The Night Before Ben Nevis

Karen McKenna
4 days ago
2 min read

Carbs, Campsite Banter and the Calm Before the Climb

There are easier ways to spend a bank holiday weekend.

Eight of us, mostly veterans, headed to Fort William to take on Ben Nevis for MindfulStep. The plan was simple: arrive the day before, pitch up at the campsite, get some food, get some sleep, then climb the UK’s highest mountain in the morning.

Simple enough.

After long journeys from different parts of the country, we arrived at our temporary base camp with Ben Nevis sitting in the background looking big, moody and far too pleased with itself. The weather had been glorious in the build-up, but Scotland clearly had other ideas.

Before worrying about the mountain, though, we had one priority.

Carbs.

We headed into Fort William for fish and chips, only to discover that half the town seemed to have run out of food. Fish and chips was off. Pizza was off. Apparently, booking ahead on a bank holiday weekend was the way forward. Who knew?

Eventually, we found somewhere that could feed us. The reviews were not exactly glowing, which naturally led to plenty of jokes about food poisoning, tactical avoidance of shellfish, and whether the challenge might take a very different turn.

Dave was happy enough. There was spinach risotto on the menu.

Apparently spinach is good for your head, which was all the group needed. Dave became Popeye before the food had even arrived.

John, our ex-Royal Navy (Matelot), was also getting plenty of attention. Concerns were raised around the table about whether he might suffer altitude sickness roughly ten feet above sea level, and whether he had actually found his land legs yet.

He took it well, mainly because he had no choice.

More banter followed when John, who is now in the Police, started telling us about a pursuit through a Surrey town after a boy racer had been tearing around causing mayhem.

John began, very seriously:

“I was in my police car…”

Before he could get much further, Geoff came straight back with:

“Well, I’m pleased to hear that you were in the police car and not the other one!”

The timing was perfect. The table went, John tried to carry on with the story, but the damage was done.

**Important detail confirmed: John was in the police car.**

And that was just the night before —next blog coming up: next morning, the fog was thicker, the top of Ben Nevis had vanished completely, there was snow on the cap, and eight slightly under-slept people were about to find out exactly what they had signed up for.