Ben Nevis & Steall Waterfall hike

[woo]

Took my yearly bike ride trip to the Scottish Highlands and decided to make a video/pic slide show of going up Ben Nevis and also hiking to Steall waterfall, both great places to visit if your in the highlands.

Scenery here is amazing and the air is so much cleaner to breath than in London, reminded me I need to hurry up and buy my flat, rent it out move up to the highlands and work from home instead of doing yearly trips!

Car park at Ben Nevis visitor centre costs £8 for the day which is steep but its probably the only car park charge I dont mind paying as it goes to supporting the place (might even actually be free for motorbikes but meh I still paid)

Next year the plan is to do the west highland way which is a 100 mile hike from Glasgow to Fort William that I am proper looking forward to and will give it 2 weeks to do even though it can be done in 4 days but I would rather take my jolly time and take everything in slowly.
Theres no need for me rush on this, not looking forward to camping but its all part of it.

Rode up to Scotland from London on my Honda Grom again all 125cc of it doing 60 mph on the M1, M6, M74, A82 lol!
13 hours of riding in one day listening to music
Did a couple of rides around but mostly hiked alot
All in I hiked 190 miles and 429,168 steps

Heres Ben Nevis hike up and down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBgE29-ly4w

Heres Steall waterfall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAc5gibMRZ0

Paid a visit to a bothy called Luib Chonnal bothy which is a 10 mile round trip hike from the end of the public road.
Google location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Luib+Chonnal/@57.0121634,-4.6810321,13.25z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x488f2f51b33a3045:0x7994dc68d1a39417!8m2!3d57.0058664!4d-4.6455646
The location of this bothy is stunning imagining living here is pure bliss, no noise, no large crowds of people just nature.
If your ever near Roy Bridge I deffo recommend visiting this spot with the waterfall also in the back ground.

In case anyones wondering what a bothy looks like here it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaQb9ogi0_0
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[chickenstrip]

[struan80]

I can recommend a night, preferably Saturday, at The Drovers Inn at Loch Lomond. I keep going back there for the Saturday night with the live music. Really hearty establishment dating back 300 years or so. And it's haunted!

[woo]

I have passed the Drovers Inn many many times over the years, I will pop in next year as per your recommendation.

Midges are a pain and I sweat a lot so I get the bigger flies coming to me to drink eat my sweat they piss me off just as much as midges
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[ThunderGuts]

Fantastic trip - I have a massive hankering to do such things on my C90, although I don't particularly like the idea of the motorways on that and not sure how sympathetic full throttle and max revs for hours on end are to the aging engine!

Did you get as far as the CIC hut? It's a stunning place to be looking up at the big face of the Ben, with Tower Ridge etc.. rising above you. Makes you appreciate how ballsy those early Victorian climbing pioneers were climbing such things in tweed jackets and hobnail boots.
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TG.

[woo]

Honda C90 is probably the most robust reliable bike ever after seeing what Ed did with his here, this dudes practically been around the world on it in every weather condition: https://www.youtube.com/c/c90adventures/videos
on one of Ed's trips he ran out of oil and did i think over 400 miles with no oil
he did change the piston after, its amazing how cheap parts are for the honda C90

I didnt go to the CIC hut but I am curious to visit it maybe next year
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[MCN]

[ThunderGuts]

Avon Skin-so-soft used to be effective (not tried it myself, but I've heard good reports) - I get the impression it's less of a repellent and more that it just makes it less pleasant for the critters.

I avoid going to Scotland in the summer - easiest way to avoid the midges. That said, midges have been knocked off top spot now by horseflies which until the last few years I've never really noticed, but now seem to get plagued with them in the Lakes (again, summertime only though).

Rumours are Marmite and garlic consumption helps to keep midges away on the basis it changes your skin's scent . . . unsure if true or not, but I'm happy to continue to use it as an excuse to consume excessive amounts of both.
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TG.

[MCN]

[woo]

Avon skin so soft is 100% on my list!
Soo looking forward to doing this in 2023 and then doing it in reverse at some point in the future!
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!