Steph's Travels: The Long Slog up Britain's Highest Peak!

We left Edinburgh by bus and headed to Fort William.

Riding through the highlands was one of the most beautiful bus rides I have ever been on. Hills (or mountains) were on both sides of us and we passed lake (loch) after lake. Sheep were everywhere, free grazing in the mountains. It was amazing.

After two bus rides and about 5 or 6 hours later we finally made it to Fort William and our hostel, Achintee Farm, which was situated at the base of Ben Nevis.

Heading to our hostel. :)

It was a beautiful farm house with mountains in it's front yard and a river in it's back yard.

Beautiful!

We took a taxi to get to the farm from the bus station which was a good thing because we had started walking in the wrong direction. Our taxi driver was very nice and we actually ended up running into him again the next day and chatted for a while. Our host was probably one of the funniest guys I have ever met. He made fun of us the whole time. Emily for being from Idaho and me for carrying a hat box around, and for us taking a taxi to get to his house. He was so funny we could not stop laughing. He showed us our room and our shared living space. We had our own roomed and shared a kitchen, living room, and bathroom with a French guy and his son.

We knew we wanted to hike Ben Nevis the next day so we decided to walk to town and get some food for our hike as well as stock up on breakfast stuff. We walked because we didn't want to be given a hard time again and it was only 2 miles off.

Unfortunately we took a wrong turn somewhere and got lost, while caught in a downpour. We wandered in and out of neighborhoods, along streets and even tried to go through gates to cross the railroad tracks... however, some guy that was monitoring the tracks saw us and stopped us. Luckily he didn't fine us the 900 pound fine and instead pointed us in the write direction. I think he pitied us because we were soaked to the bone and very lost. :) We ended up finding a small gas station and asked the lady how to get to the store. Apparently we had walked 2 miles in the wrong direction... so we headed back into town, the store, got our food, and walked back. It was a fun little trip that allowed us to explore the town a bit more. :D

When we got back we walked up to the inn that was only 50m away and had a delicious dinner. I had lamb and corn and a block potato. :)

After our dinner people started coming in and formed a little band and played some live Scottish music. It was great because there were young guys and older people all playing together. We were sitting in a 200 year old barn, listening to traditional Scottish music while gazing out the windows at sheep and amazing mountains in the background. The night was perfect.

The next morning we set out to climb Ben Nevis! It was a cloudy day but was not raining yet! Beautiful!

Ben Nevis is the highest peak in the British Isles. After our hike we read a little warning about it. It went like this...

The long slog up Britain's highest peak: Only for the fully fit, experienced, and well equipped hillwalker.

Length: 8 miles

Hight climbed: 4300 ft

ha ha

We made it to the top in 3 hours and even got some snow while we were up there! We heard it was a beautiful view but is rarely seen because the mountain is almost always surrounded in clouds. The cloud was beautiful though ;) We stayed a bit at the top until we were too cold then skipped on down the mountain... well part of the way at least. :) It started clearing up a bit more and we were able to see more of the valley as we went down. I love this area so much!

We found the thistle! The scottish national flower. :D

Went through a lot of farm land and passed a lot of sheep towards the bottom.

After the hike we walked 2 miles back into town (without getting lost this time) and had dinner at a local pub. We tried haggis for the first time! Not bad!