Ben Nevis

31 August 1969.

From the summit on a sunny day. No snow!

Climate Change?

Ballachulish Good Friday (13 April) 1963

The snow was still there above about 200m (amsl)

Scotland - all hostels now booked

We have accommodation at all 4 locations:

Clyde has booked Oban Backpackers
Shawn has booked The Wild Goose Hostel at Fort William for 2 nights so that we can ride on the Jacobite/Climb Ben Nevis/have a rest day.
Martin has got us accommodation at Morag's Hostel in Fort Augustus
I have now booked for the 4 of us (not Martin) at Inverness YH. This was the most suitable (not the cheapest but not much extra and there is a discount because it was booked via Shawn's link). WE have a 4 bed private room with 2 bunk beds. Shared bathroom and brekky is extra.

I will decide on whether I stay another night in Inverness nearer the time when the likely weather is forecast.

See you all at Oban (or possibly on one of the two possible trains from GLQ to Oban.)

Trains booked

I have booked all of my trains using Scotrail - Total cost £96.20

My journey-

Out:  Monday 13 May - Retford/ Edinburgh/Glasgow/Oban, arriving at 19.43

Return: Saturday 18 May  07.55 - Inverness/Edinburgh/Retford

Hostels

Just catching up on all of the bookings. Clyde, Have you booked the Oban Backpackers hostel?
It's all looking good.

Inverness and the sleeper

I found Struy Guest House, Inverness, but not sure who wants it. It's very cheap - beds at £16  and a room for 4 for £64.

Also, out of my depth with regard to sleeper. Is 07:55 on the Saturday morning? Is there another overnight? I can see no Advance tickets at all and not sure how to break the journey up! 

Martin, you don't want to stay at Inverness? What time is that sleeper that you are boarding?

Secret Scotland, Sleeping Elephants and the Jacobite (Hogworts Express)!

By strange coincidence I caught an interesting travel program  on Channel 5 called 'Secret Scotland'. the episode shown on friday evening featured Ben Nevis, Loch Ness and the 'Hogworts Express' sorry ' The Jacobite

Lovely shots of the train on the Glenifinan Viaduct, of the foot plate and the 1st class carriage, Peter take note. Nice piece on Nessy of course as well as dolphins on the loch! Did anyone else know that they described the view of Ben Nevis from the farshore of Loch Liney as a sleeping elephant!

You can catch up on the program 'Loch Ness' featuring the diminutive comedian Susan Calman on channel5.com or My5. I am sure it will appear as a repeat somewhere in the schedule over the next week!