Ben Nevis

From the point of yesterday's image if you walked or flew about 4.5km into the centre of the picture you would arrive here; the North Face foot path. The same tricky light situation presented itself because the direction of view is very similar and so is the timing of the photo.

A repeated errand has seen me land at Fort William again and stuck there for two hours. It is too short to come home and resume work so again it was Caley's walk time. The venue needed to be somewhere less tramped but not too far out of town either and we had done Tomnaharich twice already. Caley facncied the North Face path. In fact I think he fancied repeating our monster walk of a few weeks ago which included bagging Carn Mor Dearg and the Ben but total walking time couldn't exceed about 90 minutes. We didn't walk far but when you ascend a thousand feet in a hurry it certainly makes you draw deep breaths. I took the big rucksack and tripod so I could bracket the shots in the anticpated dynamic range that would present itself too. The weight didn't help the pace.

A guy I have known from school days appeared behind me when I was messing about with the tripod. When I worked on waste water treatment projects a long time aga D was the guy at Scottish Water who knew everything about underground services in Lochaber. He imparted his advice and vast knowledge kindly and willingly to anyone who asked. I always appreciated his help. He is a bit older than me and is clearly enjoying his early retirement.

My opening words were "Well there is a man enjoying his retirement!" I didn't know he liked the hills but he explained he finds such tramps invigorating and good for the soul. I know where he's coming from.

Though not linked directly we have mutual friends on Facebook and the conversation quickly strayed to the untimely death of one of our former schoolmates earlier this week. Rest in peace TG.

Caley and I marched back down the hill briskly and I was slightly annoyed with myself that I was 20 minutes early back at the car. I could have walked a little further or deliberated a little longer with the photos.