Ben And Torch

Ben Nevis from a distance on Friday 8th June

Today I was working for Jagged Globe as one of the marshalls on Ben Nevis, along with Keith, Rachel, Graham, Dave and Jamie. There were over 200 people starting their 3 Peaks challenge this morning at 4am. This will be a crazy 24 hours for them all. We got an early start and got into our marshalling positions on the hill before they arrived. This gave us a really early start, but with the benefit of seeing Ben Nevis in all it's glory just after dawn with nobody else around.

At 5.40am there are only the few of us marshalls on the hill

Before 8am this morning towards 300 people had visited the summit of the Ben - by the end of the day, how many I wonder! We passed at least 5 people on their way down after seeing the sun rise from the top - and I thought I had an early start.

Not long after this photo was taken, this path had hundreds of people moving up and down - mostly raising money for charity. A normal day on the Ben

I wasn't expecting to get such stunning views this morning

Before 6am. A rare moment of quiet on the summit today

So after a couple of hours of marshalling at the top, we made our way down - to the sad news that one of our group had a suspected fractured ankle, so Mountain Rescue was in full swing - sweeping him down to have an x-ray - probably at the Belford.

Unfortunately a broken ankle neccessitates a lift in the Big Bird down to the Belford

My day continued swiftly in Fort William to celebrate the Olympic Torch passing through town. With some chance positioning, we saw 3 people carry the torch therough town, to the tunes of Bagpipes and travelling Coca Cola party music. I've never seen so many people in the middle of town.

A very busy Fort William at lunchtime celebrating the Olympic Torch running through town

The Torch had lunch in town, so we managed to see 3 runners carrying the Torch

A busy day, and it's only lunchtime!