Scotland - Day Six
Have you ever walked 1344m horizontally ? I’m sure you did it …. and how about going this distance vertically? The Ben Nevis Mountain has a height of 1344m and is the highest mountain in UK. I thought that climbing this one would be easy due to a small secret: for the last half a year I do not use elevators at all, only stairs. I truly believed that this practice would help me to climb this big mountain. Unfortunately, it didn’t help me at all. Frankly speaking, Dimi’s shape after jogging in Belgium seemed to give better results. One day I might consider doing it myself as well…
We started the day at the youth hostel. It was quite difficult to wake up because we knew that today we have a hard task to fulfill. Finally, around noon we arrived to the foot of the mountain were the walking path starts. We were lucky, the weather conditions could not have been better: sunny, warm and just a bit windy. After ignoring the recommendations of having proper hiking shoes and a proper map, we started to climb. We were quite surprised; the walking path was touristy and well shaped. You could literally walk on the prepared path to the top. Half way through, which was not easy, on the high of 500m, there is a small lake, there we had our first breakfast break; a sandwich with tasty Scottish salmon refilled us with energy which gave a bit of hope to reach the top. The way to the top was difficult; we made many small stops and it took loads of swearing and sweating, especially me on the swearing part.
On the way we raised an important philosophical question: Why people climb mountains? If it’s just for the view, you can always get a postcard. What makes people to do these silly and challenging things? Discussing this issue ….. we finally reached the top.
It was freezing and the snow was laying aside, but the view was breath-taking. We almost touched the clouds and we could look over the mountains into the ocean. It was an amazing feeling to stand on the highest mountain of the UK. I’ve sent a text message to a number of friends, and my sister replied with a good one: “Write my name there”.
At the top we had another Salmon sandwich and a proper rest. My shoes, the famous Dr Martins, which I wear for the last five years, tried to prove once again that they are the strongest on the market, unfortunately the (sole) is completely flat which caused me to slip a dozen number of times. Probably this was the last trip of my favorite shoes. It took us 3 hours to climb the mountain and 2,5 hours to get down again. At the bottom of the mountain there was a nice restaurant where we had a pile of soup with crispy bread. It was truly delicious!
The adventure made us quite tired but we had to drive 2 hours to the Youth hostel in Glasgow. It is located in a posh area in Glasgow. Taking off the stinking clothes and taking a hot shower were the first tasks, which followed with a pub tour. The hostel receptionist suggested us to be careful because Glasgow is known as the murder capital of Europe. In a pub we had a pint of beer and listened to an open mic event with local people singing with the strange Glasgow accent…..
We started the day at the youth hostel. It was quite difficult to wake up because we knew that today we have a hard task to fulfill. Finally, around noon we arrived to the foot of the mountain were the walking path starts. We were lucky, the weather conditions could not have been better: sunny, warm and just a bit windy. After ignoring the recommendations of having proper hiking shoes and a proper map, we started to climb. We were quite surprised; the walking path was touristy and well shaped. You could literally walk on the prepared path to the top. Half way through, which was not easy, on the high of 500m, there is a small lake, there we had our first breakfast break; a sandwich with tasty Scottish salmon refilled us with energy which gave a bit of hope to reach the top. The way to the top was difficult; we made many small stops and it took loads of swearing and sweating, especially me on the swearing part.
On the way we raised an important philosophical question: Why people climb mountains? If it’s just for the view, you can always get a postcard. What makes people to do these silly and challenging things? Discussing this issue ….. we finally reached the top.
It was freezing and the snow was laying aside, but the view was breath-taking. We almost touched the clouds and we could look over the mountains into the ocean. It was an amazing feeling to stand on the highest mountain of the UK. I’ve sent a text message to a number of friends, and my sister replied with a good one: “Write my name there”.
At the top we had another Salmon sandwich and a proper rest. My shoes, the famous Dr Martins, which I wear for the last five years, tried to prove once again that they are the strongest on the market, unfortunately the (sole) is completely flat which caused me to slip a dozen number of times. Probably this was the last trip of my favorite shoes. It took us 3 hours to climb the mountain and 2,5 hours to get down again. At the bottom of the mountain there was a nice restaurant where we had a pile of soup with crispy bread. It was truly delicious!
The adventure made us quite tired but we had to drive 2 hours to the Youth hostel in Glasgow. It is located in a posh area in Glasgow. Taking off the stinking clothes and taking a hot shower were the first tasks, which followed with a pub tour. The hostel receptionist suggested us to be careful because Glasgow is known as the murder capital of Europe. In a pub we had a pint of beer and listened to an open mic event with local people singing with the strange Glasgow accent…..
posted by KGena at 1:36 AM
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