September 1 - Climbing Ben Nevis (another guest post by Kelly since Hiking Dude has caught a cold and is feeling tired out)

Last night we stayed at the Glen Nevis campground. It was huge with large numbers of campers in camper vans, motor homes, huge tents and small tents. There were many amenities and we were able to wash and dry most of our clothes. There must have been lots of moisture in the air last night because our tent was filled with condensation this morning.

The campground reception folks were very gracious and allowed us to leave our big packs with them while we climbed Ben Nevis (10.5 miles round-trip). As we walked past the youth hostel, we once again saw our Belgium friend, Toya, waiting for her taxi. Based on our experience on this hike, I'm pretty sure we'll see her again in the future!

We decided to take the steeper shortcut for the first part of the hike instead of the longer, more gradual trail. We learned later that the locals call that route 'heart attack hill.' It was steep, but again our hill training paid off. The first part of the trail was made of stacked stones and was amazing. Farther up the trail it was mostly rock and gravel.

Also, farther up the trail it become very windy and much cooler. There were times when we were hiking straight into the wind. It was a challenging hike, and took us about three hours to hike to the top (1,345 meters). There were lots of falling down stone structures at the top. The hike down went well, but seemed to take just as long. We had to be cautious not to slip on the loose gravel and rocks (but we both did).

Hiking Dude counted just about 500 people on the trail with us today. When we got to the portion of trail with the stacked stones, we kind of ran down to save our knees from the pounding. When we got to the turn off to 'heart attack hill' we met and spent time visiting with an 84 year old man. It was interesting hearing his stories of hiking Ben Nevis and other places around the world. We retrieved our packs, ate dinner and walked to our B & B for the night. Tomorrow we take the train to Stirling.

Check out my current location on the map.