After breaking camp on the Friday I headed for my next destination, Glen Nevis but first there was a bit of a detour. I’d always wanted to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct and this was reasonably near my destination so I headed for the visitor centre for the Glenfinnan monument. The car park was pretty full when I got there but the advantage of a camper van is that you can squeeze in where other motorhomes fear to tread.
The monument is on the location where Bonny Prince Charlie raised his standard at the start of the 1745-1746 Jacobite rebellion. The location is stunning, on the shores of the loch with surrounding hills.
I was able to see the viaduct from the observation point and it was a spectacular sight. There is something about the right structure in the right place that can enhance the landscape. I wasn’t able to get much closer as the path up was covered in mud and puddles.
After admiring the view for a while, it was on to the campsite at Glen Nevis. The site is an impressive size and well laid out. The showers are possibly a little old but the location at the foot of Ben Nevis more than makes up for it.
After some lunch I went along to the visitor centre for Ben Nevis. Here there was some very useful information about climb the hill to be had including the not very promising weather forecast. The top of the hill was in cloud and not much chance of it clearing.
Saturday, the main even was the climb up Ben Nevis. This was a 20Km walk with 1300m of ascent. There is a good path up but it was fairly eroding in places. As expected the summit was in cloud and there was nothing to see. But on the way up and down there were some photo opportunities lower down.
The most amazing thing was people climbing the hill unprepared. Trainers and canvas shoes, no maps. While the path is good, navigation at the summit can be tricky and if the cloud had got even just a little thicker, it would have been compass and pacing to get back to the path.
After the climb it was back to the van in torrential rain. I had to put full waterproofs on to go to the showers. It was still going strong when I went to bed.
Sunday morning the rain was off as I woke but came on with a vengeance after breakfast so the awning was pretty wet when packing up. But I broke camp in double quick time and then was off down the road. Legs were aching but a holiday well spent.
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