So, I decided since the weather has been so nice recently that I would climb Bennachie, something I haven’t done since I was young. Well, let’s just say I survived. What an adventure, nothing is ever smooth and simple for me.
I was very well prepared, my partner and I made sure we had some energy snacks and plenty of water with us in case the temperature rose, which thankfully it didn’t. We left first thing in the morning to ensure it wasn’t too busy, definitely a good idea if you want to enjoy it peacefully and to ensure the sun isn’t too high in the sky making it too hot.
We arrived at Bennachie at around 9:30am ready to take on the beast. Having not climbed Bennachie in our adult lives we had no idea what trail we should be following, and before we knew it we realised we had chosen the wrong one, but it was too late to go back. After the initial steep inclines, we then discovered we were running out of trail and all we had left were rocks to climb, very large rocks making it very difficult and most certainly a challenge for someone as unfit as me.
After a hellish 45 minutes, thinking I was going to die of exhaustion on more than one occasion, no exaggeration, we finally managed to push through. I say we, my partner on the other hand could have done it 3 times over in the time it took me. Either way, we finally made it, yes to the normal path everyone else had taken, we still had the few metres of climbing to do to get to the very peak of the Mither Tap. After a few more break downs thinking I couldn’t make it, I finally did it. I made it to the very top of Bennachie, and boy, did it feel good, all this before 11am on at Saturday.
The views you get from the top are worth whatever hell you put yourself through to get there, its incredible. After enjoying the breath-taking views for a while, it was now time to make our way down, oh but going down is easier than going up I hear you say. Wrong, well if you’re me anyway. About 20-30 metres from the top I slipped, yes, I fell, right on my bum, going over my foot and hurting it in the process. Unsure of the damage I had done I decided to get up and keep going, only to discover about half way down that my foot could barely take my weight anymore. I needed help the rest of the way down and was left with a very painful foot from our little adventure, as well as a massively damaged ego.
Thankfully, there was no real damage done to my foot and after a few days of hobbling, I was back to normal. As always, nothing is every easy when you’re me but regardless of what went wrong, it was all worth it. The satisfaction you feel making it to the top of the mountain is amazing, it’s make you want to do it every weekend.