I set off in the car around 06:40am to drive to Fort William in Scotland. I headed north along the M6, passing Carlisle, then in to Scotland to pick up the M74. I was using my TomTom SatNav to find a route and I was expecting to go over the Erskine Bridge and along Loch Lomond. Approaching Glasgow the M8 signs seemed to peter out so I stayed with the GPS advice. It took me via Stirling, which wasn’t a route I’d expected. Looking at the map later it made some since. I’ve not driven on these roads for many years so it was nice to be re-acquainted with them. Along the A84 and through Callander there were many cyclists and I wasn’t sure of the attraction for them. This is the area of the Trossachs so that could be it. The road was relatively quiet and I followed it to Crianlarich then on to Tyndrum.

Footbridge on the climb of Ben Nevis

A hang glider in the low visibility

The weather was now deteriorating and following the A82 to Glen Coe the rain and cloud made sure I didn’t see any of the magnificent views. Coming to the bottom of the Glen I saw the turn off to the Clachaig Inn which I’d visited on previous occasions. I was surprised how low the clouds now was and driving along Loch Linnhe I could hardly see anything. In Fort William I took the Glen Nevis Road and drove to the first main car park. I arrived at 12:20pm and paid the £3 charge. I set off at 12:45 to climb Ben Nevis.

A footbridge took me over the River Nevis where I followed a riverside path to join the main path up from Achintee House. There was low cloud and drizzle when I set off but the light rain stopped after a while as I continued up the path. There were quite a lot of walkers on the path, some going up and some down but none were what I’d call serious walkers. I was soon in the cloud and heading up with little visibility. The last time I came this way was when I’d just completed the West Highland Way walk from Glasgow and had left my ruck sack at the road to do a quick walk up Ben Nevis.

Rebuilding the path on Ben Nevis

Memorial on Ben Nevis

I reached the area of the Loch which the map calls Lochan Meall an t Suidhe but there was no sign of it in the mist. The path was very good and a lot of work has been done to it since the last time I was here. For a long time I climbed up on the main tourist path. Some men were working on the path and I took a few photos before carrying on. The weather was fairly calm and I managed to reach the summit by 15:05pm to find many people already there. I took some photos and looked inside the emergency shelter before starting the search for the reason for my climb. The map shows a spring nearby and I set off to find it.

the Ben Nevis Observatory ruins this afternoon

in 1911 a Model T Ford was driven
to the summit of Ben Nevis

the Ben Nevis Observatory about 1900

A time exposure night view on
the summit of Ben Nevis in 1981

When I found it I was surprised how small it was. A nearby wooden storage cystern must date back to the summit Observatory times. I’d just been walking through the ruins. I set off down at 16:00 with the intention of just reversing my rout. On the way down I stopped to talk to the men rebuilding the path and also to a young man called Steve who was heading up with his tent and food supplies to camp on the summit. I wished him well and continued down in heavy rain to get back to the car at 18:20pm. In Fort William I filled up with diesel then drove via Spien Bridge, A82, Invergarry, A87 to a lay-bye overlooking Loch Cluannie where I stopped for the night. I had a tent but decided to sleep in the car for convenience.