Scotland Diary: Glencoe | Day Two — Jade Louise Hollier

Thursday 22nd July 2021 - My 31st birthday.

We had a big day ahead of us today. We were off to Ben Nevis! And Rachel had booked us a table at a nearby restaurant for dinner.

The weather was perfect, if not slightly hotter than we first anticipated, which meant it was definitely a shorts day. But before we could head over to Ben Nevis, we first had to experience the breakfast hall in the Granny Murder House.

When we arrived at the doorway of the breakfast hall, we weren’t quite sure what the process involved. The guy from yesterday wasn’t about with his abrupt directions and it was eerily quiet. As we approached the formally prepared breakfast table, I could see little place settings with room numbers on them. Our place settings were positioned next to the doorway. Good for a quick getaway, I suppose.

Not too long afterwards, a family appeared who took the seats furthest away from us at a separate table. And then a young couple soon followed who sat at the other end of our table. The tables themselves were laden with all sorts of breakfast items. Rachel and I (feeling under immense pressure the night before) had both chosen the continental, which included various scones, bits of toast with jams and marmalade, fruits, yoghurts and cheese. Cold cuts of meat were also supplied but naturally, we both stayed clear of that. To be honest, even if I was a meat eater, I’d have stayed clear of it.

I think the best part of the breakfast, other than enjoying the uncomfortable silence between us and the other guests, was the gentleman who was cooking. At various points, in between delivering cooked food, he often came to check on everyone and swat away flies. There seemed to be a particularly stubborn fly that wouldn’t leave and whilst we all continued to eat, the man would repeatedly hover over us, swatting at the fly with a tea towel or his hand. I don’t think we were the only ones to find this incredibly awkward, and annoying, either. Lots of knowing but unspoken glances were shared between all the guests until I found it too hard to stifle my laughter. The final nail in the coffin (and the perfect excuse to leave the table) was when Rachel started choking on her scone. Brilliant timing.

Just to note - the breakfast was lovely. Very filling but perfect for a heavy day of hiking in the heat.

***Not actually taken by me but seeing as we didn’t hike the whole thing, this should give you an idea of the landscape***

When we arrived at the meeting ground for Ben Nevis, I realised I didn’t have any hiking socks with me. We nearly always leave our hiking boots in the car, usually stuffed with a pair of dirty worn-in socks that we forget to wash. So as I contemplated wearing my Birkenstocks, but not wanting to look like a complete novice, Rachel dug around in the car and found a very dirty pair of her bright Fuschia trainer socks. They’d have to do. And off we went.

There were quite a lot of people doing the climb, more than I expected for a mid-week jaunt. Quite a lot of children too, so we figured that if they could do it, then we certainly could.

We’d already decided we wouldn’t be trekking the whole mountain, seeing as the guide recommends real hiking gear (poles, food, plenty of water, hydration tablets and protective outerwear for the harsh elements), and we only had what we came in - t-shirts and shorts. Although we did slather ourselves in suncream and made sure we had our bottles filled to the brim with water.

***Desperately clinging on to the idea of youth on my 31st birthday***

It didn’t take long to settle in on a walking pace that worked quite well for us. Rachel is much taller than me, so her strides are naturally longer, but from years of trying to keep up with my dad’s long strides, I’ve learnt to walk reasonably fast. Whenever we hike, we naturally develop our own roles too. I’m usually ahead on the way up, scoping out the best landing spots for our feet and Rachel is ahead on the way back down, doing the same. We carried on like that for the vast majority of the walk until we decided to take a break at one of the bench stops.

It was during this stop that I started chatting with an English lady who’d also paused for a rest. She told me her family had already made their way up and she was lagging behind a bit at her own pace. She’d already hiked Ben Nevis before when she was much younger but she said that the weather wasn’t anywhere near as hot as it was on our day. Must be our lucky day! Or not… depending on how well you deal with the heat.

The walk-up was quite strenuous but enjoyable. It was an odd feeling to be climbing a mountain that thousands of people had already climbed. Walking in the footsteps of others, stepping into the exact same spots that they already had. We felt a little like cattle at certain points, all of us walking in single file headed to the same destination, especially when we’d catch up to other walkers, squeezing past as we overtook them.

For once, we felt no shame in stopping. When it was time for us to head back down, we did so without any shred of guilt. We didn’t want to exhaust ourselves, nor did we want to develop any irritable moods, so when the time was right, we headed back down towards the hostel at the bottom of the track. We did get sidetracked though, finding a nice little river where Rachel dived straight in! I didn’t join her, trudging back to the hostel soaking wet mixed with lashings of sweat wasn’t quite my idea of fun.

All in all, we spent roughly 3-4 hours at Ben Nevis and although we didn’t climb the whole way to the top, the area had plenty of other parts to explore and get lost in. Ben Nevis usually takes between 7-9 hours according to the more experienced hikers, so you never know, maybe one day we’ll be back!

Once we’d gotten back to Granny Murder House, we had our showers and got ready for our evening out at the Macdonald Hotel in Kinlochleven. Rachel had booked a table for my birthday and so for once, we decided to make a bit of an effort to look a little more presentable.

We walked to the restaurant, which seemed further than it actually was, and when we chose our table we somehow managed to pick the worst spot for the sun glare. In Scotland, especially during summer, the sun never seems to fully disappear. It’s always light. So even with the backdrop of the beautiful sunset, we still had the rays in our eyes. Our waiter was quite eclectic with a sickly thin stature, long ponytail and jumpy mannerisms. I still stand by my opinion that he was rather fond of Rachel but she heavily disagrees. He also loved to talk. A lot. I’m not a talker at the best of times so I mostly left it up to Rachel to humour him which after a few glasses of Harris gin, she was happy to do.

Rachel even treated me to a chocolate brownie dessert, which she ate. I did get a bite in though and it was the perfect ending to a brilliant birthday. With full tummies and a drunken Rachel, we meandered back to Granny Murder House to put the next order in for our breakfast and to start packing.

We’d be leaving Glencoe the next day, headed for the Isle of Skye.

Read the next entry ‘Scotland Diary: Isle of Skye’

Read the previous entry ‘Scotland Diary: Glencoe| Day One’