well in some ways today was a success and some ways a failure.  I left Buffer this morning with the engineer working on putting the engine back together and headed off to climb Carn Mor Dearg - which is the Munroe next to Ben Nevis. On route it quickly became apparent to me that the conditions were exceptional. the skies were blue and there was no haze - you could see for miles. It had to be ben Nevis - I may never get another chance to see the views from the top as good as they were today.
The climb is long and hard but not technically difficult - its just a slog.  When you get two thirds of the way up you hit snow, which is often ankle and knee deep. This slows progress and is very hard. I was taking loads of Photos as it was a truely exceptional day.

At the top there were : Dutch; German; French; some eastern europeans and some scots and me.  The silence of the group was probably in reverance for the stunning views.  We sat round in some form of mountain playgroup until a group of Irish arrived.  They were FFFFing and Blinding about the climb and were so funny we were all laughing.  How do the Irish manage to turn everywhere into a party!?

The way down was hard and my knees and ankles were screaming at me to stop so I did, at the pub at the bottom - only for a shandy. It was here I reviewed my photos and found I'd been recording to some temporary memeory instead of the card and I'd lost the lot - disaster.  The views are however etched on my memory as being something very special.  Sorry!