|
First thing the midges were still out
in force. After breakfast I continued along the B863 through
Kinlochleven and followed the road round to the north side of Loch
Leven. The weather was now overcast and a few spots of rain. I
rejoined the A82 where I turned right and drove to Fort William. The
weather was supposed to clear in the afternoon so I decided to have
another walk up Ben Nevis. |
new path |
|
Instead of starting
from the pay-for car park in Glen Nevis I took the next turn off
right and followed the Ben Nevis Inn signs along the single track
road to the Inn. The car park here was by the road and free. There
was only one car on it and a cyclist camping in the wood opposite.
The cloud thinned a bit so I set off just before 8am along the main
path up to the Ben. It was the same path I took the last time I was
here at the end of July except that this time the cloud level was
much higher and I was able to see Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe when I
reached the branch path. There were a few people about and what
amazed me was that as I got higher there were people coming down. I
can only think they had walked to the summit overnight. The weather
was clear until I reached 1100m where I suddenly entered cloud. I
was still familiar with the path after my last visit so I knew where
I was. I tried to walk a little slower than my last ascent as I'd
started much earlier and didn't want to summit too soon and have
ages to wait for any clear weather if there was to be some. |
|
Ben Nevis summit Observatory in the mist |
|
Even so I was up in about 2hr 45min
and reached the Observatory Ruin in cloud. The temperature was down
to 5degC making it feel quite cold. I checked out the spring and old
water tank and even witnessed a brief break in the cloud to see the
valley below. I decided to hang around for a while to see if it
would clear, but it didn't. I wandered around to kill time and check
out the various features. I was horrified by the amount of rubbish
lying around and amazed how many people were coming up to visit the
summit. After 2 1/2 hours waiting I decided to head down. |
|
the information plaque about the Observatory |
|
Helicopter working on the path |
I hadn't been going
long before torrential rain started, thankfully not for long.
Approaching the Lochan the helicopter was working on removing stuff
from the area of the path being re-built. |
|
I was down before 4pm so drove in to
Fort William to check out the Public Library. They had a couple of
books relevant to the Ben Nevis Observatory. I left the library to
check out the Highland Museum but when I got there it was closed.
The weather was now warm and sunny so I continued driving to Spean
Bridge and along theA86 to Loch Laggan where I stayed the night in a
lay-bye near Moy Bridge. The midges were still a nuisance. |
Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe on the descent |
|
|
Return to
Whittle Wanderer