View From Ben Nevis Inn

Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg

Last weekend we went to the Ben Nevis Inn for a coffee: the first sketch is the view of the Ben path with the Mamores beyond . Afterwards I ran up to the Half Way Lochan. As always the Ben path was crowded with tourists (of course I was crowding the path too). It is good to see so many people enjoying the mountains but it is difficult going up whilst dodging walkers coming down. However much you want to feel goodwill towards your fellow mountaineers it does detract from  the enjoyment of the hill. When I turned off the Ben path and headed over to Allt Mhuillinn ( the valley between Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg) I suddenly found myself alone . From jostling with the crowds on the Ben path to being in a true moutain wilderness in the space of a few hundred metres: what a relief! Maybe it is best that most of the tourists are channelled up one path leaving the other parts free to be enjoyed in solitude by those that seek it.
I stopped and did a quick watercolour sketch on the corner then carried on to the CIC hut( Britain's only Alpine style hut) and a bit beyond. The North Face of the Ben never ceases to thrill me with its crags and corries most often wreathed in shifting clouds.There were still a few patches of snow clinging to the cliffs. In my opinion this side of the mountain is far more preferable to the long trudge up the tourist path.
 From there it is a long run home but an enjoyable one entirely on forest trails.