WOW, if there is a god, then he has visited Scotland this weekend. Two months ago, when I was planning my strategy to prepare for Kilimanjaro, I had planned to climb Ben Nevis yesterday. As luck goes...I think I just ate the lucky tree!! I am almost unable to describe to you just what a fantastic day we had. The west of Scotland enjoyed the most amazing Indian summer, with temperatures reaching up to 20c and wind speeds of next to nothing.
This is a part of the country that has long been a favourite of mine since, as a 19 year old I cycled down the length of Scotland's great lochs, but I can honestly say that she has never looked more beautiful. This is gold, silver and bronze, purple heather, endless hills of rainbow shades. Cold rock, and warm colour against the bluest sky I have ever seen. Reflections from the clearest lochs only add to the wonder, like mirrors exaggerating the colour and magnifying the beauty here. This really was the most fantastic day, and one which will long live in the memory.
At 4,409ft Ben Nevis is the highest point the in British Isles, and there is no doubt, this was a great walk, and great preparation. The scree top, like walking in a sand dune is hard work, and unlike the miner's path up Snowdon, Ben Nevis does not offer you much of an introduction, its steeply into it's stride from the off.
Forget the hours on the exercise bike, or pacing on the treadmill, there is no substitute for getting hills in your legs as preparation, and if you can do it in brilliant sunshine, with people you love? Well, it just doesn't get any better than this. Of course, it's a long way to go for a walk...8 hours either way, it's been a hell of a weekend, but of walking a few miles around the flat midlands is one thing, trying to replicate a daily elevation of 4000 feet quite another. Legs feeling great this morning, so I'm feeling good about how my training is going. Snowdon twice, 22 miles around the Malverns, and countless walks through the Northamptonshire countryside are one thing....this though, was the most fantastic of days.
This was the a great climb, in the most beautiful place. I have stood at the highest point our home country has to offer in brilliant sunshine, looking down on the few wispy clouds that dared to show their faces. It's not the height of Kilimanjaro, of course, but this mountain, on a day like today is possibly the most beautiful place on earth. I loved it, it was my perfect day.
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