Fort William

Our Walk of The West Highland Way, Carn Mor Dearg Arete & Ben Nevis Summit Camp

Thursday 8th September:
A rest day in Fort William at the end of the West Highland Way.


You really don't want to get a tick in your eyelid. You might have someone telling you in detail how its burrowing in every time they try to pull it out! And then it might even burst in the attempt!	A sign put up by a woollen goods shop is generally thought of as the end of the West Highland Way. No idea who the old man is.	Glen Nevis campsite. Plenty of space, it's like 10 different campsites in one, but you need to look out for boggy ground and we'd bet it can be a haven for midges (though we were fortunate).

Upon waking, after the initial bleariness of sleep had cleared, we noticed to our slight consternation that a plump, blood-engorged tick was protruding from the edge of Jo's eyelid! It was larger yet than the one found between Alan's toes days earlier at Bridge of Orchy, and required repeated careful plucking with tweezers to remove. Unfortunately, it burst in the process and left in a tiny mouth part which we were unable to extract - ideally of course, bursting the tick or leaving mouth parts in are to be avoided to minimise risk of Lyme transmission. We thoroughly searched ourselves for further ticks. Following this trauma, and with eight days of walking behind us, it turned out that Jo had gotten lazy! We decided to delay the Ben Nevis climb and have a rest / organisation day and put a little research into the Carn Mor Dearg arete and feasibility of doing a Nevis summit camp. Alan emerged from a shave in the bathroom with numerous minor lacerations to the face - plainly out of practice! We then made off to the end of the West Highland Way, a couple of miles along the pavement from the campsite, dropping in at the visitor centre en-route. Here, Alan cautiously enquired without wanting to raise undue concern, about his long hard desire to walk the arete and sleep in a tent on top of the Ben. It was coming to the point where our questions were beginning to flummox the friendly Info Centre officer, when a Lochaber Mountain Rescue team member stepped from the back office and instantly recognised Jo, who had actually treated him on an earlier Fort William physiotherapy placement. Naturally, he was an excellent source for information on walking the arete and was even enthusiastic about our hopes of camping on the plateau, "if that's the kind of challenge you want". We had half-expected to be told not to be stupid, but apparently the Lochaber MRT have done this as a training exercise themselves. After ten minutes' of advice on timing, distances and a contingency in case of a turn of weather, we picked up a leaflet on the Great Glen Way (a cycle / walking route from Fort William to Inverness which we'd like to do), and headed off to finish our journey. On the outskirts of Fort William, in a crafty marketing tactic, a sign on the grounds of a woollen mill proclaims the end of the West Highland Way, and groups of walkers gather there for photos. We asked a rather embarrassed-looking local couple to take a snap of us huddled up by the sign. Perhaps it's the wear and tear of our adventure, the hunched back, or the formal polyester trousers (great for walking), but for some reason Alan looks like a very old man! We continue into the town, rebook our train tickets, get a mountain weather forecast for the area from an internet cafe, purchase more food supplies and visit Nevis Sport for a proper base layer for Jo. Later, back in Glen Nevis, we take dinner out at Cafe Dearg, with Duck strips, noodles and chocolate fudge cake - wow! We will climb Ben Nevis tomorrow, but route and camping location will be weather-dependent. If conditions look good for a summit camp, we'll take our packs onto the arete and onwards to the summit; if not, we'll make camp at the half-way-lochan, ascend via the arete and return later via the pony track. Forecasts are 35 m.p.h. for wind, so a summit camp might just be possible with good coordination in getting the tent up.

< Previous Next >

Fort William

Our Walk of The West Highland Way, Carn Mor Dearg Arete & Ben Nevis Summit Camp

Thursday 8th September: A rest day in Fort William at the end of the West Highland Way.

Thursday 8th September:
A rest day in Fort William at the end of the West Highland Way.