Day 1 – Travel from Gloucester

Last year we climbed Scafell Pike and next on our list of the three peaks was Ben Nevis. Unfortunately Ben Nevis is an 8 hour drive from Gloucester so we needed 4 nights for the trip. We planned to go at the end of May bank holiday and luckily the weather was forecast to be good. We left home after school on the Friday night and drove just South of the Scottish border and stayed in a Travel Lodge for the night.

Day 2 – Loch Lomond & Fort William

We wanted to enjoy the drive to Ben Nevis so our first stop was Loch Lomond where we spent a bit of time just playing on the shore and throwing skimming stones.

^{A bit of fun playing skimming stones before returning to the car!}

We then carried on towards Fort William with a quick pit stop at the Falls of Falloch – so we could have a proper walk.

We then drove through Glen Coe, Fort William and arrived at the Glen Nevis Camp Site to pitch our tent and have a dinner of tomato soup and cheese sandwiches!

Day 3 – Ben Nevis

It was a beautiful day and we were out of the camp site by 8am to start our hike.

As we were approaching the cloud line at about 1000 meters someone on the path ahead of us hurt themselves so the mountain rescue helicopter came in and airlifted them off the mountain.

^{Mountain rescue just ahead of us on the path}

We hit the snow line at 1200 meters and it was quite cloudy so we couldn’t actually see anyone else nearby – even though it was busy. We made our way along the path following the cairns.

^{1200 meters above the cloud and snow line}

We made it to the top by noon so it took us about 4 hours which we were pleased with. We had our lunch but due to the cloud there were no views at all!

As we began our descent the sun came out so the scenery was beautiful. However – I always find climbing down harder than going up and at one point told Stu, Tom and Izzy to save themselves and leave me behind!!!!

^{Views coming down the mountain}

We made it back to the campsite by late afternoon and had fish and chips for tea from a food truck at the site.

Day 4 – Glen Coe

It was going to take 2 days to make our way back home so we were staying the night in another Travel Lodge off the motorway. It meant we could take our time working our way through Scotland so we decided to go and find the film setting for Hagrid’s Hut in Harry Potter. However – due to the climb both Stu and my legs would get really stiff every time we sat down, so whenever we had to get out of the car it was really hard work!

We also found the location where M and James Bond had a meeting in one of the films so I had Tom and Izzy recreate the pose!

^{James Bond filming location}

Day 5 – Blackpool

We realised that our hotel was only 30 minutes from Blackpool so decided to do a quick detour and visit on our way home. We played on the beach for a bit and then were able to go inside the ballroom at Blackpool Tower and watch people dancing.

^{Blackpool Beach}