Ben Nevis

On my first day off we decided to go to Fort William and try and climb Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland. We were ready very early, as it would take quite a climb to reach the top, and as I had made us a flask of coffee and some sarmies, we stopped along the road running through Glencoe, and watched as the sun started peeping through the crags and crannies of the mighty mountains all around us. It is a mystical place to be, with loch  Ahber twinkling in the early rays of the rising sun, and the cool air stinging your cheeks until they were red, and inhaling the fresh mountain air was to me like a new lease on my life! The recollection of my children's faces when they saw the steep and winding road we had to drive on made me smile, and very proud of my little Panda, as she went up and down like a champion, the sweety.
Glencoe is of great historical significance, as it was there that the Campbells, actually it was the Jacobites, with only a few Campbels under leadership of one Robert Campbell, murdered a lot of people of the clan macDonald. It is a terrible story, as the murderers took advantage of the macDonalds's hospitality in having them as guests, but all the time Robert and his fellow murderers plotted to kill their hosts. In the end they killed thirty eight people, and a further forty people, including children died of exposion after their houses were burned down. Glencoe was then named 'Mort Ghlinne Canhann', meaning Murder of Glencoe, in Gaelic.
However, Glencoe is breathtakinly beautiful and awe inspiring, and it is here that the latest James Bond film, Skyfall was made, and of course one of the Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban!
We just had a coffee in Fort William,and had the flask filled up, then we were off to Ben Nevis for the big climb. We took a throw-away barbeque thingy, meat and some other nice stuff with, as we intended to have a barbeque lunch when we got to the top, if we get to the top. The little road winding up the slope was not too steep, and it was also beautiful, with small streams bubbling happilly alongside, and sometimes we had to jump from stone to stone to cross a stream running across the path.
But the path became steeper as we neared the still hiding Ben Nevis, as it is not visible until after a quite a climb, but when it eventually rose up out of the mist, I knew that I was not going to make it that day, After a week of about ten hours per day on my feet, the old legs just would not be up to that climb.
Jan was horrified when after we reached the foot of our destination, I said that I would wait there, and do the barbeque to be ready when they came back, as his mother was always up to everything. He was used to me taking them all over South Africa on hiking trips, as their father had a serious heart condition, and could not do anything too streneous.
So we found a nice spot where I could wait and later do our lunch, and the three of them proceeded on their quest of Ben Nevis. About half an hour later Nina came back, stating that the actual Ben Nevis climb was too stiff for her, so Jan and Renè were going to attempt it, but, she said the higher you go, the more awesome and bigger the mountain became, and her legs were just also not up to that, and she doubted whether the other two would make it that day. So the two of us lazed around until we thought that it was about time to start the barbeque, and we had to laugh, as the people passing, and came to investigate the wonderful smells of minted chops cooking, were astonished to see us there, busilly cooking!
Shortly after we started cooking, Jan and Renè came back, looking very, very tired, and said that they had managed to get up about halfway, but as the going was really hard, it would be impossible to reach the top if not started very early in the morning. But at least we had a wonderful day, and I think a lot of people went down with grumbling tummies after smelling the aroma of our cooking chops!