Ben Nevis – 1344m
A quick post about what I was up to a couple weeks back: hiking up the tallest mountain in the UK, Ben Nevis. While the size of the mountain may make it seem like not much of an achievement (1344m), the start is at about sea level, so it’s a decent climb. That, and I bit off a little more than I could chew by deciding to climb it with another Canadian I met in the hostel; he is a park ranger manager in BC and climbs mountains for a living. So, for the first bit I could keep his pace, but eventually I had to tell him to slow it down a little or leave me behind! He has kids my age, yet I felt like the old man and developed a hip problem going up. But by having his pace to keep up to, I think I set a personal best for getting my ass up a mountain!
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to see from the top; the peak is clouded over about 70% of days. It also rains over 7 times as much there as it does in ‘sunny’ London. The picture at the bottom shows us two Canadians on the top with snow on the ground and cloud all around (click here for more pictures).
Next on the list for me: go to Sweden and climb their tallest mountain. For some reason that’s what I feel like doing, climbing mountains, rather than just going to a place to say I’ve been there. That and of course partying it up with local Swedish girls!
