Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Britain, at 1345 meters above sea level. It is also the tallest of the peaks included in the National Three Peaks Challenge, which you can read more about here: https://www.threepeakschallenge.uk/national-three-peaks-challenge/ Despite travelling to England, Scotland, and Wales during the summer of 2019, I did not attempt the National Three Peaks Challenge because I only heard about it later in my trip. I hiked Ben Nevis during the few days off that I had in Fort William between finishing the West Highland Way and starting the Great Glen Way. The Walk Highlands website reports that the Mountain Path, which is the standard route up Ben Nevis, is 17km and takes 7 to 9 hours round trip, so I budgeted an entire day for the hike.
I set off from the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel where I was staying. There is path from here that joins the main path from the Glen Nevis Visitor Centre around 1km along. The first half of the path up Ben Nevis is mostly rock stairs, which is too developed for my liking and I would have preferred a more rustic trail. I knew that I would not have the trail to myself, as Ben Nevis is a very popular hike, attracting around 125,000 hikers per year; however, I was still surprised by the number of other hikers attempting to summit Ben Nevis on the same day that I was.
It was a hot and sunny day, so when I reached the valley with Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe, I was tempted to take a dip to rinse the sweat off. Instead, I just stopped to enjoy the view for a moment before carrying on.
Shortly after, I crossed the Red Burn stream.
After this point, the path became much rougher, turning to loose rock. Since the terrain was so unstable and uneven, I found myself walking with my head down, focusing on where my feet were stepping. As I got closer to the summit, the air steadily became cooler, which was a welcome change. I passed people walking down Ben Nevis who were all bundled up in jackets, mittens, and hats.
The visibility on the trail declined significantly once I got up into the cloud cover and I gained an appreciation for how people have died on Ben Nevis by accidentally walking off the edge of a ridge. I had hoped I would get lucky and be rewarded with 360 degree panoramic views of the surrounding hills and the valley below; however, there is rarely a clear day on the top of Ben Nevis, and today was no exception. Surrounded by a wall of dense grey cloud and stumbling over boulders, I found myself not really enjoying the journey and starting to hope that the end was near. I stopped to throw on a couple layers of clothing because I had finally gotten chilly in my T-shirt.
I was relieved when I finally spotted the summit through the haze. There was a long line of hikers waiting to get their photo taken by the cairn that marks the highest point. It was a surprisingly well organized system, as each person took a photo for the person or group ahead of them in line.
I did not stay at the summit long, partly because there was no view to enjoy and partly because it was freezing. I took a peek inside the summit survival shelter out of curiosity, but did not climb inside because I was repulsed by the trash that had been left behind.
Looking at the app that I use to track my hikes, it appears that I did not save the log of my hike up Ben Nevis, so I cannot provide you with exact statistics. I recall the hike taking me approximately 4 and a half hours, with the way down actually taking slightly longer because I was being careful not to fall. I'm proud to have trekked to the summit of the tallest mountain in Britain and I make use of the bragging rights I have earned from this feat; however, I did not particularly enjoy this hike because I found that neither of the two very different types of terrain on the path were overly pleasant to walk on.