It's Friday 7th September and we've just finished work so time to head up to Fort William to meet up with some of the family for a weekend of fun that involves joining them in their first climb up the highest mountain in the UK...Ben Nevis!!
Joining Roy and I are my sister Sue, her partner Steve...and more importantly, Team Cooper mascot, the little bunny~feets, Alistair McAlistair!! :) Also joining us are my mum, my brother's daughter Dom and her boyfriend Kev, and their lovely little Border Terrier Pippa. And then just to add a little international flavour to the group, we have our Canadian relatives Jim and Annie over on a tour of lots of awesomeness as well, starting with Ben Nevis!! :)
Joining Roy and I are my sister Sue, her partner Steve...and more importantly, Team Cooper mascot, the little bunny~feets, Alistair McAlistair!! :) Also joining us are my mum, my brother's daughter Dom and her boyfriend Kev, and their lovely little Border Terrier Pippa. And then just to add a little international flavour to the group, we have our Canadian relatives Jim and Annie over on a tour of lots of awesomeness as well, starting with Ben Nevis!! :)
The drive through to Fort William was good and we soon reach our Nevis Lodge at Torlundy, just outside of Fort William where the smell of our tea wafts through the air, awaiting our arrival! The lodge is absolutely stunning, and it's big as well...can sleep up to 10 people and it's very comfortable and homely. And you get a great view of Britain's biggest mountain from the window of the lodge.
After an evening of catching up with everyone, we retire to rest...as this is most of the gangs first hill walk, energy and enthusiasm is our best friend. Well, that and Alistair!! ;)
After a good night's rest, we all wake up on Saturday, keen to be on our way. With our lunch flasks made, tummy's full of good old porridge (haha, can't climb Nevis without that good old Scottish breakfast!!), we head off on our way. It only takes us about 5 minutes to get there from the lodge. Once we've parked the car and got our gear on it is 9.45am, it's a bit breezy but it's dry at least and not cold...which is a total plus!! A group photo is taken at the sign at the start of the path and we set off!!
Pictured above from left to right - Annie, Roy, Alistair, Sue, Pippa's BUTT, Dom, Kev, Gail and last but not least, Steve. (Jim was taking the pic!)
Pictured below Jim is with Annie, Steve and Sue, Kev and Dom...with Dom mid thought, or something. ;)
Due to the fact that some of the others have had no hill walking experience, we are taking the tourist route today. The path is busy and it's not long before we start to ascend, however everyone is coping well, even Pippa the dog!! We stop for a full group photo, with everyone smiling and still all enthusiastic!! ;)
As we get roughly quarter of the way up, the joyous Scottish cloud arrives and visibility is pretty rubbish, except for the scattered clear pockets. After a short time in the cloud, with a lower temperature, it was time for legs to be attached to trousers for those in shorts, and after a wee break, we are on our way, passing the lochan.
By the time we reach the waterfall at around the half way mark, it's time for a snack to give us a boost of energy. Jim also takes this opportunity to fill up his water bottle with water from the waterfall. :D
Anyhoo, time to move...onward and upwards. Despite the fact that we can't see very much around us, we're all still in good spirits and after a few more items of clothes have been added due to altitude dropping temperature....well, that and the vast quantity of clouds, we're all set!!
From this point on, thanks to ViewRanger, we know that there are 8 bends ahead of us...the miracle of technology however could not fix the joys of my confused counting though, haha. I kept getting mixed up with the number and coming away with things such as "we seem to always have five to go", or "we're on bend 3". :) DOH!
It was a nice steady walk to the top where we all kept together and shared our experiences until we reach the cairns at the top. Considering most people usually work their way through other hills and mountains before they hit Ben Nevis, it was a great achievement for the family to make their first climbed summit the highest in the UK!! Jim said that seeing Alistair's smiley bunny face and feets the whole time he was climbing was great motivation. That's gotta be a good thing for the people who're gonna be trekking with us to the Everest Base Camp, right!?! ;) I love this picture below, just with the Saltire blowing in the wind...with Alistair and his little Canadian flag beneath it, it's brilliant!!
Despite the mist, camera's and flags, the Saltire and Canadian flag respectively, had to come out
for photo op's a plenty! When we checked the time we saw it was 2.45pm, which might have been a longer time to get to the summit than what it normally would have taken us, however, both Roy and myself are seasoned walkers...this was the FIRST SUMMIT the majority of this lot had made. Which was pretty freakin' awesome!! So yes, massive congratulations to these guys, and Pippa the dog. :)
After everyone had got lots of pictures, we made our way to the shelter, found some space and sat down to have some well deserved lunch! During this time the sun breaks out for the shortest time, which is great as it meant we could get some nice Nevis in the sun pics...you know...just to pretend that the whole trek up there could have been like that! ;) Once in a blue moon!! Okay, the Nevis in the sun pics might be a slight exaggeration, it was more like a ray of sunlight, but we can dream. :)
Pippa is obviously worn out and very wet and cold so she is wrapped in a towel so she's all cosy and is put in Kev's rucksack for the journey down...her little leggies HAD just climbed Ben Nevis and all!!
With everyone well rested and Pippa in her new carrier, everyone starts to make their way down...some faster than others. The good old Scottish mist made any views pretty much impossible to see until we reach the almost half way point, at the waterfall. As much as Pippa has enjoyed her time in the rucksack, her mischievous Border Terrier self soons wants out to get back on her little leggies again.
Some of the group are starting to feel tired at this point, with lots of achey knees but everyone is still smiling, joking and singing their way down to the bottom. When we finally reach the bottom we head for the car with hungry tummies.
Everyone congratulates each other on their totally awesome achievement and bloody rightly so! First summit to reach for the majority of them, and they make it Nevis. That's pretty freakin' rad by anyone's standards.
Overall it has been a long day, with it taking 9 hours in total, however it has been very rewarding. Everyone is looking forward to getting food and a shower...we are all very smelly, haha. :)
Back at the lodge, the mother has been busy peeling the neeps and tatties for our fitting after Nevis Scottish feast of Haggis, neeps and tatties. And wine and beer of course.
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