11th June - Today we tackle "The Ben". When we landed at the hostel we had a walk across the road to the start of the climb. Then it hits you this thing just goes up and up and up. It is relentless! We wondered if this was going to do us in. In the morning we got fed and watered and set off on our last hill. Onwards and upwards. We made good time to mid point. Then the hill goes in to mist (no surprise). The path up is steep but is in good condition. As you climb the path goes into a series of switch backs. As we reached the last third we hit snow. Yes snow in june! Once we got up that, you walk further and again nearing the summit you hit snow again. The top is covered with about 2 to 3 feet of snow. The mist and snow makes it difficult to see the summit and also the edge of the summit, but for us hearing voices on the top we could have easily gone past the ruins of the observatory at the top. It took us 3 hours to get to the top and 2 hours to get back down. Not bad considering we had 2 mountains and 500 miles in our legs. Once we got to the bottom we had a quick brew before gathering our gear and heading off to the train station for the long journey home.
No comments:
Post a Comment