Scotland #6: Ben Nevis

Next stop Isle of Mull! In order to get there we have to take the ferry in Oban. But wait, what? We have to book the tickets basically at least one week beforehand.\ That’s a bummer but luckily our map is filled with alternatives in case things don’t work out as we would like.

Well then, next stop Fort William!\ Frieder did the West Highland Way 9 years ago as his first hike ever but skipped the highest mountain of the UK back then.\ We set up camp at Glen Nevis where the goal for tomorrow was already visible.

The next morning we checked the weather but from the sound outside of the tent we already heard that it will be a quite windy day. The forecast only added that we really don’t want to be in the mountains after 3 pm because then it will start pouring down.

Next to the campsite is the River Nevis that we had to cross - and obviously Cooper had to take a quick bath before we were able to continue.

We said hi to a few sheep that were curious whether Cooper wants says hi as well or not.

From then on the only way was up. The trail was extremely well maintained and felt at least for the first half more like a giant staircase than a traditional hike.

Small digression into the local fauna: The pink/purple colored flowers can be found everywhere and are called heather. It even appears in some love songs such as Heather On The Hill from Nathan Evans.

Half an hour later the scene changed quite a bit and everything looked a lot more brownish but there were some small waterfalls as well.

The view from the start into the valley but from a lot higher up

Passing the waterfalls marked the half way point of this route and after that everything was just plain rocks and stones. The view was incredible because now you could see over every other mountain in the area.

The view is most likely great from here if there aren’t any clouds. Unfortunately it felt more like in a horror movie but it was still incredible making it to the top.\ The winds were really extreme which meant that they would force you to take a step to not trip over which obviously is quite dangerous when steep cliffs are next to you.

On the way down every now and then a cloud passed and one could see what’s beyond the fog wall. But these moments were so short that taking a photo of it was very tricky.