The train to Fort William. After a morning making peanut butter sandwiches and trying to shake the fog of sleep with tea, tea, coffee, tea, I made my way to the station to meet Alan, Victor, Fiona and Eilidh. We’re all off on a free winter skills course, though the mountaineering club. Free, in that we don’t have to pay for the course, but the journey to Fort William ended up being about £40, due to standard amount of faff associated with myself and booking things.

The plan was to get the train to Ft. Will, then walk in to near where we were going to be meeting the guide the next day, camp, and then head off up to the snow on Sunday morning. The train winds its way through the hills and glens of some spectacular scenery – snow-capped hills, long lochs – it was easy to see why it’s called one of the world’s most scenic journeys. Oddly enough, I met Marek’s dad on the train, who was travelling up to Mallaig to count Sea Eagles. Not a bad job!

After some snoozing and window gazing, we arrived at Ft. Will, and made our trek along the A-Road towards the Nevis range ski centre, where we’re meeting the guide tomorrow. 2 hours later, we were pitching tents in the forest, cooking pasta, and tucked up in bed before 8:30. Not much else to be done when it’s dark so early!

This is the view from the train, looking south from the northern end of Loch Lomond.