9 or so (hard) miles, 3200' ascent
The headline news is that, after our failure back in October, we did today make it to the top of Ben Lui.
Snow fell on us as we made our way through the untouched inches a ready lying there and conditions were such that I did question whether we would make it to the top.
Make it we did though and, with good timing, during one of the breaks in the cloud, so we did have a bit of a view even if most of the tops in that view were in cloud.
Things didn't go so well on the descent, so we'll gloss over that save to say that the problem was a failure to navigate. By that I don't mean that we navigated badly I mean that we failed to look at the map - absolute ridiculous stupidity.
Still, all is well that ends well and we did make it down with lives and limbs intact. As an added bonus the weather steadily improved until we were baking and all of the tops were clear - most stunningly Ben Lui.
After a hard day of pathlessness we almost flew the last 6km down the track to Tyndrum. Once here, although desperate for a rest, we weren't treated to a sit down thanks to an urgent need to wash and reproof Mick's jacket... Something of a repeat of our last trip to this place!
However, the chores are nearly complete, our stomachs have been filled at the Real Food Cafe and we're looking forward to a good and long kip to refresh us for tomorrow.
Rumour has it that the weather's looking good for the next couple of days too.
If you had snow then you just managed to top the weather we had on the Keswick to Barrow on Saturday. Wind, rain, hail, more rain, stupidly heavy hail and then bright sun with enough wind to keep it cold. Still, 5 out of 6 finished. Mike Roberts had to drop out on Friday due to a chest infection and one dropped out at the halfway halt.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the scenery, looking forward to the photos.
Wow - wouldn't fancy doing the K2B in weather like that! Well done for getting through it once again. Hope the blister count wasn't made worse by the wetness.
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