Ben Nevis down

Looking frightened at the start!

It began in relatively pleasant weather but the clouds came in and at the Red Burn we started to feel the wind chill. Pushing on, at about 2000 feet, the wind and rain picked up but still not deterred, Gilly set the pace and we followed like little sheep. Keeping one eye on the altimeter it was evident that we were nearing the summit, but unfortunately visibility was limited and had it not been for our brightly coloured jackets, we might have lost each other in the clouds which had decided to start dumping snow and hail upon us at this point.

In the gloom, the ruins of the Observatory appeared as did a little refuge which provided little refuge in the inclement conditions that we were experiencing. We squeezed into the metal biscuit tin refuge, however, to join three French gentlemen who were most surprised when Sarah produced a Birthday cake complete with 50 candles. How she managed to light them with frozen fingers we will never know, but it made for a very pleasant interlude and the candles provided some welcome heat. The cake was lemon and raspberry with limoncello filling. Lovely jubbly!

The weather did not improve on the return journey and the wet stones made it treacherous. After a couple of inevitable tumbles, we were very happy to see the finish rise up to meet us. This turned out to be a very tough walk. It would have been a very pleasant walk had it not been for the weather.

And the weather is forecasting no improvement for this evening, in fact, further south, the predicted storms could be the worst they have had in years. Let's hope this storm has blown itself out by Tuesday when Scafell Pike is the objective. 

Time to replenish our carbohydrate deficit!