in 1771 by James Robertson.
- Ben Nevis is all that’s left of an ancient volcano. It’s peak is the collapsed dome of the volcano that imploded millions of years ago.
- An observatory was built at the summit in 1883 to monitor the weather at high altitudes. This was open for 20 years and was then left unmanned due to lack of funding. It’s ruins can still be seen at the summit today.
- There is an emergency shelter at the summit for those who get stuck there in bad conditions, and there is also a World War 2 memorial located near the observatory ruins
- Over 100,000 people climb Ben Nevis every year making it an important tourist attraction.
- Most of these people take the Pony Path (now known as the tourist track), a track constructed to allow ponies to bring supplies to the observatory (This will be the track I take) and its around 16km return with a starting elevation of only 20m above sea level!
- Some unusual ascents have been made by: a Model T Ford, a bed and unicycles! Items carried to the summit include a wheelchair, an organ, a bed, a barrell of beer, toilet seat, a sex toy and a 3ft high garden gnome. hahaaaa! (and all I saw up there was a random pair of boxer shorts lol)
Okay… SUMMIT DAY! I’m up super early this morning, my sleep was terrible. I think I was part anxious and part excited! Today was gonna be a good day, and my only real day to try get up Ben Nevis! I was pretty concerned with my ankle, it was still screaming out in pain. Anyway, breakfast, coffee, and painkillers… BAM – The sun is up and I’m on my way to the trail head at 8am. The short 2 mile bike ride was flat and a nice warm up on the legs!
I left the Visitors centre at 8.15 to begin the ascent! The weather was warm and it was looking pretty clear up there! The parking lot was empty was I was excited to be here this early and have the trail to myself. The first 2km were nice and with a gradual uphill, with few stone steps. I passed 2 other people and that was it. I did the first 2km in 45 minutes and was thinking this was way too quick, OR the path was about to get steeper. From all the reviews I read it said to allow 8 hours for the hike – 4 hours up and 3 to come down.
After 2km it was still fairly gradual and a really well worn path – much better than Snowdon and Scafell Pike had been! I passed another 2 guys, who I chatted with for a bit whilst hiking up – we also passed our first and only person I saw coming down. This was at 9 oclock… He said he had set out for the top at 2am. Kind of worrying it had taken him 7 hours to get up and down, and it really was looking like it was gonna take 8 hours total.
I get to the half way point, which is just before crossing a small waterfall. the terrain gets a little more rocky… and then a little more rocky and so on and so on. The gradient seemed to get steeper but I think it was just my legs tiring. The weather was still clear apart from the odd cloud coming and going. I was pretty happy, and optimistic to finally have a clear summit!
The last 2km were pretty gruelling. The path wasn’t very smooth, and it was full of rocks. I was on the zig zag path to the top (not something I was looking forward to coming down on) Just before the top the ‘path’ flattened out and the Cairns lead the way.
WOW.
I was on top of the UK. 1345m up! Higher than all you peasants down there 🙂
At the top was the highest Cairn, and also the remains of an observatory tower and emergency shelter and a war memorial.
I really couldn’t have asked for a better day. The temperatures had dropped a bit at the top but that didn’t stop me spending 45 minutes up there taking in the incredible mountain ranges and the sheer drops of the side of Ben Nevis. An amazing, but exhausting day. Happy to have completed the third peak out of 3.
So thinking it was going to take 4 hours up, in reality it took just 2.5. The downhill was just as strenuous as the uphill. Especially on my ankle, and on my (almost) 30 year old knees! (haha) It took me about the same time to descend. Coming down I passed the handful of people I was at the top with… and also passed a ton of people coming up! I’m so glad I set off early this morning and missed the rush up the mountain. To enjoy the top with just 10 people was wonderful! Coming down the mountain I’m also pretty stoked having passed everyone from the summit, and not having passed anyone else on the uphill. I was the second person UP and DOWN the mountain today – although I don’t think the weird guy who started hiking at 2am should really count haha!
I cant say I’m ready for the final stretch… but a day of recovery tomorrow before the real focus sets in to make it to the end! Under 200 miles until John O Groats.
Grateful for today. Grateful for the weather. Grateful for the mountain. And grateful to those who messaged me and got me up this mountain!
My heart and soul are happy up here.
“It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success”
